The Sarajevo Derby in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one
of the most underrated and fiercest rivalry in the world; perhaps because
everything is so hard to spell over there! The derby is between Bosnia’s most popular
and loved clubs, FK Željezničar Sarajevo and FK Sarajevo; and they hate each other.
The rivalry kicked off in 1946 when new boys on the block, Željezničar,
nicked all of Sarajevo best players to form their new team; then gave them all
a higher wage and luxurious suits (look what you could start, Raheem). Ever
since, the derbies are full of flares, explosions, fan marches and ultras.
At the start of the season
that has just finished, 15 people, who included three police officers, were
badly injured. Due to flares being thrown and clashes between both sets of
fans, people sustained head injuries, burns, and some rowdy fans even felt the
full effects of teargas.
This all happened in the
first 45 minutes and the second half also had to be delayed due more fireworks
being set off and the mass amount of smoke in the air. The match ended in a 1-2
defeat for Željezničar which proved costly as they lost the league to their
rivals by, you guessed it, three points.
Their second derby of the
season came when Sarajevo topped the Premier Liga table by a slender one point
with three games remaining. The match itself didn’t produce a bang but there
certainly were explosions of passion and intensity in the heart of Bosnia.
Sarajevo is not know for churning out quality players but Manchester
City striker and Bosnian top goal scorer Edin Dzeko is the one noticeable
products. Dzeko’s alliances laid with Željezničar
but he wasn’t he Edin we see today; he operated more as a central midfielder
but was considered too tall and lack the technical ability. After 40 games and
only five goals, Dzeko departed to Czech side Teplice.
But what the two Sarajevo
sides lack in quality, they certainly make up for it in a stellar and quite often
scary rivalry.
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