Hasan Salihamidžić

Hasan Salihamidžić (Bosnian pronunciation: [xǎsan salixǎmidʒitɕ]; born 1 January 1977), nicknamed Brazzo (Bosnian: Braco, pronounced [brǎːtso], lit. 'Little Bro'), is a Bosnian former professional footballer and current sporting director of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.[2] After starting his club career with German side Hamburger SV, he made a name for himself while playing for Bayern Munich for nine seasons[3] with whom he won the Bundesliga title six times, DFB-Pokal title four times, the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. His only match in the UEFA Super Cup ended in defeat.[4] He also played for Italian club Juventus for four seasons.

Hasan Salihamidžić
Salihamidžić with Juventus in July 2008
Personal information
Full name Hasan Salihamidžić
Date of birth (1977-01-01) 1 January 1977
Place of birth Jablanica, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Wide midfielder, full-back
Club information
Current team
 Bayern Munich (sporting director)
Youth career
1987–1991 Turbina Jablanica
1991–1992 Velež Mostar
1992–1994 Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1998 Hamburger SV 72 (19)
1998–2007 Bayern Munich 234 (31)
2007–2011 Juventus 61 (7)
2011–2012 VfL Wolfsburg 15 (3)
Total 382 (60)
National team
1996–2006 Bosnia and Herzegovina 42[1] (6)
Teams managed
2017– Bayern Munich (sporting director)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

During his career, Salihamidžić usually played as a right midfielder or full back. He was a quick and energetic player with an extremely high work rate. He was also gifted with good crossing and passing abilities, which allowed him to create chances for his teammates.

He earned 42 caps and scored six goals for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is regarded by many as one of the most successful Bosnian football players in recent times.

Following the end of his one-year contract with VfL Wolfsburg in 2012, Salihamidžić retired from professional football. He then worked for Sky Deutschland, RTL, and ZDF, before re-joining Bayern Munich as sporting director in 2017.

Early life

Salihamidžić's father Ahmed and mother Šefika gave him the nickname "Braco", meaning "little brother" in Bosnian, since Hasan has an older sister, hence his current nickname "Brazzo". He finished elementary school and played in the local club. Then, Salihamidžić moved to Velež Mostar where he stayed until 1992. That year, Salihamidžić was called up to the Yugoslavia under-16 team, for a match against the CIS under-16 team in Belgrade. Days after the match, Bosnian Serb troops began a siege on the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, forcing his father to look for opportunities in Western Europe for his son.[5]

Club career

Hamburger SV

In November 1992, Salihamidžić moved to Hamburg, Germany, with the assistance of Ahmed Halilhodžić (cousin of football coach Vahid Halilhodžić), who was also a Jablanica native and had emigrated to Germany.[5] Through Ahmed Halilhodžić's help, Salihamidžić joined the youth team of Bundesliga side Hamburger SV. He remained within the club's youth system for three seasons before being promoted to the senior squad. In his first season with the seniors, Salihamidžić made nine appearances, scoring two league goals.[5] The following season, Salihamidžić became an integral part of the squad as he would make 37 appearances and score an impressive seven goals between Europe and the league. He would go on to make 31 league appearances, scoring ten goals during the 1997–98 season, which would be his last for the club before his high-profile transfer to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich

Salihamidžić's transfer to Bayern Munich was completed during the 1998 summer transfer window, for an undisclosed fee. In his first season with his new club, 1998–99, Salihamidžić was instantly inserted into the club's starting line-up and made an impressive 43 appearances in all competitions, scoring five goals. During his first season, he came on as a substitute in the 89th minute of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United.

Salihamidžić would make an additional 46 appearances with three more goals in his second season for the Munich giants, in 1999–2000. His third season proved very successful as well, as he would score six goals in 46 appearances. Between 2001 and 2003, however, Salihamidžić lacked in appearances, mostly due to injury; he made just 50 appearances between both seasons in all competitions.

For the 2003–04 season, the Bosnian international worked his way back into the starting line-up for the entire season, making 47 appearances and scoring five goals, also tallying 43 appearances and five goals the following season.

Salihamidžić was limited to just 29 appearances for the 2005–06 season, but made 42 seasonal appearances in his final season with the club, in which he also scored five goals. One of Salihamidžić's most memorable plays in 2006–07 was in the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid, where he dispossessed Roberto Carlos and fed the pass to Roy Makaay, who beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas and set the record for the fastest goal in tournament history, at 11 seconds after kickoff. This helped Bayern overcome a 3–2 loss from the first leg to level the tie at 2–1 and advance on the away goals rule.[6]

As he spent many years being so loved in Munich, and his children are from the city, Salihamidžić settled there when his playing career was over.[7]

Juventus
Salihamidžić playing for Juventus in 2009

On 15 January 2007, Salihamidžić signed a four-year pre-deal with Juventus.[8] He joined them the following June after his contract with Bayern had expired. In his first season, under coach Claudio Ranieri, Salihamidžić was a regular starter, albeit with injury lay-offs, and made 30 official appearances for his new club, scoring an impressive five goals which included two in a 3–2 victory against Milan on 12 April 2008.[9] His second and third season with the club, however, proved to be less successful as he suffered from several injury lay-offs.

In the 2010–11 season, new coach Luigi Delneri excluded Salihamidžić from the team's plans. Along with Fabio Grosso, Salihamidžić was the only healthy first-team player that was excluded from the 25-men 2010–11 UEFA Europa League squad.[10] Salihamidžić was released from Juventus when his contract expired in June 2011.

VfL Wolfsburg

On 4 July 2011, Salihamidžić moved to VfL Wolfsburg on a one-year contract.[11] On 9 July 2011, in a friendly game against local team Bismark, Salihamidžić's left arm was broken in a challenge with another player.[12]

International career
Salihamidžić (sitting, third from left) with the Bosnia and Herzegovina squad during the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying

Salihamidžić made his international debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 8 October 1996 against Croatia. On 6 November 1996, he scored the team's first goal in a friendly 2–1 win over Italy.[13] During his 11 years with the national team, the closest they came was falling one goal short in a match against Denmark that would have enabled them to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004. He retired from the national team in 2006.

Television career

After retiring from professional football in 2012, Salihamidžić started to work as a regular pundit for Sky Deutschland. From summer 2013 to spring 2014, he worked as a football expert for RTL and was a color commentator for Heiko Waßer (de) during the 2013 Audi Cup. He was also an expert for ZDF from February 2014 until the UEFA Champions League Final, and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.[14][15]

Administrative career

On 31 July 2017, Salihamidžić was appointed sporting director of Bayern Munich, his predecessor Matthias Sammer had retired for health and family reasons a season ago in 2016. Salihamidžić signed a three-year contract until 30 June 2020. Bayern's Chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, "In Hasan, we have brought a man to FC Bayern who knows the club very well. He is a very hard-working, serious, loyal and very alert person with great integrity and he speaks five languages. His time in Italy means he has a great network that will definitely be very helpful in his job. We have complete confidence that he will be able to do the job as he should do."[16] Salihamidžić officially assumed his position on Bayern's executive board on 1 July 2020 as the "board director of sport".[17]

Personal life

Salihamidžić has three children: Selina, Nick and Lara June, all born in Munich,[18] with his German-born Spanish wife, Esther Copado. Footballer Francisco Copado is his brother-in-law.[19]

Career statistics

Club
Source: [20][21][22]
ClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalOther1Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hamburger SV1995–96 9200—92
1996–97 3274150—418
1997–98 31102150—3811
Totals 721962100—8821
Hamburger SV II1995–960010—10
Bayern Munich1998–99 3034013220495
1999–2000 3045316020537
2000–01 3142115220507
2001–02 195109121317
2002–03 122217210225
2003–04 334418010465
2004–05 292519220455
2005–06 212201010252
2006–07 2943010120445
Totals 23430287881015136548
Juventus2007–08 26441—305
2008–09 1111040—161
2009–10 1421030—182
2010–11 10000—100
Totals 6176170—748
VfL Wolfsburg2011–12 15311—164
Career totals3825942111051015154481

International statistics
National teamSeasonAppsGoals
Bosnia and Herzegovina 199642
199741
199850
199921
200040
200150
200250
200330
200450
200542
200610
Total426

International goals
Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 6 November 1996 Koševo Stadium, Sarajevo  Italy 1–0 2–1 Friendly
2. 8 October 1996 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna  Croatia 1–1 1–4 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
3. 6 September 1997 Maksimir, Zagreb  Croatia 2–2 2–3 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
4. 27 January 1999 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Attard  Malta 1–0 1–2 Friendly
5. 4 June 2005Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle San Marino1–03–12006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.2–0

Honours

Player

Bayern Munich[23]

Individual

Awards

References
  1. "Salihamidžić Hasan" (in Bosnian). nfsbih.ba. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  2. "Bayerns neuer Sportdirektor heißt Salihamidzic". kicker.de (in German). 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  3. Arnhold, Matthias (16 June 2016). "Hasan Salihamidžić – Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  4. Haisma, Marcel (16 June 2016). "Hasan Salihamidzic – Matches in European Cups". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  5. Wilson, Jonathan (31 January 2007). "Hasan Salihamidzic's heartening success story". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  6. "Makaay quick to make his mark". UEFA. 8 March 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  7. "Mein rotes Herz ist größer als das schwarz-weiße" (in German). 11freunde.de. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  8. "Salihamidžić agrees Juve move". UEFA. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  9. "Salihamidzic double seals Juve win over Milan". ESPN soccernet. 12 April 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  10. D'Andrea, Rick (1 September 2010). "Juventus Announce 2010–11 Europa League Squad". Goal.com. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  11. "Wolfsburg sign Salihamidzic from Juve". ESPN soccernet. 5 July 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  12. "Hasan Salihamidžić slomio ruku na utakmici" [Salihamidžić injured]. Sarajevo-x.com (in Bosnian). 9 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  13. "BiH – Italija 2:1". N/FSBiH. 6 November 1996. Archived from the original on 13 October 2009.
  14. "Ohne Katrin Müller-Hohenstein Die geheimen WM-Pläne der TV-Sender" [Without Katrin Müller-Hohenstein The secret World Cup plans of the TV stations]. Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Morgenpost Verlag. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  15. "WM 2014 im TV ARD und ZDF arbeiten eng zusammen" [World Cup 2014 on TV ARD and ZDF work closely together]. Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Morgenpost Verlag. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  16. "Salihamidzic appointed sporting director at FC Bayern". fcbayern.com. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  17. "Hasan Salihamidzic gains more authority as Bayern Munich's "board director of sport"". bavarianfootballworks.com. 3 June 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  18. "FCB Interview with Hasan Salihamidzic". Bayern Munich. 13 August 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  19. Mustroph, Tom (29 February 2008). "Ein bosnischer Bayer in Italien" [A Bosnian Bavarian in Italy]. Der Spiegel (in German).
  20. "Hasan Salihamidžić". Fussballdaten (in German). Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  21. Nicoletti, Claudio. "Hasan Salihamidzic – Matches in European Cups". Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  22. "Hasan Salihamidžić » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  23. "H. Salihamidžić". Soccerway. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
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