Edin Džeko
Bosnia and Herzegovina
17 March 1986
striker
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. Regarded as one of the most underrated strikers of his generation, he is the all-time top goalscorer and most capped player of the Bosnian national team. Džeko was named Bosnian Footballer of the Year for three years in a row. He has been nicknamed \"Bosnian Diamond\" (Bosnian: Bosanski dijamant) or simply \"Diamond\" (Dijamant) by football fans and journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Prior to joining Fenerbahçe, he played for Manchester City, Roma and Inter Milan, 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 won it for City with seconds to go, 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 140 caps and scoring 67 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 FIFA World Cup.
On 14 June 2022, by playing against Finland in a 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B game, he became his country's oldest player at 36 years and 2 months, beating Samir Muratović's record.
On 7 September 2024, by scoring a goal against Netherlands in an 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A game, he became Bosnia and Herzegovina's oldest goalscorer at 38 years and 5 months, surpassing Emir Spahić's record.
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