Italy's players were caught on camera cheering when Bosnia beat Wales in the playoff semi-final. They wanted the easier draw. They got Bosnia, lost on penalties, and are staying home this summer. Esmir Bajraktarevic scored the winner.
The 21-year-old PSV Eindhoven winger is the son of Elmir and Emina Bajraktarevic, Bosnian Muslims who fled the country after surviving the 1995 Srebrenica genocide — the systematic murder of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in a single month, carried out by Bosnian Serb forces inside a declared UN Safe Zone. His parents settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Bajraktarevic was born there in 2005.
When he converted that penalty, Emir Suljagic, head of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, put it plainly: "There was a plan for this boy never to be born, for my own children never to be born, for any of our children never to be born. Their laughter is our greatest revenge."
That context doesn't just add colour to the story. It explains why Bosnia's qualification carries a weight that most tournament runs simply don't.
A squad built from the diaspora
Bajraktarevic started his career with the New England Revolution in MLS, represented the USMNT once, then switched allegiance to Bosnia in 2024 — the country of his parents, if not his birth. He's earned 14 caps since, joined PSV in January 2025, and already has five goals and two assists across all competitions this season. He is not a sentimental pick. He's a serious player.
He won't be the only dangerous winger on the pitch when Bosnia kick off this summer. Kerim Alajbegovic, 18, born in Austria and currently lighting up Red Bull Salzburg, will return to Bayer Leverkusen after the tournament following a buy-back clause activation. Bosnia will be quick on the counter and uncomfortable to defend against.
Then there's the experience underpinning all that youth. Edin Dzeko, Bosnia's record scorer, is still producing — six goals in eight Bundesliga second-tier games for Schalke since January, and he scored in the playoff semi-final against Wales. Sead Kolasinac, the former Arsenal left back, remains a key figure. Nikola Katic, ex-Rangers and Plymouth, was one of the standout performers across the entire qualifying campaign.
The head coach is Sergej Barbarez, a 47-cap Bosnian legend who, as fan group BH Fanaticos puts it, "is an epitome of what it means to be Bosnian" — born in Mostar, of Serbian heritage, representing a country that still lives with the fractures of war in its football structures and its politics alike.
Why Bosnia deserve more respect than they'll get
The domestic game in Bosnia is tangled in sectarianism. Many Bosnian-born players — Lovren, Subotic, Sutalo, Iličić — chose to represent Serbia or Croatia instead. As Ervin Krantic of the BH Fanaticos notes, "the unfortunate reality is that the national team only falls to a certain amount of people." Qualifying for a World Cup under those conditions, with a squad drawn heavily from a global diaspora, is a genuine achievement.
Their group — Qatar, Switzerland, co-hosts Canada — is genuinely navigable. Bosnia are defensively compact, hard to break down, and dangerous in transition. If you're building a case for a group-stage surprise package, the xG-chasers and the casual punters alike will overlook them. Italy already showed what that costs you.
"I think we can get past the group stage," Krantic said. "This is our time to shine."
The stadiums in North America will be packed — over 400,000 people of Bosnian origin live in the US alone. They'll be loud, they'll be emotional, and their team will be organised. Bosnia won't be anyone's easy game this summer.
