Edin Džeko Bosnian Footballer Born 1986 in Sarajevo

Early life

Edin Džeko was born on 17 March 1986 in Sarajevo, then part of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Yugoslavia. His father also played football professionally in Bosnia and Herzegovina and drove him to training sessions during his time at the youth level of Željezničar. Džeko later enrolled at the University of Sarajevo to study sport and physical education, and he completed a bachelor's degree there in September 2018. He speaks Bosnian, Czech, German, English and Italian.

Career

Džeko started out as a midfielder at Željezničar in 2003. Coaches there thought him too tall and technically limited for the role, but his coach Jiří Plíšek recommended him to the Czech club Teplice, which paid a modest fee for him in 2005. After a short loan at Ústí nad Labem, where he scored six goals in 15 matches, he returned to Teplice and finished the 2006-07 season as the second-highest scorer in the Czech league. VfL Wolfsburg bought him in 2007.

At Wolfsburg he developed into one of the Bundesliga's leading strikers. In 2008-09 he scored 26 league goals and set up ten, forming a productive attacking partnership with Grafite and Zvjezdan Misimović, and the club won the first Bundesliga title in its history. He was the league's top scorer the following season with 22 goals. In January 2011 he moved to Manchester City for a reported £27 million, which set a Bundesliga record for a departing player. At City he won the FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League in 2011-12 and 2013-14, as well as the League Cup in 2013-14. In 2011-12 he scored four goals in one Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur, and on the last day of that title-winning season he equalised in stoppage time against Queens Park Rangers shortly before Sergio Agüero scored the winner.

Džeko joined Roma in August 2015, first on loan and then permanently. In 2016-17 he scored 39 goals in all competitions, 29 of them in Serie A, which made him the league's top scorer and the first Bosnian to achieve that. In the 2017-18 Champions League he scored in both legs of the quarter-final against Barcelona and in both legs of the semi-final against Liverpool, a run that took Roma to their first semi-final in more than three decades. He moved to Inter Milan in August 2021, winning the Coppa Italia in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and the Supercoppa Italiana in 2021 and 2022. He started the 2023 Champions League final against Manchester City, which Inter lost 1-0.

In June 2023 he signed for Fenerbahçe, scoring 21 league goals in his first season in Turkey and playing under José Mourinho in his second. Fiorentina signed him in June 2025, and in January 2026 he joined Schalke 04, which he helped to win the 2. Bundesliga in 2025-26. In August 2026 he extended his contract with the club, by then promoted to the Bundesliga.

Džeko made his senior debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 June 2007 against Turkey, scoring in a 3-2 win. He became the national team's top scorer in September 2012 with a hat-trick against Liechtenstein, was named captain in 2014, and scored in Bosnia and Herzegovina's first World Cup win, against Iran at the 2014 tournament. He also became the country's most-capped player. He was named in the squad for the 2026 World Cup, the second he attended, and announced that his final international appearance would be against Sweden on 2 October 2026.

Recognition

Džeko was named Bundesliga Players' Footballer of the Year for 2008-09, and was a Ballon d'Or nominee in 2009 and 2017. He won the Idol Nacije award in 2009 and the Sixth April Award of Sarajevo in 2013. Other distinctions include being named Bosnian Footballer of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and a place in the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season for 2017-18.

Public roles

In November 2009 Džeko became the first UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that role he has visited schools and children in his home country who were affected by the Bosnian War.

Personal life

Džeko married in 2014, and the couple have four children. He holds Bosnian and Croatian citizenship, and his cousin Emir Spahić also captained the national team.