Elvir Bolić (; born 10 October 1971) is a Bosnian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his 18-year professional career in Turkey, appearing for seven clubs including

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

and Fenerbahçe. He also played three years in Spain, with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

. Bolić represented

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

during one full decade.

Club career

Čelik and Red Star

Born in

Zenica Zenica ( ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, Bolić started playing with local NK Čelik, being one of the players in the club that would later represent the independent Bosnian national team, including

Senad Brkić Senad Brkić (born 3 September 1969) is a Bosnian former professional footballer and current football manager who is in charge of the Čelika Zenica under-19 team. Club career In his career Brkić played for Bosnian club Čelik Zenica on two o ...

, Mirsad Hibić and

Nermin Šabić Nermin Šabić (born 21 December 1973) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. Club career Born in Zenica, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, back then part of SFR Yugoslavia, Šabić started playing with hometown club Čelik Zeni ...

. In December 1991, Bolić was acquired by Yugoslav powerhouse

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

– defending champions of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

– after impressing managers

Vladimir Cvetković Vladimir Cvetković ( sr-cyr, Владимир Цветковић; born 24 May 1941) is a Serbian former basketball player and sports administrator who is the honorary president of Crvena zvezda. He played with KK Crvena zvezda for 13 seasons. W ...

and

Dragan Džajić Dragan Džajić ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Џајић; born 30 May 1946) is a Serbian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Football Association of Serbia from 14 March 2023. Džajić is widely considered to b ...

. He scored two goals in 11 games in the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

in his only season. In May 2024, he expressed extreme regret for the events that happened and which made him not stay longer in Red Star in that glorious period of the club. While at the Yugoslav national side's training camp in France, in June of the following year, 21-year-old Bolić received bad news from his family about the deteriorating situation in Bosnia and the start of the military conflict. He informed the club's directors that he would not be coming back to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, and he left to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

to meet with his agent; Red Star respected his wish, and he subsequently signed with Galatasaray SK.

Turkey

Bolić moved to Turkey in the summer of 1992, and remained in the nation and its

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

for the following eight years. He started with Galatasaray, going on to represent

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

and Fenerbahçe SK, winning the national championship in his first season with the latter team and also reaching the final of the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

. On 30 October 1996, Bolić broke

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

's 40-year unbeaten home record playing for Fenerbahçe in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

when he scored the game's only goal at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in the season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage, where he also netted against

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

(1–1 away draw).

Late career

Bolić started the 2000s in Spain with

, spending three seasons in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

with the club and at times forming part of a forward line with another Bosnian and a Basque who all had similar names: ' Baljić, Bolić and Bolo'. In his first year he scored eight in 32 matches, adding seven in the campaign's

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

to help the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

outskirts side reach the quarterfinals, even though four of those came in a 10–0 away routing of amateurs

Constel·lació Esportiva Constel·lació Esportiva was an Andorran football club from Andorra La Vella Andorra la Vella is the capital and largest city of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of ...

. In 2003, Bolić returned to Turkey for another lengthy spell, joining Istanbulspor in late July. At the end of the season he left for Gençlerbirliği SK, finishing his second stint in the country with

Malatyaspor Malatya Spor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club based in Malatya, mainly concentrated on football. History Prior to 1984 the club colors were yellow and black. They played for 11 seasons on the top-level of Turkish football. Their best result ...

and İstanbulspor. Bolić started 2006–07 in Croatia with

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Supersport HNL, of which they have been members ...

, but left in September 2006, retiring shortly after at the age of 35.

International career

Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team in 2002

Bolić earned 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

, scoring 22 goals. He made his debut in 1996 against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and, at the time of his retirement, ranked third in international goals for his country, only trailing

Edin Džeko Edin Džeko (; born 17 March 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains both Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is the all-time top goalscorer and most capped ...

and Zvjezdan Misimović. On 8 September 2004, Bolić netted the equalizer in a 1–1 home draw with

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

qualifiers. His final international was a September 2006 European Championship qualification match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. He later briefly worked as assistant coach to the national team, being part of

Meho Kodro Mehmed "Meho" Kodro (born 12 January 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Kodro started playing professionally at Velež Mostar, making his first team debut in 1985. He spent most of his 1 ...

's coaching staff and leaving his post on 17 May 2008.

Career statistics

Honours

Galatasaray *

: 1992–93 *

: 1992–93 Fenerbahçe *Süper Lig: 1995–96

References

External links