Anel Hadzic is not a player many people think of, when they think of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s national football team. Usually stars such as Edin Dzeko (Manchester City), Miralem Pjanic (Roma) or Asmir Begovic (Stoke City) come to mind. However, the hardworking Hadzic has gained a lot of Bosnian fan favor over the last couple of months with his performances for club and country.
The 25-year-old Velika Kladuša native never took the easy path. Immigrating to Austria at a young age with his parents due to the war in his native Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hadzic, like many of his national teammates was a child of the war. He began his football career at Wels, soon transferring to Ried where he made his name and eventually earned a transfer to the more prestigious Sturm Graz.
Hadzic even represented Austria on the youth level, being capped twice on the U-21 team. However, Hadzic always made his intentions clear, he wanted to represent Bosnia-Herzegovina on the senior level. His journey to do just that was never easy. Paperwork took months, and Hadzic personally followed up with phone calls and visits in order to ensure everything was proceeding.
Ironically, he got his chance in a friendly match against Egypt that was played in Austria. Hadzic only played 44 minutes, but the experience meant the world to the player. “To represent my country in this way is an unbelievable feeling. I always dreamed of something like this.”
Hadzic was soon incorporated in Safet Susic‘s 23-man-roster and even played 61 minutes in Bosnia’s 3-1 win over Iran at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. However Hadzic truly won the hearts of the fans with his most recent performances, playing at a position he never had any true experience with. Because of rampant injuries to the defense, Susic was forced to utilize Hadzic as an emergency centre-back, playing alongside Toni Sunjic. The duo shut out Gareth Bale and Wales in Cardiff, and even defended very well against Eden Hazard and the high flying Belgian offense. Their only goal in the 1-1 Zenica draw came from a Nainggolan long distance shot that was not their mistake or fault.
Anel Hadzic has proven to be the epitome of the scrappy, hard working team player that so many teams desperately need in their squad.
(Source: BH dragons)
