As the World Cup looms, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s captain, Edin Dzeko, didn’t even think that he’d be playing soccer right now, but after helping lead Schalke back to the Bundesliga, he’ll also captain his nation in their first World Cup since 2014. Quite a lot has changed for the 40-year-old since he joined Schalke in January, but while he’s not pondering the future at this time, it’s been a ride that he wouldn’t change after departing Fenerbahçe in Turkiye to return to Germany, where he broke out as a professional while with Wolfsburg.
“To be still playing, I didn’t think I would be playing at 40. If you asked me 10 years ago, I would say no,” Dzeko said during a media roundtable. “But I’m listening to my body as well and doing a lot of work before and after trainings because I’m not the youngest anymore and I need to care about my legs, my body and that’s what I’m doing and I’m still feeling good and like I can help the team where I’m playing which i did in the last four months with Schalke and the national team, so that’s why I keep going.”
On one hand, Dzeko shows the marvels of sports science to help keep athletes performing into their 40s, but he also understands the mental side of the game, which is also something that has to be tackled to stay at the highest levels for so long. Almost 20 years since making his debut for Bosnia in 2007, Dzeko is set to represent his country at the World Cup and he isn’t fit for a role on the sidelines either. He scored six goals and assisted three more for Schalke while pushing the club to the Bundesliga, and he wasn’t a passenger for Bosnia either, scoring five goals and assisting another between World Cup qualification and the European World Cup playoff.
But everything in the past few years wasn’t full of successes for the former Manchester City man, which is something that he reflected on when diving deeper into why he didn’t expect to still be playing now.
“When the results are not going well, like the first six months at Fiorentina when you’re not playing like you used to play, there’s a lot going on in the head,” Dzeko said. “But the one thing I can say about myself is that I was always strong in the head, and I know that part of being a professional football player is that it has its ups and downs, so you have to understand when those downs are coming, you need to be clear with yourself, and you need to be even better to come out of the difficult situations.”
When dealing with the stress of promotion and qualifying for a World Cup, that mentality is important. Schalke were relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of the 2019-20 season, setting a club record for matches without a win, going 16 games without one. While that relegation may have seemed like rock bottom for the club, it was actually what followed, with promotion campaigns coming up short and not being able to make it back to the top flight. But the fans stayed, as Schalke are not only one of the biggest clubs in German soccer by membership of over 200,000, but they’re also one of the largest in the world, which makes their return to the Bundesliga and the return of the Revierderby with Borussia Dortmund so special.
“Schalke were already at the top of the table in January, and they needed another push and some more quality in the team because the second part of the season is always more difficult because the teams, they are fighting for something between relegation or going up in the Bundesliga,” Dzeko said. “[In January], the club brought four or five more players, and that was a big decision for the club because I think all the players that came in January helped us a lot, and at the end, we are going to the Bundesliga, which is well deserved, and my decision in January was in part because I wnated to help this team go back to where they desrerved to be.”
The mission has been accomplished there, but the next mission is just beginning as he captains Bosnia and Herzegovina in a tough group, including co-host nation Canada, Switzerland, and Qatar, but as he mentions, the new generation of Bosnian soccer, which includes young players like Wisconsin-born Esmir Bajraktarevic, is just beginning.
“As the captain, you always have a big responsibility, and especially when the young and new generation is coming,” Dzeko said. “You have to show and lead the new generation in the right way, and I’m so happy that I could do that in the last two years, especially helping the team with these young great players going to the next World Cup, and I think this is something amazing for them, and they have a big future ahead. I think the last two games against Wales and Italy, it will change their lives for sure. Maybe they don’t know it yet, but they will, and I’m happy to be captain of this great generation.”
It’s an amazing thing to be able to bridge generations of Bosnian soccer, and while Dzeko may not know what comes next, he’s doing what he can to ensure that if this World Cup is the close of his soccer career, he’s going out on a high note.
