Mehmed Baždarević

Mehmed Baždarević

Baždarević with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015
Personal information
Full nameMehmed Baždarević
Date of birth28 September 1960
Place of birthVišegrad, SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1978–1987Željezničar229(22)
1987–1996Sochaux308(20)
1996–1997Nîmes32(0)
1998Étoile Carouge6(0)
Total575(42)
National team
1983–1992Yugoslavia[1]54(4)
1996Bosnia and Herzegovina[2][3]2(0)
Teams managed
2003–2005Istres
2005–2006Étoile du Sahel
2006–2007Al-Wakrah
2007–2010Grenoble
2011–2012Sochaux
2012–2013Al-Wakrah
2014–Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Mehmed Baždarević (born 28 September 1960) is a Bosnian football manager and former player. Baždarević is the current manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.[4]

Baždarević played for Bosnian side Željezničar Sarajevo and French outfit Sochaux-Montbéliard, among others. Known as Meša in the former Yugoslavia and colloquially known as Mécha in France,[2] he is considered to be one of the best football players from Bosnia and Herzegovina ever.

Internationally he earned caps with Yugoslavia and took part playing at UEFA Euro 1984. He also played for Bosnia and Herzegovina after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. He was the first captain of the Bosnian national side.[5] He retired as a player in 1998 and moved into management.

Club career

Željezničar Sarajevo

Born in Višegrad, SFR Yugoslavia his professional playing career started in Željezničar Sarajevo in 1979. He was part of a team that managed to reach the UEFA Cup semifinals in 1985 under the guidance of Ivica Osim.

In 1980/1981 season, Željezničar reached Yugoslav cup final (Marshal Tito Cup final), with 20 year old Mehmed Baždarević scoring two goals in a 2–3 loss to another Bosnian side Velež Mostar. The venue of the final was Stadion Crvene Zvezde in Belgrade played in front of 40,000 football fans.

He played more than 300 games for the club.

Sochaux

In 1987, he moved to French side Sochaux-Montbéliard. He stayed at the club until 1996. He collected more than 350 appearances for FC Sochaux in various competitions.

After that, he played for Nîmes Olympique (1996–97 season) and Swiss side Étoile Carouge (1997–98 season) before he announced his retirement in summer of 1998.

As player, Baždarević was targeted by many clubs including Barcelona, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund. [6]

International career

He also played for the national teams of two countries. He played for the Yugoslavia junior, Olympic and U-21 teams. He captained the U-20 national team that took part in the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1979. His debut for Yugoslav national team came in 1983. He collected 54 caps and scored 4 goals for the national team. He represented Yugoslavia national team at UEFA Euro 1984 playing in all the teams games at the tournament.

Baždarević began to play for the Bosnian national team in 1992 after Bosnia-Herzegovina gained independence. However, the team was not recognised by FIFA until 1995 in part due to the Yugoslav wars.

Managerial career

From Jul 1, 1998 to Jun 30, 2003 Baždarević worked as Sochaux assistant coach to Jean Fernandez and Guy Lacombe before taking over as manager of reserve sides at the club.

Istres

His first job as a head coach was at Istres. He guided the club to its biggest success - entering the French Ligue 1 in 2004, which secured him a best Ligue 2 manager of the year award.

Étoile

On 16 July 2005, Baždarević took over Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel.[7] He reached the 2005 African Champions League final with the club. Baždarević was fired by Etoile on 12 April 2006, after a 1–0 home defeat to USM Monastir in their final league cost them the Tunisian League.[8][9][10]

Baždarević was also employed as a head coach of Qatari Al-Wakra in 2006.

Grenoble

Since December 2007, he has been managing French side Grenoble Foot 38 where he arrived on recommendation of his mentor Ivica Osim who knew Grenoble's Japanese owners from working with them in J-League with JEF United. He rejected offers from top league clubs Le Mans and Nice to take over Grenoble. At the end of 2007–08, led by Bazdarevic, Grenoble gained promotion to the French top league, for the first time in their history.[11] Under Baždarević, Grenoble reached French Cup semi-finals during 2008–09 season.

In September 2010, he left Grenoble due to financial reasons.[12][13]

Sochaux

On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as manager of the Sochaux for which he played professional football.[14] He was sacked on 6 March 2012, due to poor results (after 8 months in charge).[15]

Since then he has had interest to manage clubs from Serbia and Belgium.[16]

Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 13 December 2014, Baždarević was named coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team beating Milovan Rajevac for the position.[17][18] Among other candidates were Vahid Halilhodžić,[19][20][21] Igor Štimac,[22] and Felix Magath.[23] He replaced Safet Sušić, who was sacked by N/FSBiH due to a run of poor results in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying having only taken 2 points in four matches.[24]

Career statistics

International goals

Scores and results table. Yugoslavia's goal tally first:
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1 14/12/1983 Cardif, Wales  Wales 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
2 20/10/1984 Leipzig, Germany  East Germany 1–1 2–3 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 14/09/1988 Oviedo, Spain  Spain 1–1 1–2 Friendly
4 14/11/1990 Kopenhagen, Denmark  Denmark 0–1 0–2 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying

Manager

As of 31 March 2015. Some club statistics accurate as at 18 April 2013.
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Sochaux (assistant) France Jul 1, 1998 Jun 30, 2003 - - - -
Istres France Jul 1, 2003 Jan 9, 2005 62 21 19 22 33.87
Étoile du Sahel Tunisia Jul 16, 2005 Apr 12, 2006 25 15 7 3 60
Al-Wakrah Qatar Jul 1, 2006 Jun 30, 2007 27 7 13 7 25.93
Grenoble France Jul 1, 2007 Sep 5, 2010 67 25 22 20 37.31
Sochaux France Jun 10, 2011 Mar 6, 2012 26 4 9 13 15.38
Al-Wakrah Qatar May 23, 2012 Jun 3, 2013 22 7 5 10 31.82
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Dec 13, 2014 Present 2 1 1 0

Honours

Player

Yugoslavia

Manager

Istres
Étoile du Sahel
Grenoble

Individual

Trivia

Personal life

His wife Marina Baždarević was born in Belgrade, Serbia.[16] He met his wife in 1979 on an airplane from Japan going back to Belgrade. Nine months later, they met again on another flight from Tunisia to Belgrade and after the second meeting they started dating[28] His daughter, Téa Baždarević, is a journalist in France.[29][30]

References

  1. ↑ Mehmed Baždarević at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.bazdarevic.net/Mecha_Joueur.php
  3. ↑ Mamrud, Roberto (29 January 2009). "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  4. ↑ "Baždarević takes Bosnia and Herzegovina helm". uefa.com. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Fuad Krvavac (12 October 2012). "Prije 16 godina BiH je igrala sa Grčkom u Kalamati". klix.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  6. ↑ sportsport.ba (13 April 2009). "Cijenim Ćiru, ali nije za reprezentaciju". sportsport.ba (Sarajevo). Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Etoile Sahel get Bosnian coach". BBC Sport. 16 July 2005. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  8. ↑ "Etoile du Sahel sack their coach". BBC Sport. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  9. ↑ "Etoile name new coach". BBC Sport. 14 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  10. ↑ "Scoreline". The Telegraph. 15 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  11. ↑ http://www.jutarnji.hr/ekskluzivno-za-jl-novi-izbornik-bih-bazdarevic---krecem-u-lov-na-15-bodova-osvojiti-cemo-3--mjesto-/1259022/
  12. ↑ "Otići ću ako mi pukne film". sportsport.ba (in Bosnian). 1 October 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
  13. ↑ http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/football/grenoble-pouliquen-remplace-bazdarevic-au-poste-d-entraineur-06-09-2010-1057397.php
  14. ↑ "Communiqué Officiel". FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (in French). 10 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  15. ↑ "Communiqué Officiel". FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (in French). 6 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Baždarević priznao da su ga zvali iz Crvene zvezde". sportsport.ba (in Bosnian). 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "Mehmed Baždarević je novi selektor reprezentacije BiH!". klix.ba (in Bosnian). 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "Mehmed Bazdarevic Named Bosnia-Herzegovina’s New Manager". bhdragons.com. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Reprezentacija.ba (19 November 2014). "Čelnici F/NSBIH uskoro na sastanku sa Vahidom Halilhodžićem". Reprezentacija.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Radiosarajevo.ba (19 November 2014). "Vahid Halilhodžić za Radiosarajevo.ba: Nažalost, politika vlada u BiH, bilo bi teško raditi". Radiosarajevo.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  21. ↑ Eren Sarigul (19 November 2014). "Vahid Halilhodzic rejects Bosnia job". Turkish-Football.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  22. ↑ Jasmin Ligata (25 November 2014). "Ekskluzivno: Štimac kandidat za izbornika BiH". goal.com. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  23. ↑ Nick Ames (5 December 2014). "Felix Magath to hold talks over Bosnia managerial position". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  24. ↑ Fuad Krvavac (17 November 2014). "Sušić tenure ends with Bosnia and Herzegovina". uefa.com (Sarajevo). Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  25. ↑ "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  26. ↑ "Denmark 0 - 2 Yugoslavia". uefa.com. uefa.com. Retrieved 14 November 1990. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  27. ↑ "Šta Nadrealisti kažu o izboru Mehmeda Baždarevića za selektora BiH". radiosarajevo.ba. radiosarajevo.ba. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  28. ↑ http://reprezentacija.ba/18300-mehmed-bazdarevic-otvoreno-o-svemu-moj-otac-je-zakljucavao-kucu-u-23-sata-kasnije-nisam-mogao-uci
  29. ↑ "VIDEO \\ Mehmed Baždarević u "AS Ekskluzivu" sa Muhamedom Bikićem". reprezentacija.ba. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  30. ↑ "Le maire de Sigolsheim s'est marié". franceinter.fr. franceinter.fr. Retrieved 22 December 2014.

External links