Edin Džeko

Biography

Edin Džeko (born 17 March 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Nicknamed the "Bosnian Diamond" (Bosnian: Bosanski dijamant) or simply the "Diamond" (Dijamant), he is widely regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation. Having scored over 400 senior career goals for club and country, Džeko is the all-time top goalscorer and most capped player of the Bosnian national team. Džeko started his professional career at Željezničar in 2003. He then joined Czech side Teplice in 2005, who briefly loaned him out to Ústí nad Labem. Prior to joining Schalke, Džeko played for Manchester City, Roma, Inter Milan, Fenerbahçe and Fiorentina, but he made a name for himself while playing for German club VfL Wolfsburg, with whom he won the Bundesliga in the 2008–09 season. He was the second-highest goalscorer with 26 goals. In the 2009–10 season, Džeko was the top scorer with 22 goals. He also registered ten assists in both seasons. During the 2011–12 Premier League season, Džeko scored four goals in one game for Manchester City against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. On the final day of that season, he scored an equaliser against Queens Park Rangers in the 92nd minute, before Sergio Agüero scored the winning goal for City in the 94th minute, ensuring the team won a league title for the first time in 44 years. Džeko finished as the top scorer of Serie A in the 2016–17 season, scoring 29 goals for Roma. On 3 March 2018, he scored his 50th league goal for the club, thus becoming the first player ever to score 50 goals in three of Europe's top five major leagues. A former youth international for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džeko made his senior international debut in 2007, earning over 150 caps and scoring 73 goals since. Džeko became the highest Bosnia and Herzegovina goalscorer of all time on 7 September 2012 in a game against Liechtenstein, scoring a hat-trick to surpass Zvjezdan Misimović and Elvir Bolić. On 11 September 2018, in a game against Austria, he played his 95th game for Bosnia and Herzegovina and surpassed Emir Spahić to become the country's most-capped player. His ten goals in the qualifying campaign helped his national team qualify for its first international tournament, the 2014 International Football Cup. Twelve years later, Džeko's efforts led his national team to the nation's second International Football Cup qualification at the 2026 International Football Cup shortly after his 40th birthday.