| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Elvir Bolić | ||
| Date of birth | 10 October 1971 (age 40 years, 134 days) |
||
| Place of birth | Zenica, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1988–1991 | Čelik Zenica[1] | 48+ | (5+) |
| 1992 | Red Star Belgrade | 11 | (2) |
| 1992 | Galatasaray | 8 | (2) |
| 1993–1995 | Gaziantepspor | 73 | (43) |
| 1995–2000 | Fenerbahçe | 146 | (69) |
| 2000–2003 | Rayo Vallecano | 98 | (22) |
| 2003–2004 | İstanbulspor | 28 | (11) |
| 2004 | Gençlerbirliği | 16 | (2) |
| 2005 | Malatyaspor | 11 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | İstanbulspor | 17 | (7) |
| 2006 | NK Rijeka | 6 | (4) |
| National team | |||
| 1996–2006 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 52 | (22) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2008 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (assistant) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Elvir Bolić (born October 10, 1971 in Zenica) is a former Bosnian football (soccer) forward. He is the all-time leading scorer for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.
Bolić was briefly served as the assistant manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Elvir Bolić is considered a legend in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Loved by the fans and respected by his teammates, Bolić was always admired for his hard work on the pitch and great footballing skills.
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His career started in his hometown, Zenica, where he played for a local club, Čelik from 1988 to 1991. He was the member of Čelik's most successful youth generation ever, from which several other players emerged and later on played for the Bosnian national team, including former team captain Mirsad Hibić, Nermin Šabić and Senad Brkić.
During those years, Čelik struggled in the lower leagues of ex-Yugoslavia and was often forced to bring up fresh new talent from its youth system, which allowed Bolić to showcase his skills. He and a couple of his teammates earned a call-up for the ex-Yugoslavian U18 national team.
This led to Bolić being noticed by Yugoslav powerhouse Red Star Belgrade, which brought him to their youth team in December 1991. Red Star management, led at the time by Dragan Džajić and Vladimir Cvetković, thought very highly of Bolić's talent and groomed him to take over an important midfield role. However, because of the political situation in SFR Yugoslavia at the time, the young 20-year-old Bolić defected from the Yugoslav national side training camp in France in June 1992. He later informed Red Star's management he would not be coming back to Belgrade.
From there, he went to Turkey where he became a legend and one of the best foreign players ever to appear in the Turkish Süper Lig. Bolić spent most of his club career in Turkey, where he played for Galatasaray (1992), Gaziantepspor (1993-95), Fenerbahçe (1995-2000), Istanbulspor (2003-04), and Gençlerbirligi, Malatyaspor (2004-2005).
He is known for breaking Manchester United's 40-year unbeaten home record in Europe when he scored for Fenerbahçe in their 1-0 win on October 30, 1996.
He also played for Spain's Rayo Vallecano (2000-03).
In 2003-2004, he returned to Istanbulspor, but only for a season.[2] He left for Gençlerbirliği S.K..[3]
He played for NK Rijeka in 2006–07 season, left the club in September 2006.
For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bolić has appeared 51 times, scoring 22 goals.[4] He holds the record for most goals for the national team, while Zvjezdan Misimović surpassed his number of caps in September 2010 after Bolic had held that record as well for several years.[5] His first appearance came in 1996 against Greece.
Bolić made a non-friendly appearance for national team on 6 September 2006 against Hungary.
He was the assistant manager for the Bosnia and Herzegovina National team, alongside of Meho Kodro from 5 January until 17 May 2008.[7]