Marjan Mijajlović

Marjan Mijajlović
Marjan Mijajlović with an old Bosnian flag
Born	Marjan Mijajlović 17 March 1972 (1972-03-17) (age 39) Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
Occupation	Sports Commentator

Marjan Mijajlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Марјан Мијајловић) (born 17 March 1972 in Tuzla, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian Serb sports commentator.

Career

Mijajlović's career began in Serbian sports television station Sport Klub. In a short time he became popular in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to positive comments on the behalf of Bosnian players in the Bundesliga such as "...Be proud Bosnia because you have Vedad Ibišević" and "Congratulations Ibišević, Džeko dragons of Bosnia." After the 2007/2008 Bundesliga season was over, Mijajlović took a job with Bosnian NTV Hayat to commentate Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team matches. He commentated only one game (Belgium - Bosnia), which Bosnia won 4 - 2. This game increased Mijajlović's popularity to where he became a household name. His frantic yelling when Bosnia scored its first goal, and the words "Džeko, Džeko, Džeko, Diamond, Diamond, Diamond, Bosnia is leading" are known to every Bosnian fan who watched the game, and Bosnian team earned a new nickname: "Ćirini Zmajevi" (Ćiro's Dragons). A Bosnian-Serb reporter reported for this game said "the whole of Bosnia won this game, with a Serbian commentator, Croatian coach (referring to Miroslav Blažević) and a mostly Bosniak team." Bosnian Serbs for the first time came to Zenica in larger numbers to support the team of their homeland.^[1] However, several weeks after the legendary game, Mijajlović was fired from Hayat, due to disagreements with the sports redaction of Hayat.^{[clarification needed]} Mijajlovićsaid only "Let them do a better job if they are better than me." Immediately after this a Facebook group was opened: "Support Marjan Mijajlović - lets bring back the best commentator back to the tube" (Podrška Marjanu Mijajloviću - Vratimo najboljeg komentatora na male ekrane).

His style of commentating is unique to the area of former Yugoslavia, and it is similar to Brazilian and Turkish commentators. Mijajlović claims that this is because "...when I was little, my brother and I used to watch the Galatasaray in the Turkish League, whose commentators inspired me."

Return to TV

Today Mijajlović commentates every other game of the UEFA Champions League and the Bosnian football team for Bosnia and Herzegovina - FTV, and works for bosnian sport's portal SportSport.ba.

References

1. ^ "Zmaj od Bosne". Nezavisne Novine. 1 April 2009. http://www.nezavisne.com/komentari/kolumne/Zmaj-od-Bosne-39007.html. Retrieved 27 October 2009.