Mehmed Baždarević

Mehmed Baždarević

Personal information
Full name	Mehmed Baždarević
Date of birth	28 September 1960 (1960-09-28) (age 51)
Place of birth	Višegrad, FPR Yugoslavia
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sochaux (manager)
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]	11	(0)
Teams managed
2003–2005	Istres
2005–2006	Étoile du Sahel
2006–2007	Al-Wakrah
2007–2010	Grenoble
2011–	Sochaux
Honours Men's Football Competitor for  Yugoslavia Olympic Games Bronze 1984 Los Angeles Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Mehmed Baždarević (born 28 September 1960 in Višegrad, Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian football manager and former football midfielder. He is the current manager of the French Ligue 1 club Sochaux-Montbéliard. Baždarević played for Bosnian side Željezničar Sarajevo and Sochaux-Montbéliard, among others. Internationally he earned caps with Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. He retired as a player in 1998^[1] and moved into management.

Playing career

He is considered to be one of the best football players from Bosnia and Herzegovina ever. His professional playing career started in Željezničar Sarajevo in 1979. He played more than 300 games for the club. He was part of a team that managed to reach the UEFA Cup semifinals in 1985. under the guidance of Ivica Osim. 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.

International career

He also played for the national teams of two countries. He played for Yugoslavia junior, Olympic and U-21 team. He was the captain of U21 national team that won inaugural European Under-21 football championship in 1978. His debut for Yugoslav national team came in 1983. He collected 54 caps and scored 4 goals for the national team.

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.

Baždarević international career is remembered for his spitting on the Turkish referee Yusuf Namoğlu during a qualifying match for the 1990 World Cup, against Norway played in Sarajevo. Baždarević was banned from the 1990 World Cup for the incident.^[4]

Managing career

His coaching career started in Sochaux-Montbéliard where was an assistant and also a coach of the reserve squad. His first job as a head coach was at the 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. On 16 July 2005, Baždarević took over Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel.^[5] 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.^[6][7][8]

Baždarević was employed as a head coach of Qatari Al-Wakra in 2006. In December 2006, he was a short list candidate for the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team coaching spot, but the job went to Fuad Muzurović instead.

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. At the end of 2007–08, led by Bazdarevic, Grenoble gained promotion to the French top league. In September 2010, he left Grenoble.^[9]

On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as the head coach of the Sochaux for which he played professional football.^[10]

Statistics

Manager

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Istres		2003	2005	62	21	19	22	33.87
Étoile du Sahel		16 July 2005	12 April 2006	25	15	7	3	60
Al-Wakrah		2006	2007	27	7	13	7	25.93
Grenoble		2007	2010	67	25	22	20	37.31
Sochaux		2011	Present	16	4	6	6	25

As of 10 November 2011.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Mehmed Baždarević at National-Football-Teams.com
2. ^ http://www.bazdarevic.net/Mecha_Joueur.php
3. ^ Mamrud, Roberto (29 January 2009). "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/double-caps.html. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
4. ^ http://www.cafe.ba/sport/16957_Mehmed-Bazdarevic-Svaka-cast-Ciri-no-on-nije-pravi-covjek-na-pravom-mjestu.html
5. ^ "Etoile Sahel get Bosnian coach". BBC Sport. 16 July 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/4689139.stm. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
6. ^ "Etoile du Sahel sack their coach". BBC Sport. 12 April 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/4903022.stm. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
7. ^ "Etoile name new coach". BBC Sport. 14 April 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/4910224.stm. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
8. ^ "Scoreline". The Telegraph. 15 April 2006. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060415/asp/sports/story_6102230.asp. Retrieved 10 February 2009. 
9. ^ http://www.leparisien.fr/sports/football/grenoble-pouliquen-remplace-bazdarevic-au-poste-d-entraineur-06-09-2010-1057397.php
10. ^ "Communiqué Officiel" (in French). FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. 10 June 2011. http://www.fcsochaux.fr/fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2894&Itemid=106. Retrieved 11 June 2011. 

External links

• (French) Official Website
• Mehmed Baždarević French league stats at LFP.fr (French)^{[dead link]}
• Mehmed Baždarević at National-Football-Teams.com
• Mehmed Baždarević - Footballdatabase.eu

Persondata
Name	Bazdarevic, Mehmed
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 September 1960
Place of birth	Višegrad, FPR Yugoslavia
Date of death
Place of death