Zvjezdan Misimović

Early career

Known in Germany as Zwetschge (a German plum) due to similar pronunciation to his first name, Misimović was a product of Bayern Munich youth academy. He played for four years with the club's reserve team, collecting 44 goals in 102 appearances. In the 2003–04 Regionalliga season, Misimović scored 21 goals, a personal best, finishing the league as top goalscorer jointly with Paolo Guerrero, his teammate. His first and only hat-trick on club level came in a 5–1 win over SC Pfullendorf on 2 November. Bayern II won the championship, but since being a reserve side, were barred from promotion, thus allowing 1. FC Saarbrücken to be promoted to the 2004–05 2. Bundesliga. During the 2002–03 Bundesliga season, he was able to play five times for the main squad. His senior debut occurred on 12 April 2003 in a 0–1 loss to Werder Bremen; he entered the match as a 78-minute substitute, replacing fellow midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. Misimović joined VfL Bochum at the start of the 2004–05 season. He left the club at the end of 2007–08 season after his contract expired, while his move to 1. FC Nürnberg was announced in January 2007. Misimović signed for 1. FC Nürnberg in July 2007, immediately becoming one of the most important players in the squad. He made his first appearance of the season in the opening championship week against Karlsruher SC. Later on 15 September, he opened his scoring account by netting his side's first goal in an eventual 2–2 home draw against…

Youth

Misimović made the FR Yugoslavia under-18 national squad at the 2001 UEFA European Under-18 Championship in Finland. Playing alongside seventeen-year-old Dejan Milovanović as well as eighteen-year-olds Nenad Milijaš, Danko Lazović, and Aleksandar Luković who would go on to become established players in their own right, nineteen-year-old Misimović scored twice at the tournament: the winning goal in the group stage match against Ukraine as well as against the host country Finland. Misimović later progressed to the FR Yugoslavia under-21 national team, but appeared in only one match as an 85th-minute substitute against France in November 2002. The under-21s head coach Vladimir Petrović soon dropped Misimović, reportedly telling the young player he was "overweight and slow".

Senior

By late 2003 and early 2004, twenty-one-year-old Misimović still had not made an appearance in any national team's full squad. Approached in the Bayern Munich gym by club teammate Hasan Salihamidžić about playing for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, Misimović was reportedly receptive to the idea immediately. After being put in touch with the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (N/FSBiH) officials Ahmet Pašalić and Munib Ušanović, the young creative midfielder's attachment to the team was agreed. He debuted for Bosnia under head coach Blaž Slišković on 18 February 2004 in a friendly match against Macedonia in Skopje. About a month later, in another friendly,…

Misimović was the director of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team from November 2022 to April 2024. After getting succeeded as director by former national teammate Emir Spahić, Misimović was employed by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an advisor. On 12 June 2025, he became president of FK Borac Banja Luka.

Misimović was born to a family of Bosnian Serb gastarbeiters who had come to West Germany from Bosanska Gradiška during the late 1960s.