Dragons captain Edin Džeko announced his farewell to the football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose jersey he wore for 19 years.
He announced this sad news for all fans of our national team via social networks.
“Sometimes I would find myself wondering when this moment would come… But I never imagined how much emotion would come from writing these words.
On October 2nd, against Sweden, I will play my next and last match for our national team.
Nothing in my career could compare to the pride I felt every time I pulled on that jersey. Nothing.
It was my boyhood dream, a dream that I carried with me in each of the 151 matches in which I had the honor of representing my country on the football field. I have always been proud to be able to do it, just like the first time.
Almost twenty years have passed since that match against Turkey. So much has changed, and so have I, but my love for this jersey has never changed.
Now I feel that the time has come to retire. If I have reached the age of 40 playing for the national team, it is because I have truly given my all. Every time. Everything.
Playing for my country was the most emotional experience football has ever given me.
Qualifying for our first World Cup in 2014 remains one of the happiest moments of my footballing career.
The emotions I felt that night after scoring against Wales, and then in Zenica against Italy in March, will forever remain in my heart. Seeing my people celebrating in the streets of our cities was another incredible gift that football has given me.
There will be time to thank everyone who has been with me and supported me throughout this wonderful journey. For now, I just hope that you will be there that night against Sweden, so that we can share another emotion together… Because we have lived each of these incredible moments together.
And that is exactly how I want to experience my last night in the national team jersey: with all of you by my side, in the jersey that I have loved since I was a boy – and that I will love for the rest of my life,” Džeko wrote.
Džeko is the record holder of the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the number of appearances (151 matches played), as well as its top scorer (73 goals).
