Sergej Barbarez

Sergej Barbarez (born 17 September 1971) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played for several clubs in the German Bundesliga and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. He is considered as one of the all-time great players of Hamburger SV where he scored 65 goals in 174 Bundesliga games. Mainly used as a second striker, he has also played as an attacking midfielder or left winger.
In the 2000–01 Bundesliga season while playing for Hamburger SV Barbarez was joint top scorer with 22 goals with Ebbe Sand of FC Schalke 04 at the end of the season.

Barbarez was born in Mostar, SFR Yugoslavia, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Bosnian Serb father and a half-Croat and half-Bosniak mother.

As a young child, Barbarez was actually not very interested in football but in basketball and athletics. However, at the age of eleven, Barbarez started playing football though mostly for fun with friends after school.

In 1984, Barbarez took a step further and started playing football for the youth team of FK Velež in his native city of Mostar.

Some six years later, Barbarez signed with the first team of FK Velež at the age of 19. However, briefly after, Barbarez served in the Yugoslav People's Army in Zagreb in 1991 before returning to Mostar to continue his career. In 1991, Sergej Barbarez returned to FK Velež and soon after everyone realized that Barbarez was a true talent.

The same year, Barbarez visited his uncle who was living in Germany. Some time later, Barbarez was preparing to return to Mostar but his uncle surprised him by extending his stay in Germany for two weeks. The uncle had arranged for Barbarez a two weeks try-out practise with Hannover 96. The coach of Hannover 96 was so impressed by Barbarez that he signed him for the club. During those same two weeks the political situation throughout former Yugoslavia was deteriorating by the minute and fighting was even occurring in some places. So Barbarez came to an agreement with his father to stay with his uncle in Germany for the near future.

In April 1992, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina escalated in the city of Mostar. A month prior of the actual war, the father and sister of Barbarez fled with his high school sweetheart Ana to the city of Hannover in Germany. Barbarez's mother Zlata stayed in Mostar throughout the whole War in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Barbarez played for Hannover 96 during the second half of the 1991–92 and the whole 1992–93 season. Between 1993 and 1996, Barbarez played for 1. FC Union Berlin at the third level before signing with Hansa Rostock. Barbarez played here between 1996 and 1998.

From 1998, Barbarez played for Borussia Dortmund where he stayed until signing with Hamburger SV in July 2000.

During the first season with Hamburger SV, Barbarez became the top scorer for his club with 22 goals and joint top scorer of the Bundesliga with Ebbe Sand. Though Barbarez could not help Hamburg's elimination from the 2000–01 Champions League at the group stages despite his two goals, when the club qualified for that competition for the first time, after a third place in the previous domestic Bundesliga season.

On 17 May 2006, he signed a two-year deal with Bayer Leverkusen.

Bosnia-Herzegovina squad during UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying.

On 14 May 1998, Barbarez made his debut for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team against Argentina in a friendly match.

Before he retired from international football on 13 October 2005, Barbarez was the captain and leader of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

On 2 December 2005, he announced his comeback to the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team and played in the EURO 2008 qualifiers. He became captain of the team once again.

On 12 October 2006, Barbarez officially stepped down from playing for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team and retired permanently from professional football in June 2008.

Barbarez announced on 14 December 2009 that he wanted to coach the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team to the UEFA Euro 2012. However, the Football Association of Republika Srpska blocked his entry and later on, Safet Sušić was selected as new coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.

On 5 January 2010, Barbarez received his UEFA Pro Licence in Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina's educational facility in Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Barbarez is married to his high-school sweetheart Ana, who is from Mostar. They have two sons together, Filip-André (born 1994) and Sergio-Luis (1999).

Barbarez is currently a member of the board of directors of the Hamburger SV.

Club

International goals

Scores and results table. Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal tally first:

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	5 September 1999	Asim Ferhatović Hase, Sarajevo	Estonia	1–1	1–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
2.	28 February 2001	Bilino Polje, Zenica	Hungary	1–1	1–1	Friendly
3.	24 March 2001	Asim Ferhatović Hase, Sarajevo	Austria	1–1	1–1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.	28 March 2001	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz	Liechtenstein	1–0	3–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.				2–0
6.	27 March 2002	Grbavica Stadium, Sarajevo	Macedonia	2–0	4–4	Friendly
7.				3–0
8.	13 February 2003	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	2–1	2–2	Friendly
9.	29 March 2003	Bilino Polje, Zenica	Luxembourg	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
10.	2 April 2003	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen	Denmark	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
11.	10 September 2003	Stade Josy Barthel, Route d'Arlon	Luxembourg	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
12.	4 June 2005	Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle	San Marino	3–1	3–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.	3 September 2005	Bilino Polje, Zenica	Belgium	1–0	1–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
14.	7 September 2005	LFF Stadium, Vilnius	Lithuania	1–0	1–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
15.	31 May 2006	Azadi Stadium, Tehran	Iran	2–0	2–5	Friendly
16.	16 August 2006	Asim Ferhatović Hase, Sarajevo	France	1–0	1–2	Friendly
17.	2 September 2006	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali	Malta	1–0	5–2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Club

Hamburger SV

• DFB-Ligapokal: 2003
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005

Individual

• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 2000–01 (22 goals)
• Bosnian Footballer of the Year: 2001, 2003