Hasan Salihamidžić

Hasan Salihamidžić (; born 1 January 1977), nicknamed Brazzo (, , "Little Bro"), is a Bosnian former professional footballer who last served as sporting director of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. After starting his club career with German side Hamburger SV, he made a name for himself while playing for Bayern Munich for nine seasons with whom he won the Bundesliga title six times, DFB-Pokal title four times, the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. He also played for Italian club Juventus for four seasons.

He earned 42 caps and scored six goals for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is regarded by many as one of the most successful Bosnian football players.

Following the end of his one-year contract with VfL Wolfsburg in 2012, Salihamidžić retired from professional football. He then worked for Sky Deutschland, RTL and ZDF, before re-joining Bayern Munich as sporting director in 2017.

Early life Salihamidžić's father Ahmed and mother Šefika gave him the nickname "Braco", meaning "little brother" in Bosnian, since Hasan has an older sister, hence his current nickname "Brazzo". He finished elementary school and played for local club Turbina Jablanica. Then, Salihamidžić moved to Velež Mostar where he stayed until 1992. That year, Salihamidžić was called up to the Yugoslavia under-16 team, for a match against the CIS under-16 team in Belgrade.

Club career Hamburger SV In November 1992, Salihamidžić moved to Hamburg, Germany, with the assistance of Ahmed Halilhodžić (cousin of football coach Vahid Halilhodžić), who was also a Jablanica native and had emigrated to Germany.

As he spent many years being so loved in Munich and his children are from the city, Salihamidžić settled there when his playing career was over.

Juventus On 15 January 2007, Salihamidžić signed a four-year pre-deal with Juventus. He joined them the following June after his contract with Bayern had expired. In his first season, under coach Claudio Ranieri, Salihamidžić was a regular starter, albeit with injury lay-offs, and made 30 official appearances for his new club, scoring an impressive five goals which included two in a 3–2 victory against Milan on 12 April 2008. His second and third season with the club, however, proved to be less successful as he suffered from several injury lay-offs.

In the 2010–11 season, new coach Luigi Delneri excluded Salihamidžić from the team's plans. Along with Fabio Grosso, Salihamidžić was the only healthy first-team player that was excluded from the 25-men 2010–11 UEFA Europa League squad. Salihamidžić was released from Juventus when his contract expired in June 2011.

VfL Wolfsburg On 4 July 2011, Salihamidžić moved to VfL Wolfsburg on a one-year contract. On 9 July 2011, in a friendly game against local team Bismark, Salihamidžić's left arm was broken in a challenge with another player.

International career

Salihamidžić made his international debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 8 October 1996 against Croatia. On 6 November 1996, he scored the team's first goal in a friendly 2–1 win over Italy. During his 11 years with the national team, the closest they came was falling one goal short in a match against Denmark that would have enabled them to qualify for UEFA Euro 2004. He has earned a total of 42 caps, scoring 6 goals and his final international was an August 2006 friendly match against France.

Style of play During his career, Salihamidžić was a tactically versatile player, who usually played as a right midfielder or full back. Less occasionally, he would play center or left midfielder. Being a midfielder, he was observed as having a high work rate from his up-tempo style of play. His crossing and passing on the field were considered to be his strongest traits, as they were central in creating opportunities for his teammates to score.

Punditry After retiring from professional football in 2012, Salihamidžić started to work as a regular pundit for Sky Deutschland. From summer 2013 to spring 2014, he worked as a football expert for RTL and was a color commentator for during the 2013 Audi Cup. He was also an expert for ZDF from February 2014 until the UEFA Champions League Final and during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Administrative career Bayern Munich On 31 July 2017, Salihamidžić was appointed sporting director of Bayern Munich, following his predecessor Matthias Sammer's withdrawal from the job for health and family reasons a season prior in 2016. Salihamidžić signed a three-year contract until 30 June 2020. Bayern's Chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, "In Hasan, we have brought a man to FC Bayern who knows the club very well. He is a very hard-working, serious, loyal and very alert person with great integrity and he speaks five languages. His time in Italy means he has a great network that will definitely be very helpful in his job. We have complete confidence that he will be able to do the job as he should do."

Salihamidžić officially assumed his position on Bayern's executive board on 1 July 2020 as the "board director of sport".

He was sacked as sporting director on 27 May 2023.

Personal life Salihamidžić has three children: Selina, Nick and Lara June, all born in Munich, with his wife, Esther Copado. Footballer Francisco Copado is his brother-in-law, whose son Lucas (Salihamidžić's nephew) is a footballer for Bayern Munich, alongside Salihamidžić's own son, Nick.

Salihamidžić also holds German citizenship.

Career statistics Club Source:

International

Scores and results list Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 6 November 1996 Koševo Stadium, Sarajevo 1–0 2–1 Friendly 2. 8 October 1996 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna 1–1 1–4 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 3. 6 September 1997 Maksimir, Zagreb 2–2 2–3 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification 4. 27 January 1999 Ta' Qali National Stadium, Attard 1–0 1–2 Friendly 5. 4 June 2005 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle 1–0 3–1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification 6. 2–0

Honours Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 DFB-Pokal: 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 DFB-Ligapokal: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 UEFA Champions League: 2000–01 Intercontinental Cup: 2001

Individual Bosnian Sportsman of the Year: 2001 Bosnian Footballer of the Year: 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006