Edin Džeko
Edin Džeko (Bosnian pronunciation: [ědin dʒêːko]; born 17 March 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains both Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
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Džeko with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Edin Džeko | ||
| Date of birth | 17 March 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Fenerbahçe | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–2003 | Željezničar | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2003–2005 | Željezničar | 35 | (3) |
| 2005–2007 | Teplice | 43 | (16) |
| 2005–2006 | → Ústí nad Labem (loan) | 15 | (6) |
| 2007–2011 | VfL Wolfsburg | 111 | (66) |
| 2011–2016 | Manchester City | 130 | (50) |
| 2015–2016 | → Roma (loan) | 31 | (8) |
| 2016–2021 | Roma | 168 | (77) |
| 2021–2023 | Inter Milan | 69 | (22) |
| 2023– | Fenerbahçe | 31 | (20) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2003–2004 | Bosnia and Herzegovina U19 | 5 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 | 5 | (1) |
| 2007– | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 134 | (65) |
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14 April 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21 March 2024 | |||
Džeko was named Bosnian Footballer of the Year for three years in a row. He has been nicknamed "Bosnian Diamond" (Bosnian: Bosanski dijamant) or simply "Diamond" (Dijamant) by football fans and journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to joining Fenerbahçe, he played for Manchester City, Roma and Inter Milan, but he made a name for himself while playing for German club VfL Wolfsburg, with whom he won the Bundesliga in the 2008–09 season. He was the second-highest goalscorer with 26 goals. In the 2009–10 season, Džeko was the top scorer with 22 goals. He also registered ten assists in both seasons.
During the 2011–12 Premier League season, Džeko scored four goals in one game for Manchester City against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. On the final day of that season, he scored an equaliser against Queens Park Rangers in the 92nd minute, before Sergio Agüero won it for City with seconds to go, ensuring the team won a league title for the first time in 44 years. Dźeko finished as the top scorer of Serie A in the 2016–17 season, scoring 29 goals for Roma. On 3 March 2018, he scored his 50th league goal for the club, thus becoming the first player ever to score 50 goals in three of Europe's top five major leagues.
A former youth international for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džeko made his senior international debut in 2007, earning over 130 caps and scoring 65 goals since. Džeko became the highest Bosnia and Herzegovina goalscorer of all time on 7 September 2012 in a game against Liechtenstein where he scored a hat-trick to surpass Zvjezdan Misimović and Elvir Bolić. On 11 September 2018, in a game against Austria, he played his 95th game for Bosnia and Herzegovina and surpassed Emir Spahić to become the country's most-capped player. His ten goals in the qualifying campaign helped his national team qualify for its first international tournament, the 2014 FIFA World Cup.