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Zvjezdan Misimović

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Zvjezdan Misimović
Personal information
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Attacking Midfielder, Left Winger
Team information
Current team
 Wolfsburg
Number 10
Youth career
SV Nord Lerchenau
TSV Forstenried
SV Gartenstadt Trudering
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2004 Bayern Munich II 102 (44)
2002–2004 Bayern Munich 3 (0)
2004–2007 Bochum 92 (21)
2007–2008 Nuremberg 28 (10)
2008– Wolfsburg 45 (13)
International career‡
2002 FR Yugoslavia U21 1 (0)
2004– Bosnia and Herzegovina 45 (16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 November 2009 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 October 2009

Zvjezdan Misimović (born 5 June 1982 in Munich) is a German-born Bosnian footballer. Misimović is the co-captain of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Early life

Misimović's parents are Bosnian gastarbeiters who came to West Germany from Bosanska Gradiška during the late 1970s.

Club career

Known in Germany as Zwetschge (German word for damson plum) due to similar pronunciation to his first name, Misimović played for Bayern Munich in the past, but joined VfL Bochum at the start of the 2004–05 season and then moved on to 1. FC Nuremberg in July 2007. He led the Bundesliga in assists during the 2008–09 season with 18 (23 in all competitions).

Misimović signed a four year contract to 2012 at VfL Wolfsburg.

International career

Youth level

Misimović played for the FR Yugoslavia under-19 national squad, appearing with them at the 2001 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship held in Finland. In that team he played alongside Nemanja Vidić and Danko Lazović.[1]

Misimović later progressed to the FR Yugoslavia under-21 national team, but appeared in only one match as the 85th substitute against France in November 2002. Head coach of the under-21s at the time Vladimir Petrović Pižon soon cut Misimović, telling him he's overweight and slow.[2][3]

Senior

By late 2003 and early 2004, 21-year-old Misimović was still unattached to any senior national team. He got approached by then teammate at Bayern Munich - Hasan Salihamidžić - about a possibility of playing for Bosnia.[4] Misimović accepted and debuted for the national team of Bosnia-Herzegovina under head coach Blaž Slišković on February 18, 2004 in a friendly versus Macedonia. Later on during 2007, under head coach Fuad Muzurović, Misimović got to be the captain of the national team.

After Meho Kodro replaced Muzurović as the new head coach in early January 2008, one of the changes he introduced was stripping Misimović of the captain's armband and giving it to Emir Spahić. On 8 April 2008, Misimović (still only 25 years of age at the time) announced his retirement from the national team, stating that he's doing so out of health concerns as he feels no longer able to keep up with the physical rigors of playing for both the club and the country.[5] However, many speculated that health had little to do with Misimović's sudden announcement. This was in essence confirmed two days later by the Bosnian national team general manager Elvir Bolić who said that Misimović may have softened his original stance and that new head coach Meho Kodro will travel to Germany in order to visit with the player personally and discuss the "real reasons" for his decision.[6] On 12 April 2008, after speaking to Kodro, Misimović changed his mind and the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that he had decided to continue his international career.[7]

He scored a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Estonia.

Career Stats

season club country league app goals
2002/03 FC Bayern Munich  Germany Bundesliga 1 0
2003/04 FC Bayern Munich  Germany Bundesliga 2 0
2004/05 VfL Bochum  Germany Bundesliga 31 3
2005/06 VfL Bochum  Germany Bundesliga 29 11
2006/07 VfL Bochum  Germany Bundesliga 30 7
2007/08 1. FC Nürnberg  Germany Bundesliga 28 10
2008/09 VfL Wolfsburg  Germany Bundesliga 33 7
2009/10 VfL Wolfsburg  Germany Bundesliga 12 6
Total 165 44

Personal

His wife, Stefanija, is from Strumica, Macedonia and they have a son, Luka, born in 2004.

Honours

References

  1. ^ Mešano "meso", Kurir, October 7, 2004
  2. ^ Oteran iz Srbije, u Bundesligi postao zvezda, novine.ca, April 25, 2008
  3. ^ Wolfsburg and Bosnia's dynamic duo get chance to make history of their own, Jonathan Wilson's blog @ guardian.co.uk, September 29, 2009
  4. ^ Zvjezdan Misimović - mozak Ćirine ekspedicije, sarajevo-x.com, July 11, 2009
  5. ^ Zvjezdan Misimović napušta reprezentaciju BiH, BHRT, April 8, 2008
  6. ^ Bolić: Misimović malo smekšao stav, sportsport.ba, April 10, 2008
  7. ^ Misimović se predomislio i igraće za BiH!, sportsport.ba, April 12, 2008
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