Hasan Salihamidžić

Hasan Salihamidžić

Salihamidžić in 2008
Personal information
Full nameHasan Salihamidžić
Date of birth1 January 1977
Place of birthJablanica, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionMidfielder / Fullback
Youth career
1987–1991Turbina Jablanica
1991–1992Velež Mostar
1992–1995Hamburger SV
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1995–1998Hamburger SV72(19)
1998–2007Bayern Munich234(31)
2007–2011Juventus61(7)
2011–2012VfL Wolfsburg15(3)
Total382(60)
National team
1996–2006Bosnia and Herzegovina42[1](6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Hasan Salihamidžić (born 1 January 1977) is a Bosnian former professional footballer. He made a name for himself while playing for Bayern Munich for nine seasons with whom he won the Bundesliga title six times, DFB-Pokal title four times, the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, where he also scored in the final, and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. He has also played for Italian giant Juventus for four seasons.

During his career, he usually played as a right midfielder, right back or left back. Salihamidžić was a quick and energetic player with an extremely high work rate. He was also gifted with good crossing and passing abilities, which allowed him to create chances for his team mates.

He earned 43 caps and scored six goals for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is regarded by many as one of the most successful Bosnian football players in recent times.

Following the end of his one-year contract with Wolfsburg, Salihamidžić started work as a regular pundit for Sky Deutschland.

Early life

His father Ahmed and mother Šefika gave him the nickname "Braco" meaning "little brother" in Bosnian since Hasan has an older sister, hence his current nickname "Brazzo". He finished elementary school and played in the local club. Then, Salihamidžić moved to Velež Mostar where he stayed until 1992. That year Salihamidžić was called up to the Former Yugoslavia U-16 team for a match against the CIS U-16 team in Belgrade. Days after the match, Bosnian Serb troops began a siege on the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, forcing his father to look for opportunities in Western Europe for his son.[2]

Club career

Hamburger SV

In November 1992, Salihamidžić moved to Hamburg, Germany with the assistance of Ahmed Halilhodžić (cousin of football coach Vahid Halilhodžić), who was also a Jablanica native and had emigrated to Germany.[2] Through Ahmed Halilhodžić's help, Salihamidžić joined the youth team of the German Bundesliga team Hamburger SV. He remained within the club's youth system for three seasons, before being promoted to the senior squad. In his first season with the senior squad, Salihamidžić made nine appearances, scoring two league goals.[2] The following season, Salihamidžić became an integral part of the squad as he would make 37 appearances and score an impressive seven goals between Europe and the league. He would go onto make 31 league appearances, scoring ten goals during the 1997–98 season, which would be his last for the club, before his high-profile transfer to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich

His transfer to Munich was completed during the 1998 summer transfer window, for an undisclosed fee, and Salihamidžić officially joined Bayern Munich. In his first season with his new club, Salihamidžić was instantly inserted into the club's starting line-up and made an impressive 43 appearances in all competitions with five goals. During his first season, he came on as a substitute in the 89th minute of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final. At this point Bayern were 1–0 up, all seemed well until two last minute goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

He would make an additional 46 appearances with three more goals in his second season for the Munich giants. His third season proved very successful as well, and he would score six goals in 46 appearances.

Between 2001 and 2003, Salihamidžić lacked in appearances mostly due to injury as he made just 50 appearances between both seasons in all competitions.

For the 2003–04 season, the Bosnian international worked his way back into the starting line-up for the entire season, making 47 appearances, with five goals, also tallying 43 appearances and five goals the following season.

He was limited to just 29 appearances for the 2005–06 season, but made 42 seasonal appearances in his final season with the club, in which he also scored five goals. One of Salihamidžić's most memorable plays in the 2006–07 season was in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid, where he dispossessed Roberto Carlos and fed the pass to Roy Makaay who beat Iker Casillas and set the record for the fasted goal in tournament history, at 11 seconds after kickoff; this helped Bayern to overcome a 3–2 loss from the first leg to level the tie at 2–1 and advance on away goals.[3]

As he spent many years being so loved in Munich, and his children are from the city, he settled there when his playing career was over.[4]

Juventus

Hasan Salihamidžić playing for Juventus in 2009.

On 15 January 2007, he signed a four-year pre-deal with Juventus.[5] He joined them the following June after his contract with Bayern Munich had expired. In his first season, under coach Claudio Ranieri, Salihamidžić was a regular starter, albeit injury lay-offs, and made 30 official appearances for his new club, scoring an impressive five goals, which included him scoring two goals for Juventus in a 3–2 victory against A.C. Milan on 12 April 2008.[6] His second and third season with the club, proved to be less successful as he suffered from several injury lay-offs. In the 2010–11 season, new coach Luigi Delneri excluded Salihamidžić from the coach plan. Along with Fabio Grosso, Salihamidžić was the only healthy first team player that was excluded from the 25-men 2010–11 UEFA Europa League squad.[7] Salihamidžić was released from Juventus when his contract expired in June 2011.

VfL Wolfsburg

On 4 July 2011, Salihamidžić moved to VfL Wolfsburg on a one-year contract.[8] On 9 July 2011, in a friendly game against local team Bismark, Salihamidžić's left arm was broken in a duel with another player.[9]

International career

Salihamidžić made his debut for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in 1996. He scored the team's first ever goal in a friendly 2–1 win over Italy.[10] During his eleven years with the national team, the closest they came was falling one goal short in a match against Denmark that would have enabled them to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004. He retired from the national team in 2006.

International goals

Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 6 November 1996 Koševo Stadium, Sarajevo  Italy 1–0 2–1 Friendly
2. 8 October 1996 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna  Croatia 1–1 1–4 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
3. 6 September 1997 Maksimir, Zagreb  Croatia 2–2 2–3 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
4. 27 January 1999 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Attard  Malta 1–0 1–2 Friendly
5. 4 June 2005 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle  San Marino 1–0 3–1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6. 2–0

Personal life

Salihamidžić has three children, Selina, Nick and Lara June, all born in Munich,[11] with his German-born Spanish wife Esther Copado. Francisco Copado is his brother-in-law.[12]

Career statistics

Statistics accurate as of match played 5 May 2012[13][14]

Club

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Germany League DFB-Pokal Europe Total
1995–96Hamburger SVBundesliga9200––92
1996–973274150418
1997–98311021503811
1998–99Bayern Munich30440132476
1999–200030453160517
2000–0131421152487
2001–021951091296
2002–031222173216
2003–043344180455
2004–052925192435
2005–062122010242
2006–0729430101425
Italy League Coppa Italia Europe Total
2007–08JuventusSerie A26441––305
2008–091110040151
2009–101421030182
2010–1110000––100
Germany League DFB-Pokal Europe Total
2011–12WolfsburgBundesliga15311––164
Total Germany 321533510981145474
Italy 6175170738
Career total 3826040111051152782

International

National teamSeasonAppsGoals
Bosnia and Herzegovina 199642
199741
199850
199921
200040
200150
200250
200330
200450
200542
200610
Total426

Honours

Club

Bayern Munich[15]
Juventus[15]

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Salihamidžić Hasan" (in Bosnian). nfsbih.ba. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wilson, Jonathan (31 January 2007). "Hasan Salihamidzic's heartening success story". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "Makaay quick to make his mark". UEFA.com. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Mein rotes Herz ist größer als das schwarz-weiße" (in German). 11freunde.de. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Salihamidžić agrees Juve move". UEFA. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Salihamidzic double seals Juve win over Milan". ESPN soccernet. 12 April 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  7. ↑ D'Andrea, Rick (1 September 2010). "Juventus Announce 2010–11 Europa League Squad". Goal.com. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Wolfsburg sign Salihamidzic from Juve". ESPN soccernet. 5 July 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  9. ↑ "Hasan Salihamidžić slomio ruku na utakmici" [Salihamidžić injured]. Sarajevo-x.com (in Bosnian). 9 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "BiH – Italija 2:1". N/FSBiH. 6 November 1996. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012.
  11. ↑ "FCB Interview with Hasan Salihamidzic". Bayern Munich. 13 August 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  12. ↑ Mustroph, Tom (29 February 2008). "Ein bosnischer Bayer in Italien" [A Bosnian Bavarian in Italy] (in German). Der Spiegel.
  13. ↑ "Hasan Salihamidžić". Fussballdaten (in German). Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  14. ↑ Nicoletti, Claudio. "Hasan Salihamidzic – Matches in European Cups". Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "H. Salihamidžić". Soccerway. Retrieved 18 August 2014.

External links