October 2, and then that is it
Edin Dzeko has picked his moment. The 40-year-old striker announced on Thursday morning that Bosnia’s home game against Sweden on October 2 in the Nations League will be his final appearance in the national shirt. Three days later, his team-mates will face Poland without him.
The date is no accident. Dzeko wanted to bow out at home, in front of his own fans, rather than let his international career drift on without a proper ending. He said as much in a long message on his social media accounts, writing that he wants to leave the national team “with the shirt I have loved since I was a child and will love for the rest of my life”.
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Seventy-three goals, and nobody within reach
The numbers tell the story of a statistical outlier. First capped in 2007, 162 appearances, 73 goals. No Bosnian has ever come close to that haul, and nobody in the current squad looks likely to threaten it. For a federation founded in 1992, Dzeko alone accounts for a huge slice of the country’s attacking history.
He was the captain, yes, but more than that, he was the driving force. Bosnia’s first qualification for a World Cup, in 2014, bears his stamp. So does the second: six goals in qualifying, then a play-off won on penalties against Italy, which still stands as probably the wildest night this team has ever known.
A round of 16 at 40, with the armband on
This summer, Dzeko played his last major tournament. Starting, captaining, carrying Bosnia all the way to the round of 16 before elimination against the United States. At 40, even making a finals is unusual. Finishing one with the armband is next level.
Now the question is who comes next. No Bosnian striker has emerged with that kind of status in recent years, and the Nations League campaign ahead will be a proper test. Dzeko, meanwhile, says he now has “the feeling that the time has come to make way”.
It took him nineteen years to say it.
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