Muhamed Konjić (; born 14 May 1970) is a Bosnian retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, most notably for

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team who he also

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed.

Club career

A solid defender, he played for many clubs around Europe including

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. Konjić played in

Jean Tigana Amadou Jean Tigana (born 23 June 1955) is a French former football player and manager. A central midfielder, he was renowned as one of the best midfielders in the world during the 1980s. He spent his entire playing career in France, and made 5 ...

's talented Monaco side which famously put

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

out of the Champions League in 1998 on away goals after a 1–1 draw at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Early in 1999, Konjić was recruited by

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

, manager of English Premiership side

for a fee of around £2 million. He became the first Bosnian to play in England’s top tier. Injuries prevented fans from getting a real glimpse of the player though, as he made just 19 appearances before the club's relegation at the end of the 2000–01 season. In the next three seasons, all of which were spent in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. 'Big Mo' (as he was nicknamed by Sky Blues fans) made 138 appearances, and scored four goals. During this period, Konjić had captained the club and became a fan favourite. He was renowned both for his fully committed style of play and also his willingness to bring the ball forward if the midfield and attack were not having any impact. He was sold at the end of the 2003–04 season to

by then Sky Blues manager

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

. In the 2004–05 season, he made 18 appearances in George Burley's Derby side which reached the Football League Championship play-offs. Injuries have continued to hamper his progress, and he made just one appearance for Derby in the 2005–06 season as a result. He was released at the end of the season and subsequently retired from playing.

International career

Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team in 2002

Konjić was an influential player in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian squad, for whom he was capped 39 times and scoring 3 goals. He was the captain in the first match played by Bosnia and Herzegovina on 30 November 1995. This match, a 2–0 defeat to

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 ...

, famously came just nine days after the

Dayton Peace Agreement The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially kn ...

brought an end to the Bosnian conflict. His final international was an August 2006

friendly match 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

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Personal life

Konjić spent the first eight months 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 ...

in his country's army. After his military discharge he trained in the streets, often during artillery raids when everybody else was covering in bomb shelters or cellars.
The Sunday Herald

Career statistics

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

Honours

Individual * Coventry City F.C.#Seasons, awards and honours, Coventry City F.C. Player of the Year:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links