18/06/2026
Even if you don’t follow football, you’ve probably seen that the small, heart-shaped country of Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 knocked Italy 🇮🇹 out of the World Cup. Italy - former champions - are not even playing this summer - it’s unheard of!
But this Bosnian team is special, and not because of who they beat. Their captain, Edin Džeko, spent his childhood under the longest siege of a capital city in modern history. Esmir Bajraktarević, the 21-year-old who scored the penalty that did it, was born in Wisconsin - his family was driven out of Bosnia during the war. That’s this team: the ones who stayed and survived, and the ones who were forced out and found their way back. Thirty years ago, people tried to erase them. This summer, they’re playing in front of the world.
Bosnia 🇧🇦 play Switzerland 🇨🇭 later today, and we’re cheering them on. But whatever happens at this World Cup, this team has already won a lot of hearts, ours included. And if they’ve made you want to see Bosnia for yourself - go properly. Not just for a holiday, but to pay your respects, to sit with the people who lived it, and to understand what it means that this country is still here at all. 🇧🇦
