Mehmed Baždarević (born 28 September 1960 in Višegrad, Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian football manager and former football midfielder. He is the current manager of the French Ligue 1 club Sochaux-Montbéliard. Baždarević played for Bosnian side Željezničar Sarajevo and Sochaux-Montbéliard, among others. Internationally he earned caps with Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. He retired as a player in 1998[1] and moved into management.
[edit] Playing career
Known as Meša in the former Yugoslavia and colloquially known as Mécha in France,[4] he is considered to be one of the best football players from Bosnia and Herzegovina ever. His professional playing career started in Željezničar Sarajevo in 1979. He played more than 300 games for the club. He was part of a team that managed to reach the UEFA Cup semifinals in 1985 under the guidance of Ivica Osim. In 1987, he moved to French side Sochaux-Montbéliard. He stayed at the club until 1996. He collected more than 350 appearances for FC Sochaux in various competitions.
After that, he played for Nîmes Olympique (1996–97 season) and Swiss side Étoile Carouge (1997–98 season) before he announced his retirement in summer of 1998.
[edit] International career
He also played for the national teams of two countries. He played for the Yugoslavia junior, Olympic and U-21 teams. He captained the U-20 national team that took part in the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1979. His debut for Yugoslav national team came in 1983. He collected 54 caps and scored 4 goals for the national team.
Baždarević began to play for the Bosnian national team in 1992 after Bosnia-Herzegovina gained independence. However, the team was not recognised by FIFA until 1995 in part due to the Yugoslav wars.
Baždarević international career is remembered for his spitting on the Turkish referee Yusuf Namoğlu during a qualifying match for the 1990 World Cup, against Norway played in Sarajevo. Baždarević was banned from the 1990 World Cup for the incident.[5]
[edit] Managing career
His coaching career started in Sochaux-Montbéliard where was an assistant and also a coach of the reserve squad. His first job as a head coach was at the Istres. He guided the club to its biggest success - entering the French Ligue 1 in 2004, which secured him a best Ligue 2 manager of the year award. On 16 July 2005, Baždarević took over Tunisian side Étoile Sportive du Sahel.[6] He reached the 2005 African Champions League final with the club. Baždarević was fired by Etoile on 12 April 2006, after a 1–0 home defeat to USM Monastir in their final league cost them the Tunisian League.[7][8][9]
Baždarević was employed as a head coach of Qatari Al-Wakra in 2006. In December 2006, he was a short list candidate for the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team coaching spot, but the job went to Fuad Muzurović instead.
Since December 2007, he has been managing French side Grenoble Foot 38 where he arrived on recommendation of his mentor Ivica Osim who knew Grenoble's Japanese owners from working with them in J-League with JEF United. At the end of 2007–08, led by Bazdarevic, Grenoble gained promotion to the French top league. In September 2010, he left Grenoble.[10]
On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as the head coach of the Sochaux for which he played professional football.[11]
[edit] Statistics
[edit] Manager
| Team |
Nat |
From |
To |
Record |
| G |
W |
D |
L |
Win % |
| Istres |
 |
2003 |
2005 |
62 |
21 |
19 |
22 |
33.87 |
| Étoile du Sahel |
 |
16 July 2005 |
12 April 2006 |
25 |
15 |
7 |
3 |
60 |
| Al-Wakrah |
 |
2006 |
2007 |
27 |
7 |
13 |
7 |
25.93 |
| Grenoble |
|
2007 |
2010 |
67 |
25 |
22 |
20 |
37.31 |
| Sochaux |
|
2011 |
Present |
16 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
25 |
- As of 10 November 2011.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Bazdarevic, Mehmed |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
|
| Date of birth |
28 September 1960 |
| Place of birth |
Višegrad, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|
