Bosnia and Herzegovina fans celebrated as their national soccer team made history in Seattle on Wednesday. The country has only appeared in one other World Cup, in 2014, and did not make it past the group stage. With Wednesday’s win, it’s the furthest they’ve ever been in the tournament, and for Bosnians everywhere, it means a lot.
The Bosnian war lasted from 1992 to 1995, resulting in the second-largest diaspora in the world, according to the United Nations. Nearly two million Bosnians live abroad, and about 350,000 live in the U.S. today.
Meliha Jusupovic was 11 years old when she immigrated to Seattle with her family in 1998.
“We basically had time to pack one bag and flee that city for another city, and that was kind of what we ended up doing throughout the war, was basically trying to dodge the primary fighting zones,” Jusupovic said. “Some of my family members were not so fortunate.”
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people were killed during the three-year war, including 8,000 Bosnian muslims, or Bosniaks, in what the United Nations considers a genocide.
“Bosnia will get brought up, and people who are older immediately remember the war,” Jusupovic said. “They're like, ‘Oh, it's the war,’ and then your country is constantly tied to like the hardest part of your life.”
Reaching the World Cup, Bosnia gets the chance to be seen in a different light, which Jusupovic said is important for her and others who survived the war.
“When another event like the World Cup happens, you're reminded, like, ‘hey, we've made it,’ we made it through a really, really horrible time in our history,” Jusupovic said. “It shows the resilience.”
Thousands visit Seattle to see Bosnia and Herzegovina play
Bosnians have rallied around the team, turning out in the thousands for their games in Toronto and Los Angeles. Seattle’s game was no different.
Many came from across the Northwest for Wednesday’s game, including a caravan of fans of Bosnian heritage from Spokane.
Miralem Cosic, a member of the Board of Directors of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Heritage Association of Spokane, said there are roughly 2,000 people of Bosnian heritage in the Inland Northwest. He said he estimates about 200 people from Spokane drove to see the game. He reflected on what it meant to watch the team win:
“It proves we are still here, and it completely bridges the gap between the older generation who remember what we lost and the younger generation born right here in the Pacific Northwest.”
Alma Zelkanovic drove up from Vancouver, Washington. She attended the game with her daughter Dalila Zelkanovic, who came up from Los Angeles.
“It feels like we were home…after this many years living here, yeah, it feels like home,” Alma Zelkanovic said.
“Beyond soccer or football, it really means a lot in terms of rewriting a narrative of a war-torn nation that is generally only known for its history,” Dalila Zelkanovic added. “I feel like this is such a momentous moment, where maybe we might be known for our tenacity, or our grit, or just our joy for life.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina will now face the United States
Fans celebrated the win long after the final whistle. There was an after-party organized by local Seattle Bosnian business, Baked in Bosnia, featuring musicians from across the country. All around the stadium, supporters in blue and yellow reveled in victory.
Armin Imamovic traveled from Augusta, Georgia with his dad and brother. For him, it meant the world to get to see the game with his dad, who emigrated from Bosnia and has religiously followed the soccer team.
“This man has never missed a game ever,” Imamovic said. “He does whatever he can to watch a Bosnia game. This is his team; he will rep it till the day that he dies.”
For a team that statistically was unlikely to qualify for the World Cup, where they’ve found themselves is more than they could’ve hoped for.
“Whatever happens next, it doesn't matter, but if we do win, you already know we're rioting until the wheels fall off,” Armin Imamovic said. “But if we don't, the future of this team is very promising.”
Bosnia will face the United States on July 1 in San Francisco in an elimination game.
Grace Madigan is a freelance reporter for the Northwest News Network, a collaboration of public media organizations in the Pacific Northwest.