Striker Bosnian

Edin Džeko

Born in Sarajevo, started at Željezničar at 17, 350+ career goals, Bosnia's all-time top scorer, and at 40 he captained the country past the World Cup group stage for the first time.

Edin Džeko in Bosnia colours, 2015. · Ph: Ailura · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 AT

Edin Džeko b. 17 March 1986, Sarajevo

Playing for Schalke 04 (Bundesliga). Retired from the national team; his announced farewell match was against Sweden in Zenica on 2 October 2026.

Born: 17 March 1986, Sarajevo
Position: Striker
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 151 caps · 73 goals
Clubs: FK Željezničar (2003–2005) · FK Teplice (2005–2007) · VfL Wolfsburg (2007–2011) · Manchester City (2011–2016) · AS Roma (2016–2021) · Inter Milan (2021–2023) · Fenerbahçe (2023–2025) · Schalke 04 (2025–)
Key: All-time top scorer and most capped player for Bosnia and Herzegovina · 350+ career goals (club + international) · Bundesliga champion with Wolfsburg (2008–09) · Premier League champion with Manchester City (2011–12, 2013–14) · Captained Bosnia past the group stage at the 2026 World Cup — the country's first knockout-round appearance

Edin Džeko was born in the Otoka neighbourhood of Sarajevo on 17 March 1986, during the last years of Yugoslavia. By the time the siege began in April 1992 he was six. His family home was destroyed. Fifteen family members lived in his grandparents’ apartment, which measured 35 square metres. He kept playing football outside in Otoka; on one occasion when his mother forbade him from going to the local pitch, a missile hit it and killed several children (per biographical sources). By the time the siege ended he was nine.

He grew up in the city’s post-war years, started playing football at FK Željezničar — the same Sarajevo club where Tarik Hodžić had begun three decades earlier — and signed his first professional contract in 2003, at seventeen.

The nickname came later: the Bosnian Diamond (Bosanski Dijamant). The career statistics make the case. Over 350 goals across club and international football in twenty-plus years: Željezničar, Teplice (Czech Republic), Wolfsburg, Manchester City, Roma, Inter Milan, Fenerbahçe, Schalke. The clubs get larger. The goals do not stop.

Wolfsburg — the Bundesliga title

Džeko joined VfL Wolfsburg in 2007. In the 2008–09 season, Wolfsburg won the Bundesliga — the club’s first and only league title. Džeko finished as the league’s joint-top scorer with 26 goals (sharing the Torjägerkanone with Grafite). The partnership between the two strikers that season remains one of the most productive in Bundesliga history.

Manchester City — the 93:20 title

In January 2011 he moved to Manchester City for a reported £27 million. The moment that defines his time there is 13 May 2012: the final day of the Premier League season. City trailing 2–1 to Queens Park Rangers, minutes from losing the title to Manchester United. Džeko’s header made it 2–2 in the second minute of stoppage time, setting up Agüero’s winner seconds later. The scoreboard read 93:20 — the most famous minute in Premier League history. City won the league for the first time in 44 years. Džeko won a second title with City in 2013–14.

Roma and Inter

At AS Roma (2016–2021) he scored 119 goals in 260 appearances, becoming the club’s all-time leading foreign scorer. He won the Serie A Golden Boot in 2016–17. At Inter Milan (2021–2023) he won the Supercoppa Italiana and reached the Champions League final in 2023.

Bosnia and Herzegovina — 73 goals in 151 caps

Džeko made his senior international debut in 2007. He earned 151 caps and scored 73 goals, the all-time record for Bosnia and Herzegovina on both counts. He has announced his retirement from the national team, with the Nations League match against Sweden at Bilino Polje in Zenica on 2 October as his last (Novosti).

Džeko was part of Bosnia’s 2014 World Cup squad in Brazil — the country’s first-ever appearance at the tournament. Bosnia exited in the group stage but earned their first World Cup win, beating Iran 3–1.

In the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, at the age of 39 and 40, he scored six goals, including a dramatic late equaliser in the playoff semi-final against Wales. Bosnia beat four-time champions Italy on penalties in the playoff final to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States — the country’s second appearance. This time they went further: Bosnia advanced past the group stage for the first time in their history before losing to the United States in the Round of 32.

Sarajevo

He was born in the valley. He started at Željezničar, on the south bank of the Miljacka, a fifteen-minute walk from Baščaršija. The stadium at Grbavica — FK Željezničar’s home ground — sits on the front line of the siege, in a neighbourhood that was shelled for three and a half years before Džeko turned nine. Every Sarajevan of his generation carries some version of that proximity. The difference is that Džeko carried it to the Etihad, the Olimpico, San Siro, and eventually to the World Cup.

Tram 11

On 27 September 2026 the city opened its first new tram line since 1962, from Hrasnica, south of Ilidža, to Baščaršija. The Canton numbered it 11, after the shirt number he wore as captain (Federalna, September 2026; Railway Pro). The first one left Hrasnica at 05:30. On its way to the old town it runs through Otoka, the neighbourhood where he kept playing football through the siege. The stops are on the Sarajevo map. The fare is the same as on every other line.

In the city

Trebević — the mountain above the city he was born in

Stories on the site

The siege — the war Džeko was born into