Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Canadian community ready for a World Cup party when team opens tournament vs. Canada
When Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Wales on March 26th on their path to qualify for the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup, Ahmed Salihović booked a ticket to Sarajevo.
The 22 year-old York University student knew that he had to be in his homeland for the final qualifying game, against Italy, that would determine who moves into the tournament that begins in June.
“I went to Bosnia to witness the atmosphere and just be there for the game,” Salihović said.
Salihović was born in New York, but spent his early childhood in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His family moved to Toronto in 2012. A fan of the Bosnian club FK Željezničar Sarajevo, he coordinated with a cousin in Sweden to meet in the capital. The match against Italy would be played in Zenica at Bilino Polje Stadium, 60 km north of Sarajevo and home to NK Čelik, a domestic team, and the national team.
The Balkan nation emerged victorious much to the despair of Italians worldwide. But the celebrations and the jubilation from Bosnia and Herzegovina reverberated globally as videos went viral. The streets in the small Eastern European nation were flooded with supporters of the game bursting with pride, and Salihović was among them.
“None of us expected them to make it through,” he said. “So we’re just happy to see our nation at a big tournament.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina will open their tournament June 12 against Canada in Toronto.
Like many from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the results of those intense qualifiers were rife with emotion and hope for a small nation only 30 years after a war that fragmented and divided it. The Bosnian war lasted three years between April 1992 and November 1995, leaving thousands dead and millions more as refugees fleeing the violence.
This moment in history for Bosnia and Herzegovina is not simply about soccer. It is about homeland, resilience, and the pride that manifests from that connection.
Adrian Gašpar was also in Sarajevo when Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the men’s World Cup. The 22-year old, born and raised in Ottawa, plays professional volleyball with ̈OK BOSNA Sarajevo in the Bosnian Premier League. He was watching the match with his friends from the student residences in the Bjelave neighbourhood. When Bosnia and Herzegovina won, they headed out to the Eternal Flame monument and joined over 150,000 people in unadulterated joy.
“That moment when we beat Italy was mental,” he said. “The whole group of us started crying, hugging, dancing, and singing: ‘I am from Bosnia, take me to America’, and throwing chairs across the lawn. It is something I will remember my whole life, and tell my children one day.”
While Gašpar and Salihović are from different religious communities, Orthodox Christian and Muslim respectively, they both are obsessed with soccer, count Edin Džeko as their favourite player, and are incredibly invested in the success of the Bosnia and Herzegovina team.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is coming to Canada — and it’s going to be the biggest in the competition’s history. It’s the first to be hosted in three countries — and Canada is hoping it’ll also have its first-ever World Cup win.
Bosnia and Herzegovina last qualified to the men’s 2016 World Cup in Brazil. While it was their first berth to a World Cup, Bosnia and Herzegovina did not make it out of the group stages but it was still an incredible memory for Gašpar.
“No one expected anything of us but we scored against Argentina,” said Gašpar, who watched the match with family at home. “It was the first time I have seen my own father and mother cry.”
Zeljka Malesevic-Skenderija was born and raised in Sarajevo and is very proudly Bosnian. She came to Canada in 1992 as the war began and understands why soccer matters so much to the country’s people.
“Bosnia carries memory, loss, pride, and stubborn hope, a World Cup qualification hits all of that at once. It is a rare moment of unity,” she said. “Sarajevo is a place of many identities, but football collapses all of them into one. For a few hours, the city was feeling like a single organism breathing in sync.”
Alija Topuz was watching the match against Italy with his wife, Jasmina, at a pub in Oakville, Ont.
“Bosnians are proud people even though we went through a horrible time,” said Topuz, 46, who moved to Canada with his family in 1994. After the match Topuz said he was overcome with emotion and at a loss for words. He was draped in the blue and yellow scarf as Jasmina proudly waved the flag.
There is a throughline through the story of Bosnia and Herzegovina qualifying that makes this journey unique: many of the players on the team are actually from the Bosnia and Herzegovina diaspora — they are the children of families who fled during the war.
Esmir Bajraktarević scored the winning penalty in the match against Italy dramatically beating storied goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. The 21-year old was born in Wisconsin to parents who fled Srebrenica in 1995. Bajraktarević has played with the USA national youth program, and started his career at the MLS’s New England Revolution. Currently, he plays with PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch League.
More than half of the players on the Bosnia and Herzegovina team were born in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or Sweden. But they are proud to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Topuz’s friend, Denis Sazdonovic, is also from Mostar. After coming to Canada in February 1995, he kept following the team despite the difficulty in finding broadcasts.
“I watched games of Bosnian national squad in ‘96 and ‘97 and ‘98 when the internet was so slow and [the picture] would freeze all the time,” he said with a laugh. He was watching the match against Italy at home with his father, brother and his kids. “When you realize what those [players] have done, you know, it really makes you proud.”
He mentions Tarik Muharemović, 23, who plays in Italy’s Serie A, and 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegović who plays in the Austrian league. For Sazdonovic, the chemistry of the players has been exceptional and shows a maturity of the squad beyond their years. “One thing that’s more important to me is how that group of players came together in such a short time and they live for each other, breathe for each other and play for each other.”
‘The only hope we had’
One might not expect there may have been bright spots during the war, but soccer was definitely one of them.
Emina Kapo, 33, is a teacher in Hamilton, Ont. She was born in a town in central Bosnia in 1993. “One year and six days after the siege of Sarajevo,” she said.
Her mother was fleeing violence during her labour, and had to walk through the forest trying to find a safe place to give birth. “She had blood running down her legs.”
The family settled in Sarajevo and stayed during the war before they moved to Canada in 2002. Kapo recalled her young heart being enamoured with her beloved city of Sarajevo and with her family. “Although it was war torn and post war growing up there, I fell in love and I just felt so complete and at home, regardless of how little we had,” she said. “We had so little, but we were so happy.”
Kapo said soccer provided an escape from war. Her cousins would play with rolled up socks or crumbled papers. Kapo’s voice begins to break when she emphasizes that for many Bosnians, soccer is more than a game. “They [cousins] were trying to go outside and play footy, because that was the one thing in all of that time during and post-war that gave you a moment to forget everything else and just enjoy the beautiful game.”
Kapo described the innocence of her friends playing in the streets that provided momentary pauses from horrific memories and a deep-seeded grief that encapsulated the country as they recovered from war.
Watching soccer with her family in Sarajevo was a huge part of her childhood memory — one that she hopes to re-create in June. As general director of the Bosnian Canadian Association, she is working with other organizations to not only create spaces for Bosnians to celebrate, but for there to be cultural exchanges and learning for Canadians along the way.
I will always be a Bosnian at heart — I can’t get away from that. But I can never forget what Canada has done for me and my family. You know, we came here, we built a life.– Denis Sazdonovic
Jasmin Begagic used to walk by the stadium in Zenica every day on the way to school. He spent a lot of time with his grandfather, Sefik, attending matches and cheering on NK Čelik, the local team. Begagic and his grandfather would sit in the stands and eat košpice (pumpkin seeds). His grandfather loved football and would teach him about plays, and was critical of what he saw on the field.
Begagic, now 51, grew up under the care of his grandparents until the war disrupted their lives. He fled Bosnia in April 1992 but was able to continue his studies in the U.S. After his grandfather passed away, he had a plaque made in his grandfather’s honour to commemorate their connection to the stadium. He has deep ties to Zenica and that the team qualified at that venue was particularly meaningful for him. He said that memories of his grandfather are inextricably linked to soccer.
Begagic has called Canada home since 2018 after living abroad for decades, and sees the silver lining of his birth country’s team playing his adopted country’s team on June 12.
“My team will win regardless of the outcome,” Begagic said.
Salihović and Gašpar feel a bit more torn.
“Toronto is home, in a way. But if you ask me, deep down in my soul, what I feel where I belong is definitely Bosnia,” Salihović said.
“I consider home to be Bosnia; the whole country from Sarajevo to Novi Travnik to Srbac,” Gašpar said. “You can take the man out of the Balkan but can never take the Balkan out of the man.”
“I will always be a Bosnian at heart — I can’t get away from that,” Sazdonovic said. “But I can never forget what Canada has done for me and my family. You know, we came here, we built a life. I met my wife here. I’ve had so many friends from different nationalities. Canada is definitely home, but my homeland is my homeland, and that’s a different emotion.”
‘That’s What We’re All About’
That Bosnia and Herzegovina is playing at BMO Field (rebranded “Toronto Stadium” during the World Cup) on June 12 is a source of excitement for many Bosnians. Kapo will be there.
“I am absolutely going,” Kapo said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ve got people and friends staying with me, two of my cousins, one from Sarajevo, one from Vancouver. They’re both in the BH Fanaticos (the Bosnia and Herzegovina supporters group), so they’re actually staying at my house. Our parents are like pre-wartime friends. So it’s a big, big reunion from Florida to Vancouver to Hamilton. We’re all going to be in one place, staying together and all traveling to the game together.”
According to Sazdonovic, there will be a lot of travellers coming from all over the world to the match in Toronto.
“You’ll see thousands of people on the street,” he said. “There’s no question about that.” Topuz said that being among other people from Bosnia and Herzegovina to take in the World Cup games is essential.
“Like it’s an energy that we all kind of enjoy and feed off of each other when a game is watched,” he said. “There’s a whole different element to the cheering and the energy that everyone experiences.”
Sazdonovic insists that the character of the people will have the most impact on fans from around the world, and on Canadians.
“Bosnians are very good people,” he said. “They’re very honest people. You’ll see the cheering that will be within the parameters of the game. But you’ll definitely find a lot of flags, a lot of emotion. That’s what we’re all about.”
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