Haris Duljević

Haris Duljević (born 16 November 1993) is a Bosnian footballer who currently plays as a winger for FK Sarajevo in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Premier League and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.^[1][2]

Club career

Born in Sarajevo, Duljević started his footballing career in local youth side Novi Grad, which is associated with FK Olimpic, a Bosnian Premier league club. He showed plenty of promise there, but his senior debut would not come at Olimpic. Instead, he spent six months in season 2010-11 in the neighbouring town of Zenica, playing for NK Čelik Zenica, also a Premier league side, albeit at the time a slightly weaker one than Olimpic.

After six months spent at Čelik, Duljević came back to FK Olimpic after being assured that his role in the team would be increased for the 2011-12 season. However, it wasn't until the very end of the season that Duljević was officially promoted from the Olimpic youth team to the senior side. He made a meagre five appearances for his side, failing to score any goals.

It was in the season 2012-13 that Duljević started appearing regularly for Olimpic, also scoring his first Premier League goal. He netted his side's only goal in the home draw against Mostar side Velež, ending the season with 25 games and one goal.

Amidst transfer speculation, Duljević started season 2013-14 in very good form, scoring 2 goals in the first two games. His goals soon dried up, but Duljević completely transformed his playing style, becoming a very reliable starter for his side, playing in his preferred winger position, where his quickness and good technique would come to the fore. He ended his second season in the Olimpic shirt with 4 goals from 20 games which attracted the attention of Sarajevo.

2014-15 season

Duljević cited European football as a large factor in his decision to sign for Sarajevo, and on one of his first European nights, he scored his first Sarajevo goal. Duljević managed to net a goal in an away match in Greece, which Sarajevo won 3-1 against Atromitos, to advance to the Europa League playoff. It was there that Sarajevo met a true footballing giant, Borussia Mönchengladbach. Once again Duljević scored, but this time Sarajevo wouldn't progress, losing the tie 10 goals to two on aggregate.

Duljević soon became one of the most valuable attacking assets of his side, as opposition teams couldn't easily man-mark him. In addition to important goals scored against Atromitos and Borussia Mönchengladbach, Duljević also developed a habit of scoring goals against difficult rivals in the Premier league. He netted the first goal of the game in the 3-1 win over Borac in Banja Luka (Sarajevo rarely wins there), and he also decided the biggest game there is in Bosnian football. Coming off the bench, Duljević scored a game-winning goal against city rivals Željezničar away from home. Even though he was supposed to be celebrated as a hero for his side, he was actually stripped of his wages for that week because of missing a host of excellent chances to completely humiliate the city rivals. The decision was carried out by the then sporting director of FK Sarajevo, Abdulah Ibraković, who confirmed that the money Duljević was penalised for would be given to charity.

Sarajevo would not go through season 2014-15 without a drama, as coach Dženan Uščuplić was fired for failing to keep Sarajevo in the title race. His replacement Meho Kodro made Sarajevo play efficient and attractive football, but his reign was short-lived as Sarajevo slowly started losing ground to their rivals. Dženan Uščuplić came back to win the title for Sarajevo and was a very important player for both coaches, scoring 6 goals along with three assists in 34 games. Sarajevo won the Premier league title for the first time after eight years and it also happened to be Duljević's first football trophy.

2015-16 season

Despite a certain level of interest shown in Duljević from foreign clubs, he decided to stay with Sarajevo for season 2015-16. Sarajevo once more suffered as coaches were easily fired for failing to meet goals set by the very ambitious board. In September 2015, Dženan Uščuplić was replaced by Miodrag Ješić, who very quickly sacked more than a dozen first team players, including captain Ivan Tatomirović. Duljević was given the captain's armband and a new-look Sarajevo based their football around Duljević.^[3]

International career

Two days before his 19th birthday, Haris Duljević made his debut for the Bosnia and Herzegovina U-21 national football team. He went on to appear in a total of 13 games with this team, scoring three goals.

When Mehmed Baždarević took over the Bosnian national team, one of his aims was to start using more Bosnian Premier league players in the national team. Duljević was immediately seen as a very good prospect for the future, as the team had a shortage of good wingers. However, it wasn't until March 2016 that Duljević received his international call-up. He was called up for the friendlies against Luxembourg and Switzerland.^[4] He appeared in both of these games, almost getting an assist.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 4 December 2016.

International

As of match played 7 June 2016.

Honours

Club

Sarajevo

• Bosnian Premier League: 2014–15

Country

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Kirin Cup: 2016

References