Striker Bosnian
Tarik Hodžić
Born in Sarajevo, top scorer of the Yugoslav Second League at 22, top scorer of the Turkish Championship with Galatasaray at 32, and today the owner of Ćevabdžinica Galatasaray in the heart of the city.
- Born
- 1 December 1951, Sarajevo
- Position
- Striker
- Yugoslavia (squad member)
- — caps · — goals
- Clubs
- FK Željezničar (youth + senior) (1970–1975) · Famos Hrasnica (loan) (1970–1973) · NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1975–1976) · FK Velež Mostar (1976–1978) · RFC de Liège (1979–1981) · Galatasaray (1981–1984) · Sarıyer (1984–) · Bakırköyspor (late 1980s)
- Key
- Top scorer, Yugoslav Second League (1973) — 28 goals with Famos Hrasnica · Top scorer, Turkish Championship (1983–84) — 16 goals with Galatasaray; first non-Turkish player to win the Golden Boot · Top scorer, RFC de Liège (Belgian league) · Caretaker manager, FK Željezničar (1997) · Owner, Ćevabdžinica Galatasaray, Sarajevo
Tarik Hodžić was born in Sarajevo on 1 December 1951. He started at FK Željezničar’s youth team — the same Sarajevo club where Edin Džeko would start three decades later — and signed his first professional contract in the early 1970s.
The career that followed crossed five countries and two decades. The restaurant that followed named itself after the club where it peaked.
Željezničar and Famos Hrasnica
Hodžić was loaned from Željezničar to Famos Hrasnica, a smaller club in the Sarajevo suburb, where he played for three seasons (1970–1973). In 1973 he was the top scorer of the Yugoslav Second League with 28 goals. He returned to Željezničar for two seasons before moving on.
Through Yugoslavia — Olimpija and Velež
After Željezničar he played for NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1975–1976) and then FK Velež Mostar (1976–1978). Velež was one of the strongest clubs in Yugoslav football at the time — they won the Yugoslav Cup in 1981 and reached the last sixteen of the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Belgium — RFC de Liège
Hodžić moved abroad to RFC de Liège in Belgium (1979–1981), where he was the club’s top scorer. Belgian football in the early 1980s was competitive. The move established him as a player with a European market.
Galatasaray — the peak
He signed with Galatasaray in Istanbul in 1981. In the 1983–84 season he was the top scorer of the Turkish Championship with 16 goals (17 across all competitions that season). He was the first non-Turkish player to win the Turkish league’s Golden Boot. For a Sarajevan striker to lead the Turkish league at 32, playing for one of Turkey’s biggest clubs, was a career peak few Bosnian footballers of that generation matched.
He later played for Sarıyer and Bakırköyspor, both in Istanbul.
Return to Sarajevo
After retiring, Hodžić returned to Sarajevo. In 1997 he served as caretaker manager of FK Željezničar — the club where it had all started. The circle from youth player to manager, at the same club, with a war in between.
Ćevabdžinica Galatasaray
Today Tarik Hodžić runs Ćevabdžinica Galatasaray in the heart of Baščaršija. The restaurant is named after his former club. The interior is authentic, the grill specialties are the house language, and the tradition is long. The phone number is 033 535 446.
A footballer who scored 28 goals in one Yugoslav season and 16 in one Turkish season now grills ćevapi in the bazaar, under the name of the club where he did his best work. The second career is quieter than the first. The name on the sign makes sure nobody forgets the first.