A Great Victory and Its Lessons

Dear friends in the villages of Aleppo. Bosnia and Herzegovina has achieved a great victory. What can we learn from this great sporting achievement of our national football team in recent days and weeks—and we can freely say, in recent months? We have seen people rejoicing in the great successes of our young men on the field, how they burn for this homeland, how they burn for one another, how they value and respect each other. This is something that has brought joy to the hearts of thousands, tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of people throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, and beyond. And because of this, I believe that our national team's success should be viewed as a great victory, first and foremost for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thereafter, of course, for these young men led by Sergej Barbaros and Emir Spahić, and those young men who lead this entire story, and for every individual player who is part of this team and group of which we are so proud.

Beyond the Sporting Moment

However, these victories that took place on the sporting field, I believe, should be adopted and reflected upon. They should not last just one day, two days, or a little longer than that. Rather, we should think a bit more deeply about these things, and take this as a recipe for our success in life overall. Imagine, if you will, a situation where in the political sphere, Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs, and others played together the way these young men do. There is no doubt that Bosnia and Herzegovina would be one of the best-organized, most promising countries in the world. Of course, until that happens, we must give what we can and learn certain messages that we have actually wanted to share with you today. It is beautiful to see so many people rejoicing in every success of our national team. It is beautiful to await new matches, new spectacles, and we can freely say this—it is a historical achievement. After first appearing in 2014, now in 2026 we have achieved new progress. We have passed the first round of competition and reached this second phase, which is again a great success and a great victory for our state. Because of this, it is very important that this victory shows us who we are, that it illuminates our hearts and minds in some way, brings us closer to one another, and simply helps us learn something more from all of this.

The Power of Shared Pride

Believe me, it seems to me that one match of our national team and what these young men have accomplished—they have achieved more in bringing people together than all the political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina have achieved in the past ten years or more. These young men, through their dedication, their passion, their embraces after victories, and even after draws, can be an example to us. They show us how one loves and cherishes the state, how one truly loves it. What our coach or selector says—that he represents Bosnia and Herzegovina and is so aware of this fact that in every public discourse, every public appearance, he and these young men always put the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina before themselves. This is an incredible thing. Truly, this is, in my view, a great achievement that we can notice and in some way be grateful for. First and foremost, these young men deserve our praise and gratitude for everything they do in promoting Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all the peoples who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One of the things I noted here is that it is very interesting—today, football, one ball, has united us in such a way, has directed us, has given us such good vibrations, so to speak. Yet could not our moral values work in the same way? In some way, our feminine values, our people, our love for this homeland, for this native soil—we have no other native soil except this one we have. This is the first message, because as much as the Qur'an speaks about unity, it is true that unity—when the Almighty Allah says to them in the scriptures in the mosques that you must not scatter, you must not disperse—refers first to religious dispersion in the sense of monotheism, in the sense of certain religious deviations. But this means more than that. It also means social unity, because the Messenger of Allahhimself succeeded in establishing social unity in Medina together with Jews, together with Christians, and even with polytheists. Where all were coherent, where all defended one another, where simply one guaranteed to the other security, support, help, and so on. This is such a good example of social contract and social relations that it should definitely be studied more, and these young men on the field, and this entire story around our national team, actually tells us that this is possible and that we should learn more from it.

Love of Homeland as Strength

The second message I wanted to convey is that love for the homeland, which we see so clearly not only in the selector, not only in these young men born in the homeland, but in all participants in our national team—love for the homeland is not weakness. Love for the homeland is strength and pride, which is completely natural and is every person's dream. We want to love our native soil, we want to love where we come from, we want to love how we are, we want to love what makes us who we are, regardless of certain differences that are natural. For if the Almighty Allah had wanted us all to be the same, He would have created all people identical. However, the Almighty Allah wanted to create us differently, to give us different life experiences and different life challenges. Perhaps it is precisely through this blessing that we are able to show who we are and what we are like. However, our love for our homeland must never mean that we hate another homeland, a foreign homeland, a foreign state. Of course, everyone has the right to their own state, every people, and so on. And of course, we respect our neighbors from the east and from the west, other nations of Europe, all states that respect us—we surely must respect them even more.

This is why the Messengerloved Mecca, which was his native land, but he also loved Medina, which provided him refuge, strength, and help. So it is completely natural that we have people from Austria who love Austria but also love Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Central American states, our numerous diaspora who remain tied at heart to this native soil. This is the third message I wanted to share with you.

The Importance of the Diaspora

It seems to me that the national team has pointed to the importance of our diaspora—the importance of those talented young men who have managed to break through in the world of football, far from the homeland. Perhaps we do not give our children here in Bosnia and Herzegovina the opportunity to express themselves, to prove themselves, to simply shine. And I fear that truly in Europe, our people are valued more, they are noticed more. Wherever you go in Europe and in the world, you will find that people from our regions, regardless of faith and nation, are generally the most responsible, the most educated, the most versatile, and generally the most successful people. Yet then we have an absurd situation where in Bosnia and Herzegovina we cannot, unfortunately, apply these recipes that our people there acquire and learn. However, the strength of the diaspora must be understood much more widely and much more deeply. The diaspora is not just there to send us two, three, or five billion euros per year—as much as comes from the diaspora. The diaspora is much more important. Believe me. The diaspora is part of us, and we are part of the diaspora. Those people of ours who feel Bosnia and Herzegovina from Australia to America as their homeland—Bosnia and Herzegovina is equally theirs as it is ours, perhaps even more so than ours. And that is what we must truly recognize. When we see young Emir Bajraktarević, when we see Mamić, when we see those young men like Muharem Jović and others—these are our children. We can be proud that we have such youth, who play for the team of Bosnia and Herzegovina and who truly show the very best of what we are. Together with Ivan Bašić, with Nicko Nikolа Vasiljević, and others. Pay attention—these are truly beautiful things that we can learn from this. It is very important that we understand that these victories of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which could also be seen in neighboring states around us and in our diaspora there—wherever there are Bosniaks and not only Bosniaks, but people from Bosnia and Herzegovina—from Australia to America, they all enjoyed this. And surely this is, in my view, another very important message.

The Need for Role Models

The fourth message I wanted to point out regarding this victory, and which I truly consider a great victory for our national team, is the need for role models. Our young people have a need for role models. Notice that these young men, these boys in the bloom of youth, have become role models for our children throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond. It should be that we hear more about Alajbegović, for example, than about Messi. I have not seen Messi's jersey in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past month or two, but you will find—I just saw this morning on a break that someone was wearing what I think was number seventeen, and there is a jersey, so to speak, here in Zenica quite normally. People are taking that. I am sorry—I have not seen a Vasiljević jersey anywhere. But I hope there is and will be increasingly. So that people simply start taking these young men as someone they are proud of, and simply who will be role models for our children. So that our children do not fall into the jaws of alcohol, drugs, gambling, and other socially pathological illnesses that we have at every turn, but rather will be honest athletes and people who represent themselves and their homeland, wherever they are found. Because of this, this is a very important thing.

The Lesson of Patience and Time

The fifth message we need to learn from this victory of Bosnia and Herzegovina is that nothing comes overnight. You know, it had to pass—twelve years. We had to wait and work. The process takes time, dedication, and belief. This is a crucial lesson that extends far beyond football into every aspect of our lives and our society.