Football Player's Biography 7: Edin Dzeko

Date of birth	17 March 1986 (1986-03-17) (age 24)
Place of birth	Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Striker

Edin Džeko (Bosnian pronunciation: [ˈɛdin ˈdʒɛkɔ]; born 17 March 1986 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegowina) is a Bosnian footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester City F.C. and the Bosnian national team. He was named Bosnian Footballer of the Year for 2009 and 2010. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, he is known as the "Bosnian Diamond".

Club career

Early career

Džeko made his debut at FK Željezničar, playing as a midfielder between 2003 and 2005, but with little success. He was widely regarded as too tall, and with poor technical abilities. Džeko's coach at the time though, Jiri Plišek, saw his potential and when Plišek returned home to the Czech Republic, he advised FK Teplice to buy him. Željezničar accepted a bid of just €25,000 for Džeko, prompting one of the Bosnian club's directors to say, "[we] thought we won the lottery" He had a loan spell with Ústí nad Labem in 2005, during which he scored six goals in 15 games. Later that year, he moved back to FK Teplice, playing there until 2007. With 13 goals in 30 games, he was the top scorer of the Gambrinus liga in the 2006–07 season. Due to his excellent performances, then manager Felix Magath of VfL Wolfsburg signed him for €4 million.
Džeko stated that AC Milan has always been his favorite club and Andriy Shevchenko his favourite player. In his home in Sarajevo, he still has an AC Milan jersey with the number 7 (worn by Shevchenko while at the club) on the wall in his room.

Wolfsburg

After transferring to Wolfsburg, Džeko was an immediate hit, scoring five goals and recording three assists in 11 games. He was also named by Sportal as the best striker in the first half of the 2007–08 Bundesliga season. During his first season in Germany, Wolfsburg finished in fifth place, qualifying for a UEFA Cup spot for the 2008–09 season. Džeko finished the 2007–08 season with eight goals and seven assists in 17 games started.
After Wolfsburg acquired fellow Bosnian international Zvjezdan Misimović, Džeko's performance was explosive in the second season. Despite a slow first half of the season, Wolfsburg found their form and won their first Bundesliga title. In May 2009, Džeko scored a hat-trick against TSG Hoffenheim and another hat-trick against Hannover 96 just two weeks later, contributing towards a very strong finish to the 2008–09 season. He finished with a total of 26 league goals and 10 assists in 32 league matches. His goal tally was second only to teammate Grafite, with whom he formed the most successful strike duo in Bundesliga history. In the DFB-Pokal, he scored six goals in two matches, and in the UEFA Cup, four goals and two assists in eight matches. These performances resulted in him being given the Bundesliga Players' Footballer of the Year award. Despite attracting interest from Milan, Džeko decided to stay, renewing his contract until June 2013.

He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on 30 September 2009 against Manchester United in a 2–1 defeat at Old Trafford. He was one of 30 players nominated for the 2009 Ballon d'Or.He was top scorer of the Bundesliga in the 2009–10 season with 22 goals scored.
On 28 August 2010, Džeko became the top league scorer in the club's history with 59 goals in 96 appearances, surpassing Diego Klimowicz who scored 57 goals in 149 games.

Manchester City

After heavy speculation, Roberto Mancini, manager of Manchester City, confirmed on 3 January 2011 that a fee of £27 million (€32 million) had been agreed with Wolfsburg for Džeko, which was City's second highest transfer figure, after Robinho's £32.5 million (€42.5 million) move from Real Madrid in 2008. The transfer fee was the 6th highest in the English Premier League. Also, the sum broke the Bundesliga record departure transfer fee, Bosnian record transfer fee, as well as that of any player from ex-Yugoslavia.^[21]^[22]^[23] The previous record was held for more than a decade. The transfer fee paid by Real Madrid to Fenerbahçe for Elvir Baljić in 1999 (€26 million) was the biggest sum of money paid for a player from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as ex-Yugoslavia.
Following his medical exam in London he travelled to Manchester on 5 January, and on 7 January, Džeko was confirmed as a Manchester City player, joining the club on a four and a half year deal.He made his debut for the club in a 4-3 win over Wolves on 15 January in which he set up Yaya Touré for the third goal of the match.Džeko made his FA Cup debut on 30 January in Manchester City's fourth round match against Notts County, scoring his first goal for Manchester City in the 80th minute.

International career

Džeko's first appearance for his home country came with the Bosnia and Herzegovina national under-19 football team. He was also part of the under-21 team and played in the play-offs hosted in the Netherlands in 2007. Bosnia's first challenges in this competition were Armenia and Norway. They beat Armenia 3–2 and tied with Norway 1–1, qualifying for the playoff against the Czech Republic. In the first leg, Bosnia lost 2–1; in the second, the game ended in a 1–1 draw. Džeko scored one goal in the tournament.
He made his senior debut against Turkey on 2 June 2007. It was a memorable debut for the player, with a volleyed goal from the bench to the penalty area during the first half stoppage time. The goal levelled the score at 2–2 and Bosnia went on to win 3–2. He scored nine goals in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying and finished as the second best scorer in UEFA qualification, tied with England's Wayne Rooney, both behind Greek striker Theofanis Gekas' 10 goals.
On 28 March 2009, Bosnian sports commentator, Marjan Mijajlović, named Džeko the Bosnian Diamond during a game versus Belgium in Genk in which he scored a remarkable goal.

UNICEF Ambassador

In November 2009, Džeko became Bosnia's first UNICEF ambassador. He has since visited several schools in poor areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina and helped children who have had traumatic experiences related to the war in Bosnia and other situations.

Personal life

Džeko was born into a Bosniak family.His family consists of father Midhat and mother Belma. Džeko's girlfriend Merima Semic is working for the Bosnian TV-channel 'Hayat'. He stated that his family was always supportive throughout his career, especially his father, who took him to training sessions while he was at FK Željezničar. His father also played professionally in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Džeko is multilingual, speaking four languages fluently: Bosnian, Czech, German and English.