Barbarez Announces Lineup For Friendlies With England And Italy

A press conference was held today at the FFBiH headquarters in Sarajevo, where the new Bosnia and Herzegovina national "A" football team coach, Sergej Barbarez, announced the lineup for the upcoming friendly games with England and Italy. Besides the coach, the team director Emir Spahić also addressed the media.

The list can be downloaded HERE.

Barbarez expressed his satisfaction with the high media interest and said: “We’ve been thinking a lot over the past three weeks; we traveled a lot, just returning from Zagreb where we watched the Dinamo vs. Rijeka match yesterday. We believe we have a good start and we’ll see how things develop. Our idea is that the third goalkeeper should be from the BiH league. Newcomers in defense are Nikola Katić and Stjepan Radeljić; they’ve proven their quality, having played abroad. Nikola plays in Zurich and shows real leadership, while Stjepan is in Rijeka. We liked his technique, strength and height; he’ll fit perfectly in our plans. Tarik Muharemović will be a great addition, bringing up young players from the under-21 team. We’re getting very positive feedback from Juventus about him.”

He also added: “Krunić is still injured. I’d like him to join us even if he can’t play because he’s a key player in our team. I consider Tahirović and Huseinbašić as newcomers. Denis hasn’t played yet, and Benjamin has played a few matches. We expect Ivan Bašić to become an important player for the next 10-12 years. Our primary goal is to build a core team that will stay together for a longer period. Dženis Burnić is also a new player from Karlsruhe, who suits us very much at this moment, he’s a fighter, disciplined.”

Barbarez also commented on the attackers: “Demirović is our big asset, he’s grown into a top player. Players from the BiH league will always be rewarded, that's why Vuković is included. We want to send a message to players from our league that they can succeed and give them motivation.”

Spahić spoke about the new names on the list too: “We have new names, most of them we brought out from the teams where they grew up. Over the last month, we’ve been working on the paperwork needed for changing sports citizenship. All players have received the necessary documentation, and we’ll have them ready. The administration at FFBiH has been very helpful in this process.”

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Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Federation

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Website: https://www.nfsbih.ba