Ermin Bičakčić (; born 24 January 1990) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Bundesliga club

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Bičakčić started his professional career at VfB Stuttgart, playing mainly in its reserve team, before joining

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

in 2012. Two years later, he moved to 1899 Hoffenheim. Bičakčić represented Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina at youth levels, but decided to represent the latter at senior level. He made his senior international debut in 2013, earning over 30 caps since. Bičakčić represented the nation at their first major championship, the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Club career

Early career

Because of the outbreak of

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, Bičakčić's family fled from his native Bosnia and Herzegovina and moved to Germany, where he started playing football at local clubs, before joining VfB Stuttgart's youth academy in 2005. He made his professional debut against Chemnitzer FC on 27 October 2010 at the age of 20. On 29 July 2011, he scored his first professional goal in a triumph over Wehen Wiesbaden. In January 2012, he switched to

1899 Hoffenheim

In May 2014, Bičakčić was transferred to

for an undisclosed fee. He made his official debut for the side in DFB-Pokal game against USC Paloma on 17 August and managed to score a goal. A week later, he made his league debut against FC Augsburg. On 4 February 2015, he scored his first league goal in a loss to Werder Bremen. In September 2016, he extended his contract until June 2020. Bičakčić helped 1899 Hoffenheim make their first historical UEFA Champions League appearance in 2018–19 season. On 23 October 2018, he debuted in the competition against Lyon. He played his 100th game for the team on 19 December. Bičakčić signed a new three-year deal with the club in May 2019. In September 2020, he suffered a severe knee injury, which was diagnosed as anterior cruciate ligament tear and was ruled out for at least six months. He returned to the pitch on 14 May 2022, over 19 months after the injury. In June, he put pen to paper on a new one-year contract.

International career

Despite representing Germany at under-18 level, Bičakčić decided to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina at senior level. He was first part of Bosnia and Herzegovina under-19 team. In August 2013, his request to change sports citizenship from German to Bosnian was approved by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Later that month, he received his first senior call-up, for a friendly game against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and debuted in that game on 14 August. On 10 September, in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, Bičakčić scored his first senior international goal. In June 2014, Bičakčić was named in Bosnia and Herzegovina's squad for

, country's first major competition. He made his tournament debut in the opening group match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

on 15 June.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bičakčić goal.''

References

External links