Vedad Ibišević

Vedad Ibišević is a forward of VfB Stuttgart and the Bosnian national team. He was born in Vlasenica, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (former SFR Yugoslavia).

Ibišević was born before the break-up of Yugoslavia. His parents were the Bosnians, but most citizens in his native town Vlasenica were the Serbs. This fact wouldn’t have affected the life of the future footballer, but for the Civil War that started 7 years later. Strained relations between the nationalities made Vedad’s family leave Vlasenica and settle in a much safer Bosnian city Tuzla. Ibišević started playing football there and caught the eye of the Bosnian national youth team managers. However, the life in Tuzla didn’t improve, which led to the Ibišević family’s move to Switzerland in 2000. In Switzerland Vedad spent some time at FC Baden youth team, but soon they had to leave the country due to strict Swiss immigration policy. At that point the family moved to St. Louis in the United States.

The future footballer wasn’t broken by his difficult childhood and went on playing first with the St. Louis Strikers and then with Chicago Fire Premier. He was offered to represent the US national squad, but the Bosnian decided to be faithful to his home country. During training with the national youth squad, Ibišević was spotted by Vahid Halilhodžić, the manager of Paris Saint-Germain, who was impressed by the young player’s performance and offered him a contract with the renowned French club. So, Vedad began his professional career in football.

The footballer initially saw little action, and was sent out on loan to French 2nd Ligue club Dijon FCO. In 2005 Ibišević signed a 2-year deal with the club, where he got the necessary experience. In May 2006 the Bosnian moved to Germany and signed a 3-year contract with Alemannia Aachen. During the 2006/07 season he made 24 appearances, scoring 6 goals for the German club. On 12 July 2007 Vedad was purchased by another German club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for a fee of €1 million.

Ibišević didn’t manage to impress in the first season with 5 goals in 31 matches of the Second Division, however his team received promotion to the 1st Bundesliga. The footballer was likely to leave the club after the poor season, but the manager Ralf Rangnick decided to make Vedad the key forward. Thus, Ibišević became an indispensable part of the squad, that was about to play in the Bundesliga. The Bosnian kicked off the 2008/09 Bundesliga season in good fashion, firing 2 goals in Hoffenheim's first appearance in the 1st Division versus Energie Cottbus and justifying the coach’s expectations. During the 1st half of the season Ibišević amassed 18 goals and seven in 17 matches, becoming the league's top scorer. On 14 January 2009 Vedad was injured in a friendly game versus Hamburger SV. The final examination confirmed cruciate ligament tearing, which kept him out of business for the rest of the season.

On 1 February 2012 the Bosnian transferred to VfB Stuttgart for a fee of €5.5million, signing a 4-year contract with the Swabians. He left Hoffenheim as one of the club’s leaders.

Ibišević made his senior international debut for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 March 2007 in the Euro 2008 qualifier versus Norway. He hasn’t achieved great results on the international stage, mostly due to the general poor level of the Bosnian squad. However, his attacking tandem with Džeko was quite a powerful striking force by European standards.