Brief History of Bosnia and Herzegovina football team

Bosnia and Herzegovina have seen a steady rise in their fortunes on the international football stage in recent times. From 1920 to 1992, the players lined out for the Yugoslavia but following the outbreak of the Bosnian war and subsequent independence, a new football nation rose from the ashes.

The early period saw them waiting until the 1998 World Cup qualifiers to compete for a place in a major competition. They finished fourth in a group including Greece, Denmark and Croatia, and further disappointment continued following mediocre campaigns in the EURO 2000 qualifiers, as well as the 2002 World Cup.

Bosnia came mighty close to qualifying directly for EURO 2004 narrowly missing out by a single goal to Denmark.

They failed to make the grade in the World Cup 2006 qualifiers despite being unbeaten at home and EURO 2008 saw their poor home form cost them dearly. They experienced double heartbreak bowing out twice in the playoffs to Portugal 2-0 on aggregate in the 2010 World Cup decider and 6-2 on aggregate in the EURO 2012 playoffs before finally breaking their duck by qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Bosnia finished a creditable third in their group which included Argentina and tasted their first victory thanks to a 3-1 win over Iran. Nigeria pipped them for second place in the group with a 1-0 win in controversial circumstances following an incorrectly disallowed goal by Edin Dzeko in the first half.

Bosnia finished third in Group B in the EURO 2016 qualifiers behind Wales and Belgium. They made a dreadful start to the qualifiers with a surprise 2-1 home defeat against Cyprus and managed to take just two points from four games which saw the dismissal of coach Safet Susic who was replaced by Mehmed Bazdarevic.

Since then the Bosnians performances have improved dramatically with five wins in their remaining six matches with victories over Wales and Israel which included three clean sheets. Bosnia and Herzegovina will be full of confidence going into the crucial two legged encounter with the Republic of Ireland next month.

The Bosnian team have some familiar names to fans of the English Premier League, Serie A and the Bundesliga. Players no doubt to watch will be Chelsea shot stopper Asmir Begovic, former Manchester City and current Roma striker Edin Dzeko who was top scorer in the qualifiers with seven goals in as many games, hard-working midfielder Senad Lulic of Lazio, and creative playmaker Miralem Pjanic of Roma.

Add to that Bosnia’s most capped veteran defender Emir Spahic of Hamburg and experienced striker Vedad Ibisevic of Hertha Berlin and there is plenty of food for thought for Martin O’Neill’s boys in green for the crunch two legged affair in November.

The first leg will take place in Bosnia on Friday 13 November (likely in Zenica), with the return second leg in Dublin on Monday 16 November (see more , including Martin O’Neill’s reaction, here).