Mehmed Baždarević

Mehmed Baždarević (born 28 September 1960) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Ligue 2 club Paris FC.

Mehmed Baždarević
Baždarević as Al-Wakrah manager in September 2012
Personal information
Full name Mehmed Baždarević
Date of birth (1960-09-28) 28 September 1960
Place of birth Višegrad, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1987 Željezničar 229 (22)
1987–1996 Sochaux 308 (20)
1996–1997 Nîmes 32 (0)
1998 Étoile Carouge 6 (0)
Total 575 (42)
National team
1983–1992 Yugoslavia[1] 54 (4)
1996 Bosnia and Herzegovina[2][3] 2 (0)
Teams managed
1998–2003 Sochaux (assistant)
2003–2005 Istres
2005–2006 Étoile du Sahel
2006–2007 Al-Wakrah
2007–2010 Grenoble
2011–2012 Sochaux
2012–2013 Al-Wakrah
2014–2017 Bosnia and Herzegovina
2018–2019 Paris FC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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

Internationally, Baždarević 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 team.[4] He retired as a player in 1998 and moved into management.

Club career

Željezničar

Born in Višegrad, SFR Yugoslavia, present day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Baždarević's professional playing career started in Željezničar in 1978. He was part of the team that managed to reach the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1985 under the guidance of Ivica Osim.

In the 1980–81 season, Željezničar reached the Yugoslav Cup final (Marshal Tito Cup final), with 20-year-old Baždarević scoring two goals in a 2–3 loss to another Bosnian side Velež Mostar. The venue of the final was Red Star Stadium in Belgrade played in front of 40,000 football fans.

Baždarević played more than 300 games for the club.

Sochaux

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

Later career and retirement

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

As a player, Baždarević was targeted by many clubs including Barcelona, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.[5]

International career

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

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

Managerial career

Early career

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

Istres

Baždarević's first job as a manager 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 du Sahel.[6] He reached the 2005 CAF 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 game which cost them the Tunisian championship.[7][8][9]

Al-Wakrah

Baždarević was employed as manager of Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah in 2006.

Grenoble

In December 2007, Baždarević became the manager of French side Grenoble 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 Chiba. He rejected offers from top league clubs Le Mans and Nice to take over Grenoble. At the end of the 2007–08 Ligue 2 season, Grenoble, led by Baždarević, gained promotion to the Ligue 1, for the first time in their history.[10] Under Baždarević, the club reached the French Cup semi-finals during the 2008–09 season.

In September 2010, he left Grenoble due to financial reasons.[11]

Sochaux

On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as manager of Sochaux, for which he played as a player.[12] He was sacked on 6 March 2012, due to poor results after only 8 months in charge.[13]

After Sochaux, he had interest to manage clubs from Serbia and Belgium.[14]

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Baždarević managing Bosnia and Herzegovina in a friendly match against Austria on 31 March 2015.

On 13 December 2014, Baždarević was named head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, beating Milovan Rajevac for the position.[15][16] Among other candidates were Vahid Halilhodžić,[17][18][19] Igor Štimac,[20] and Felix Magath.[21] He replaced Safet Sušić, who was sacked by N/FSBiH due to a run of poor results in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying having only taken two points in four matches.[22] Bosnia and Herzegovina improved considerably under Baždarević and reached the play-off stage for Euro 2016, where they were unfortunately eliminated by the Republic of Ireland with a 3–1 aggregate score. In the aftermath, Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević, former national team head coach and successful manager, blamed Baždarević for Bosnia's elimination against the Republic of Ireland.[23]

On 9 November 2015, the Bosnian FA extended the contract with Baždarević till after the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier campaign.[24] He won his first managerial trophy with Bosnia and Herzegovina after beating Japan 2–1 in the 2016 Kirin Cup final.[25]

After not qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Baždarević's contract expired and shortly after was left of his duties as the head coach after three years in charge.[26]

Paris FC

On 15 June 2018, Baždarević was named manager of Ligue 2 club Paris FC on a two-year contract.[27] In his first season, the French team finished on a good 4th place. However, on 30 December 2019, Baždarević was sacked due to poor results in the following season.

Personal life

Baždarević's wife, Marina Baždarević, was born in Belgrade, Serbia.[14] 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, works as a journalist in France.[29][30]

Career statistics

International goals
Scores and results table. Yugoslavia's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1 14 December 1983 Cardiff, Wales  Wales 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
2 20 October 1984 Leipzig, East Germany  East Germany 1–1 2–3 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 14 September 1988 Oviedo, Spain  Spain 1–1 1–2 Friendly
4 14 November 1990 Copenhagen, Denmark  Denmark 0–1 0–2 UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying

Managerial statistics
As of 21 December 2019[31]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref.
PWDLWin %
Istres 1 July 2003 9 January 2005 63 22 19 22 034.92 [32]
Étoile du Sahel 16 July 2005 12 April 2006 35 21 10 4 060.00 [32]
Al-Wakrah 1 July 2006 30 June 2007 27 7 13 7 025.93 [32]
Grenoble 1 July 2007 5 September 2010 132 37 37 58 028.03 [32]
Sochaux 10 June 2011 6 March 2012 30 4 10 16 013.33 [32]
Al-Wakrah 23 May 2012 3 June 2013 32 9 9 14 028.13 [32]
Bosnia and Herzegovina — 13 December 2014 10 October 2017 25 14 5 6 056.00 [32]
Paris FC 15 June 2018 30 December 2019 64 25 17 22 039.06 [32]
Total 408 139 120 149 034.07 —

Honours

Player

Sochaux

Yugoslavia

Manager

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Individual
  • Baždarević's international career is remembered for his spitting on Turkish referee Yusuf Namoğlu during a qualifying match for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, against Norway, which was played in Sarajevo. Baždarević was banned from the 1990 FIFA World Cup for the incident. Yugoslavia reached the quarter-finals at the tournament.
  • Baždarević again missed a major tournament, this time the entire Yugoslav team was excluded from taking part in UEFA Euro 1992, having already qualified, because of UN sanctions due to the Yugoslav Wars.[33] Denmark instead took their place and, ironically, won the 1992 championship. On 14 November 1990, Baždarević scored a goal against Denmark in Copenhagen during the qualification for the tournament.[34]
  • During the early 1990s, a Yugoslav sketch comedy TV show, Top lista nadrealista, made Baždarević a popular figure, due to the spitting incident on the Turkish referee.[35]

References
  1. "Mehmed Baždarević". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Mamrud, Roberto (29 January 2009). "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  4. Fuad Krvavac (12 October 2012). "Prije 16 godina BiH je igrala sa Grčkom u Kalamati". klix.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  5. sportsport.ba (13 April 2009). "Cijenim Ćiru, ali nije za reprezentaciju". sportsport.ba. Sarajevo. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  6. "Etoile Sahel get Bosnian coach". BBC Sport. 16 July 2005. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  7. "Etoile du Sahel sack their coach". BBC Sport. 12 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  8. "Etoile name new coach". BBC Sport. 14 April 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  9. "Scoreline". The Telegraph. 15 April 2006. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  10. http://www.jutarnji.hr/ekskluzivno-za-jl-novi-izbornik-bih-bazdarevic---krecem-u-lov-na-15-bodova-osvojiti-cemo-3--mjesto-/1259022/
  11. "Otići ću ako mi pukne film". sportsport.ba (in Bosnian). 1 October 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
  12. "Communiqué Officiel". FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (in French). 10 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  13. "Communiqué Officiel". FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (in French). 6 March 2012. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  14. "Baždarević priznao da su ga zvali iz Crvene zvezde". sportsport.ba (in Bosnian). 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  15. "Mehmed Baždarević je novi selektor reprezentacije BiH!". klix.ba (in Bosnian). 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  16. "Mehmed Bazdarevic Named Bosnia-Herzegovina's New Manager". bhdragons.com. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  17. Reprezentacija.ba (19 November 2014). "Čelnici F/NSBIH uskoro na sastanku sa Vahidom Halilhodžićem". Reprezentacija.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  18. Radiosarajevo.ba (19 November 2014). "Vahid Halilhodžić za Radiosarajevo.ba: Nažalost, politika vlada u BiH, bilo bi teško raditi". Radiosarajevo.ba (in Bosnian). Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  19. Eren Sarigul (19 November 2014). "Vahid Halilhodzic rejects Bosnia job". Turkish-Football.com. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  20. Jasmin Ligata (25 November 2014). "Ekskluzivno: Štimac kandidat za izbornika BiH". goal.com. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  21. Nick Ames (5 December 2014). "Felix Magath to hold talks over Bosnia managerial position". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  22. Fuad Krvavac (17 November 2014). "Sušić tenure ends with Bosnia and Herzegovina". uefa.com. Sarajevo. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  23. sport.ba (18 November 2015). "Ćiro nakon poraza od Irske pronašao krivca". Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  24. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. Kirin Cup soccer2016 at jfa.jp
  26. Baždarević: Imao sam plan sa BiH, igrači su tražili da ostanem at sportsport.ba, 5 December 2017
  27. "Paris FC : Le nouveau coach dévoilé (off)" (in French). foot-national.com. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  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.
  31. "Mehmed Baždarević". Sofascore (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  32. "Mehmed Baždarević at FootballDatabase.eu". Footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  33. "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  34. "Denmark 0 – 2 Yugoslavia". uefa.com. uefa.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  35. "Šta Nadrealisti kažu o izboru Mehmeda Baždarevića za selektora BiH". radiosarajevo.ba. radiosarajevo.ba. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
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