He was born in Sarajevo in 1991 and the destiny brought him and his parents to Stuttgart, where he lives now. As he says, he never stopped feeling like a Bosnian. The hero’s name is Asmir Osmanagić, he is a bachelor in mechanical engineering, and currently a student of master studies in the same faculty. At the same time, he is a referee in football matches, and he has been dealing with that activity since the age of 14.
Asmir’s story begins in a somehow classical way, he is a boy who got to love the football ball when he first met with it and started training the most popular sport.
“Stuttgart has around 100, even 150 football clubs, and the most famous ones are VFB Stuttgart and Stuttgart Kickers. I started my career at the age of six in MTV Stuttgart. Since I has issues with asthma, my parents decided I should reduce football activity and start swimming or playing tennis. That did help me with asthma, but football was in my heart,” says this 24-year-old.
Asmir continued training swimming and tennis and playing football recreationally with his friends. One anecdote from a simple football match with friends brought him to the black shirt and a whistle.
“When I was about 12 years old, I was playing football with my father and friends. One man, who was then in a club from Stuttgart, noticed that I have a lot of sense for football and asked me whether I wanted to be a referee. Although it is unusual that someone starts dealing with that at such an early age, I accepted the challenge and already at 14 I judged my first match. It was raining and I judged a U12 match, those were boys who were only two years younger than me,” Asmir remembers.
Already at the age of 15 Asmir started judging matches of seniors and it was evident that he has a great potential. Thus, the fast progress and transition to stronger leagues and competitions was not surprising.
As of the next season, he will be a referee in the third German league that was won by Dynamo Dresden in the past season and in which teams such as Hansa Rostock, Energie Cotbuss, Fortuna, Osnabruck and others compete. He was also a referee in matches where numerous BiH international players played.
Asmir no longer has asthma issues thanks to regular trainings and healthy lifestyle. When asked about his career of a referee in the future, Asmir said:
“For now, I do not see myself in the second leaguer or in Bundesliga. I am focused on the third league where I will try to justify trust and opportunity. I just want to be as good as possible in this and if in the next several years I get a chance to go to a stronger league, I will be happy to take it. Currently it is very difficult to make prognoses. I also have hard times, I am dedicated to university and judging, while my friends party. I travel a lot, now I will even cross greater distances, but I know that will pay off one day,” said Asmir Osmanagić, one of the youngest referees in the history of the German third league.
(Source: korner.ba/photo: korner.ba)
