Zećira Mušović (; born 26 May 1996) is a Swedish 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

club

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

and the Sweden national team.

Early life

Mušović was born in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...

, Sweden in 1996 to a family of

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

origin. Her family had previously lived in the town of

Prijepolje Prijepolje ( sr-Cyrl, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022, the town has 11,928 inhabitants, while the municipality has 32,214 inhabitants. Etymology One possible mean ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, modern-day

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. In 1992, her parents and three older siblings fled to Sweden to escape the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. They settled in the province of

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, where Mušović joined the youth system of

Stattena IF Stattena IF is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Helsingborg. The club played two seasons in the Allsvenskan in 1927–28 and 1929–30. Background The original club Stattena was one of the two clubs which in 1907 forme ...

, a football club in the city of

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

. Zećira has said she misses

, and often visits

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 ...

: "I miss

. I have many relatives there. Prijepolje is a very beautiful city and I have a lot of love for it. I also have a lot of relatives in Bosnia and every year I try to visit my favorite city,

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 ...

." She has an older brother and two older sisters. She describes her brother as her role model and began playing football because of him.

Club career

Stattena

Mušović began playing football for

as a nine-year-old. She was made fun of by those who thought girls should not play football and was asked when she would quit. She started playing in the goalkeeper position at age 12. She spent two seasons with the club's senior women's team in Division 2 in 2011 and 2012, helping the club secure

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in the latter campaign.

Rosengård

She transferred from Stattena to LdB FC Malmö in October 2012 at age 16. In 2013 she understudied

Þóra Björg Helgadóttir Þóra Björg Helgadóttir (born 5 May 1981), commonly Anglicised as Thora Helgadottir, is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Trained at university level in the United States, she formerly played for four seasons with D ...

, who was named Goalkeeper of the Year as Malmö secured the 2013 Damallsvenskan championship. Malmö rebranded as FC Rosengård for the

2014 Damallsvenskan The 2014 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 27th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The season started on 13 April 2014 and ended on 19 October 2014. LdB Malmö, which was renamed to FC Roseng ...

and Mušović was elevated to first team contention when Helgadóttir left the club during the mid-season break. German import

Kathrin Längert Kathrin Längert (born 4 June 1987) is a German former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Längert played in Germany for FCR 2001 Duisburg and Bayern Munich until May 2014, when she signed with FC Rosengård to play in the Swedish ...

then vied with Mušović for Rosengård's goalkeeper position. When Mušović secured increasing first team participation in the

2015 Damallsvenskan 2015 Damallsvenskan was the 27th season of the Swedish women's association football top division, Damallsvenskan. It was played between 11 April 2015 and 18 October 2015. FC Rosengård were the defending champions, having won the competition in 201 ...

, the club announced they were pleased with her development and awarded a new 2.5-year contract in May 2015. Mušović received two setbacks ahead of the

2016 Damallsvenskan The 2016 Damallsvenskan is the 28th season of the Swedish women's association football top division, Damallsvenskan. FC Rosengård were the defending champions, having won the competition in 2015. Linköpings FC is the champion of the season. Te ...

season. First Rosengård signed Canadian goalkeeper

Erin McLeod Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Halifax Tides FC of the Northern Super League. She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup an ...

, then Mušović broke her arm while playing for Sweden U-23s. In the event McLeod suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

, so the club had to bring in veteran Sofia Lundgren as cover. After some long conversations with Rosengård

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Therese Sjögran Kerstin Ingrid Therese Sjögran (born 8 April 1977) is a Swedish Association football, football manager and coach, and former player as a midfielder for Damallsvenskan club FC Rosengård and the Sweden women's national football team, Sweden nati ...

, Mušović agreed to remain at the club although she was unhappy at losing her place in the team once McLeod recovered from her injured knee. Instead of making a

transfer request The transfer market is the arena in which football players are available for transfer to clubs. The transfer market consists of a list of players available for transfer, and also the money moving between clubs as they contest to purchase and sell ...

, she resolved to improve aspects of her own game by training alongside her experienced Canadian rival. In October 2017, Mušović was given a new three-year contract by Rosengård. She declared: "FC Rosengård has always been and will always be the club in my heart". Mušović became starting goalkeeper near the end of the season.

Chelsea

As goalkeeper for Rosengård, Mušović played in a match against Chelsea and saved a penalty, keeping the score 2-2, bringing her to the attention of Chelsea coach

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of the United States women's national team. She was previously manager of Chelsea Women from 2012 to 2024, winning seven Women's Super ...

. In December 2020, Mušović signed for Chelsea in a two-year deal. She made her debut against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, keeping a clean sheet in the 2-0 win. In the 2021–22 season, Mušović had the second-highest save percentage of any goalkeeper in the league, only behind Chelsea's first goalkeeper

Ann-Katrin Berger Ann-Katrin Berger (born 9 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Germany national team, where she has been the number one since 2024. She ha ...

. Mušović was the only goalkeeper that season to record an assist. In February 2023, she extended her contract with Chelsea until 2025. In February 2025, she announced her pregnancy, putting an end to her 2024-25 season. On 9 May 2025 it was announced that Mušović would depart Chelsea upon the expiry of her contract at the end of the 2024-25 season, having kept 27 clean sheets in 52 appearances for the club.

Malmö

On 27 June 2025, Mušović joined Swedeish club

on a three-year deal.

International career

Mušović captained Sweden under-19s to the 2015 U19 European Championship final stage in Israel. She was disappointed when FC Rosengård stopped her attending the tournament because they needed her for club fixtures. The disappointment was compounded when Sweden under-19s won the competition. Despite having lost her position as first choice at club level, Mušović was called up by incoming Sweden national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Peter Gerhardsson Kurt Peter Gerhardsson (born 22 August 1959) is a Swedish football manager and former football player. He was previously the manager of BK Häcken. Before the start of the 2013 Allsvenskan he was ranked as the best manager in the league by newsp ...

for the opening 2019 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. She attended several matches as a non-playing substitute, then won her first senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

in March 2018, securing a debut

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a 3–0 win over

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

at the

2018 Algarve Cup The 2018 Algarve Cup was the 25th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 28 February to 7 March 2018. The final was cancelled after torrential rain flooded the pitch: t ...

. Mušović endured a difficult second appearance for Sweden, when she deputised for

Hedvig Lindahl Rut Hedvig Lindahl (born 29 April 1983) is a retired Swedish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played club football in Sweden for Damallsvenskan clubs including Malmö FF, Linköpings FC, Kristianstads DFF, Kopparbergs/G� ...

in a friendly against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in October 2018. Her handling error allowed

Daniela Sabatino Daniela Sabatino (born 26 June 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Sassuolo and the Italy women's national team. She previously played for AC Bojano and ACF Reggiana in Serie A and Rapid Lug ...

to score the only goal of the match. In May 2019 she was one of three goalkeepers selected by Sweden for the 2019 FIFA World Cup, alongside Lindahl and the uncapped Jennifer Falk. She did not play during the World Cup, and continued in her early years with the national team to struggle to earn starts, in particular during major tournaments. Mušović was part of the Swedish delegation to the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, where Sweden ultimately reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, losing to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She did not take the pitch during the tournament, but drew notice as one of the players to publicly criticize the initial scheduling of the final, which resulted in its being moved to accommodate high temperatures in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

at the time. On 13 June 2023, Mušović was included in Sweden's 23-player squad for the FIFA World Cup 2023. With Lindahl out, the choice for starting goalkeeper was between her and Falk, with Mušović ultimately earning the distinction. She played the team's first two matches in

Group G Group G may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant dif ...

, victories over

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

. In the round of 16 match against the United States, she made 11 saves; the United States did not score a goal during regular or

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Mušović broke the record for most saves by a goalkeeper who kept a clean sheet in a World Cup match. Sweden ultimately advanced to the quarter-finals after a 5–4

penalty shootout 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 ...

win, and Mušović was named

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

, being widely regarded as the principal reason her side had advanced. The match significantly raised her international profile. Sweden went on to beat a favoured

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the quarter-final. A loss to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the semi-final sent them to the third-place match, where Mušović kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 victory over hosts

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, securing her second World Cup bronze.

Career statistics

Club

International

Personal life

In 2018, Mušović graduated with a degree in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

. Mušović maintains a personal

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

at her own website. She has firm political views and challenged two of her social media contacts over their support for the controversial

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

party at the

2018 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Gr ...

. Her older brother Huso Mušović was himself a lower division footballer. Mušović is in a relationship with Swedish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player Alen Bibić. In February 2025, she announced she is pregnant.

Honours

;FC Rosengård *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 2016, 2017, 2018 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

: 2015, 2016 ;Chelsea *

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24, 2024–25 *

FA Women's League Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since t ...

, 2024–25 *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

: 2021–22,

, 2024–25 ;Sweden *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

Third place:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Runner-up:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

zeciramusovic.com
– personal website * *
archive
* * *

at soccerdonna.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Musovic, Zecira 1996 births Living people Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers Chelsea F.C. Women players FC Rosengård players Damallsvenskan players Stattena IF (women) players Malmö FF (women) players Women's association football goalkeepers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Swedish people of Serbian descent Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers from Falun Swedish people of Bosniak descent Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Swedish sportswomen