Sead Hajrović (born 4 June 1993) is a 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 plays for Swiss club

Düdingen Düdingen (; ; , locally ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sense (district), Sense in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. It is one of the municipalities with a la ...

. Born in Switzerland, he represented it internationally on junior levels, before switching to representing Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Club career

Arsenal

Hajrović officially signed professional terms on 7 July 2011 after signing for Arsenal as a scholar in the summer of 2009, arriving from

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

in his home country. He went on loan to

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

and made his debut on 28 January 2012 against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

, coming on as a substitute. Although his spell with Barnet was hampered somewhat by injury, he made 10 appearances as the ''Bees'' avoided relegation from League Two. In an interview with Mugais Jahangir, the Editor of The Gooner Thoughts, Hajrović talked about his time at Arsenal and Arsene Wenger as his coach, who he describes as 'motivating'. On 4 December 2012, Hajrović was included in Arsenal's trip to Olympiacos as an unused substitute. In May 2013, Hajrović was released by Arsenal to look for a different team where he plans to start regularly.

Grasshopper

On 5 August 2013, Hajrović signed a two-year contract with

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

Winterthur

On 1 July 2014, Hajrović signed another two-year contract with

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stad ...

after terminating his previous contract with Grasshopper.

Wohlen

On 14 June 2016, Hajrović joined

FC Wohlen FC Wohlen is a Swiss football club based in the town Wohlen in Canton Aargau. They play in the Swiss 1. Liga, the fourth tier of football in the country. The club was founded in May 1904 and holds the honour of being the oldest football club i ...

, signing a three-year contract.

Viktoria Koln

On 16 January 2020, Hajrović joined German side

Viktoria Köln Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victo ...

Xamax

On 26 June 2023, Hajrović joined Challenge League side Xamax.

International career

Hajrović was part of the Swiss side that won the under-17 World Cup in 2009, before going on to captain the under-18s. At the start of 2013, Hajrović, after expressing a desire to play for

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 ...

, was invited by the Bosnian FA as a special guest for Bosnia's friendly against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. In May 2013, FIFA allowed Hajrović to switch national teams, after which he elected to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina internationally. He made his debut for the Bosnian U-21 team on 31 May 2013, in a friendly match between Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 and

Personal life

His parents are

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

from

Bijelo Polje Bijelo Polje (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бијело Поље, ) is a town located in the Northern Montenegro, Northern Region of Montenegro, situated along Lim (river), Lim River. It has an urban population of 12,900 (2011 census). It is the ad ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, but they relocated to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

in 1980. They moved to Switzerland in 1987. His older brother,

Izet Izet is a Bosnian variant of the Turkish given name ''Izzet'' from , meaning honor, greatness. Alternatively, it may refer to the first sighting of vegetation after volcanic eruptions. It may refer to: * Izet Arslanović (born 1973), Bosnian foot ...

is also a footballer. Hajrović is fluent in German, English and Bosnian.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hajrovic, Sead 1993 births Living people People from Brugg Swiss people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Bosniaks of Montenegro Swiss men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers 21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina sportsmen Footballers from Aargau Switzerland men's youth international footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players 3. Liga players Arsenal F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Winterthur players FC Wohlen players FC Viktoria Köln players Yverdon-Sport FC players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Swiss sportsmen