Mirza Varešanović (born 31 May 1972) is a Bosnian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. During his playing career, which spanned nearly 15 years, he competed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Greece, Turkey and Austria, playing in France for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and in Greece for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

among others. He was the first Bosnian to play in France. Varešanović also played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2010, he started working as a manager. During his managerial career, Varešanović managed hometown club

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

on two occasions, Velež Mostar, Olimpik, the Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 national team and Tuzla City.

Club career

Varešanović started his career with hometown club

, breaking into the first team in 1991, but getting only limited playing time. With the start of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, competitive football in the country halted and Sarajevo became a touring club. During one of these tours, Varešanović was spotted by

scouts, and he quickly joined the French team. A year later he made a move to

, spending two seasons with the Greek outfit. With Olympiacos, he won the

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

in the seasons 1996–97 and 1997–98. He next moved to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

, who he would go on to represent on two separate occasions. In 2002 while back at Sarajevo, Varešanović won the 2001–02 Bosnian Cup. He concluded his playing career with Sarajevo in 2004.

International career

Varešanović made his debut for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

in an April 1996

friendly game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and has earned a total of 24 caps, scoring no goals. He played in the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

qualifying campaigns. His final international was a July 2001 friendly against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Managerial career

Early career

After concluding his playing career, Varešanović was named

sporting director, and held the position for two years. In 2010, he was named Sarajevo manager and led the team for one season and finished second in the 2010–11 Bosnian Premier League season. In the summer of 2011, he was approached by Velež Mostar, and went on to lead the

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

outfit for also one season.

Olimpik

On 5 May 2014, Varešanović accepted an offer from Olimpik. In his second season, he won the Bosnian Cup trophy and made historic achievement with Olimpik by winning the first trophy for the youngest football club in the

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

. Varešanović left the club on 21 November 2015.

Return to Olimpik

Varešanović once again came back to Olimpik in June 2017, but again left the club the very same year in November.

Bosnia and Herzegovina U18

In 2018, Varešanović became the head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 national team. He led the national team to 8th place at the

2018 Mediterranean Games The 2018 Mediterranean Games (, ), officially known as the XVIII Mediterranean Games (, ) and commonly known as Tarragona 2018, was an international multi-sport event held from 22 June to 1 July 2018 in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. Tarragona was ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

, Spain.

Tuzla City

On 26 February 2019, Varešanović signed a half-a-year contract with

club Tuzla City. His first win as Tuzla City's manager came on 9 March 2019, in 2–0 away win against Krupa. On 25 May 2019, after the end of the last game of the 2018–19 Bosnian Premier League season in which Tuzla City lost against Željezničar at home 3–0, Varešanović decided to leave Tuzla, stating "I've been here for about three months, we have achieved what we had planned, but I will not be the manager of the club next season. I'm just too tired for this time, and some other things have also happened which have added to the decision of my deparutre." He officially left the club a day later on 26 May.

Return to Sarajevo

On 12 December 2022, Sarajevo appointed Varešanović as manager for the second time. He suffered defeat in his first match back in charge, losing 2–0 to Zrinjski Mostar on 26 February 2023. On 5 March 2023, Varešanović earned his first victory since his return as manager in an away game against

Široki Brijeg Široki Brijeg () is a city and the regional capital of West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the town itself had a population of 6,149 and the municipality of 28,929. Name ...

. He finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with the side in 4th place, qualifying for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round. On 20 July 2023, Sarajevo got eliminated from the

2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League was the third season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA. The 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League final, final was ...

in the first qualifying round by Georgian club

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi ( Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი ტორპედო ქუთაისი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. The team competes in the Erovnuli ...

, following a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. On 22 July, it was announced by Sarajevo that Varešanović had left the club by mutual consent, after the team's disappointing European campaign.

Personal life

Varešanović's son Mak is also a professional footballer who played for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

. His younger son,

Dal Dal is a term in the Indian subcontinent for dried, split pulses. Dal or DAL may also refer to: Places Cambodia *Dal, Ke Chong Finland * Laakso, a neighbourhood of Helsinki India * Dal Lake, in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India * Dal ...

, currently plays in the

for

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Bordeaux *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

(Joint Winner) Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98 Sarajevo * Bosnian Cup: 2001–02

Manager

Olimpik * Bosnian Cup: 2014–15

References

External links