Mehmed Bazdarevic has been named as the new coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the national football federation announced on Saturday. The 54-year-old replaces Safet Susic, who led the country to their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup™ finals in Brazil this year but was sacked in November after a poor start to their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying campaign.
“I am very happy and proud to be the new national coach,” Bazdarevic told website sportsport.ba. “The situation is difficult and I think everyone is aware of that. We need to create a good atmosphere within the national team to get back a winning mentality.”
Bosnia are second-bottom in EURO 2016 qualifying Group B with just two points from four games and sit six points adrift of second-placed Wales, with the top two teams going through automatically to the finals in France. They lost 3-0 in Israel in their most recent qualifier on 16 November.
Bazdarevic was a Yugoslavian international as a player who had long spells at Zeljeznicar Sarajevo and French side Sochaux. He has coached in France, including at Grenoble and Sochaux, and has also worked in Tunisia and in Qatar.
(Source: FIFA)
