 Osim asŽeljezničar manager in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1967-07-18)18 July 1967 (age 58) | ||
| Place of birth | Sarajevo,SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1986 | Željezničar | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1991 | Željezničar | 52 | (5) |
| 1991–1992 | Saint-Dié | ||
| 1992–1996 | Strasbourg | ||
| 1996–1997 | Željezničar | 7 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2001–2003 | Željezničar | ||
| 2006–2007 | JEF United Chiba | ||
| 2009–2013 | Željezničar | ||
| 2014–2016 | Al Kharaitiyat | ||
| 2018–2021 | Željezničar | ||
| 2022 | Velež Mostar | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Amar Osim (born 18 July 1967) is a Bosnian professionalfootball manager and formerplayer. He is regarded as one of the most successful Bosnian football managers.[1]
Osim was a talented player during his teens. However, he did not transfer his talent after getting called up to theŽeljezničar first team. Apart from Željezničar, Osim also played in France forSaint-Dié andStrasbourg. He ended his career while at Željezničar in 1997.
Osim decided to stay infootball, becoming a manager. He is the most successful manager in Željezničar's history, winning fiveBosnian Premier League titles, fourBosnian cups and oneBosnian Supercup in his three stints with the club.[2] Osim also won theJ.League Cup with Japanese clubJEF United Chiba in 2006. He managed Qatari clubAl Kharaitiyat as well, with mediocre results. In 2022, Osim briefly managedVelež Mostar.
Born and raised inSarajevo, Osim started playing football in hometown clubŽeljezničar. After playing for the youth team, he entered the senior squad in 1986. In 1991, he left for France where he played for lower division clubsSaint-Dié andStrasbourg. In 1996, he returned to his home country. Osim played one more season for Željezničar before retiring.
Although a talented player, with good technical skills, Amar never managed to match the success or renown of his father,Ivica Osim's playing career.
Osim's managerial career started inŽeljezničar's youth squad which he guided to success in domestic competitions. AfterDino Đurbuzović was sacked in the spring of 2001, club officials promoted him to the place of first team manager.
He immediately led the club to twoBosnian Premier League titles in 2001 and in 2002, being runner-up in 2003.
In August 2002, Osim led Željezničar to the2002–03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where the club lost 5–0 on aggregate to EnglishPremier League clubNewcastle United. That is, so far, the club's bestpost-war European competition result.
He also claimed twonational cup titles in 2001 and 2003, being runner-up in 2002. Osim claimed theBosnian Supercup in 2001 as well, after winning thedouble that year.[3] In 2002, he got the award forBosnia and Herzegovina Manager of the Year.
Osim was sacked at the beginning of the2003–04 season due to poor results.
Amar's fatherIvica Osim invited him to Japan to be his assistant atJEF United Chiba. After Ivica was named the head coach of theJapan national team, Amar got promoted.
He guided JEF United to win theJ.League Cup in2006. But after a poor finish to the2007 season, in which JEF United finished in 13th place in theJ1 League, Osim got sacked.
After his time in Japan, Osim returned to his hometown and in June 2009, returned to Željezničar for his second spell as the club's manager.
In his first season as manager, Osim immediately guided the club to win the league title and finished as national cup runners-up. In the following season he won the national cup, losing the league title just one round before the end of the season and ending third. In 2012, he claimed the league title once again, with three rounds left to play, breaking many records on the way and also defended the national cup, bringing the double back to Željezničar after eleven years.
Osim left the managerial position of the club in September 2013, becoming its newsporting director.[4] In December 2014, he resigned as sporting director and left Željezničar.
While at the club, Osim won many individual managerial awards after his success with Željezničar, including threeManager of the Season awards, the most out of any manager.
In December 2014, Osim was named the new manager ofQatar Stars League clubAl Kharaitiyat.[5]
In his first season, he made a club record of a seven-game unbeaten run in the league and nine games in all competitions. In that season's league, Al Kharaitiyat finished in 9th place. In March 2015, Osim was namedQatar Stars League Manager of the Month forFebruary 2015.[6]
In his second season as the club's manager, Osim's Al Kharaitiyat finished in 12th place, just narrowly missing relegation.
In November 2016, after a poor start to the2016–17 season, Osim was sacked after almost two years as Al Kharaitiyat's manager.[7]
On 31 December 2018, Osim once again came back to Željezničar and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract after monthly speculations of him becoming the manager even earlier.[8]
His first win in his third term as Željezničar's manager came on 3 March 2019, in a 2–1 home league win againstMladost Doboj Kakanj.[9] In Osim's firstSarajevo derby after six years, Željezničar suffered a 3–0 home loss to fierce city rivalsFK Sarajevo on 6 April 2019.[10]
On 13 April, in a 1–0 away league loss againstZrinjski Mostar, Osim made his 300th appearance as Željezničar's manager and became the club's third manager with the most games. At the time, the first two wereMilan Ribar with 367 games and his fatherIvica Osim with 301 games.[11][12] On 24 April, in his 302nd managerial appearance for Željezničar, in which the club drew 0–0 againstŠiroki Brijeg on their home stadiumGrbavica, Osim surpassed his father in managerial appearances for the club.[13]
In the last game of the season, Željezničar beatTuzla City 3–0 away on 25 May 2019, putting an end to a very turbulent season.[14]
Osim's first win as Željezničar's manager in the2019–20 season came on 27 July 2019, a 2–0 away league win against Mladost Doboj Kakanj.[15] Željezničar won their first Sarajevo derby since Osim's second return in a 5–2 home league win against Sarajevo on 31 August 2019.[16]
He made a new Bosnian Premier League record with the club on 28 September 2019, after a 2–2 away league draw against Tuzla City, in which Željezničar ended the game unbeaten and continued their 11-game unbeaten run in the league since the beginning of the season, surpassing the one of city rival Sarajevo, which was a ten league game unbeaten run since the start of the2006–07 Bosnian Premier League season.[17]
On 6 October 2019, Osim's team lost 3–0 away in a league match againstBorac Banja Luka, thus ending their 11-game unbeaten run in the league.[18] On 30 November 2019, Željezničar once again beat their rivals Sarajevo, this time in a 3–1 away league win, with Osim being praised fromŽeljezničar fans for his tactical geniusness.[19] In that game, he also earned ayellow card for arguing with referee Haris Kaljanac.[20]
At the end of the season however, Željezničar failed to win any trophy, with Osim's team finishing in 2nd place in the2019–20 league season, three points short of 1st placed Sarajevo, though after the season ended abruptly due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 June 2020.[21] He also guided the team to the semi-finals of the2019–20 Bosnian Cup, but did not get the chance to win the competition as it was abandoned due to the pandemic, with no winner being proclaimed.[21]
Željezničar started off the2020–21 season with a win againstVelež Mostar on 1 August 2020, with Osim's team scoring three goals in the first thirty minutes of the game and securing the win at home ground.[22] That game also marked Osim's 200th win as Željezničar manager.[23] With three more league wins after the Velež game, Željezničar suffered its first loss under Osim in the new season on 21 August 2020, an unexpected 1–0 home defeat against Mladost Doboj Kakanj.[24]
In Osim's first European game with Željezničar since his return, his team lost 3–1 against Israeli clubMaccabi Haifa in the2020–21 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round on 9 September 2020.[25]
In the middle of an eight-game winless run in the2020–21 league season, which had culminated with a home draw against Mladost Doboj Kakanj, Osim was sacked by the club on 11 April 2021.[26]
On 11 June 2022, Osim signed a one-year contract withVelež Mostar, with an option to stay at the club even longer.[27] On 15 July 2022, he took charge for the first time as Velež manager for theirPremier League match againstPosušje, which ended in a 1–1 draw.[28]
On 28 July, Velež unexpectedly got eliminated from the2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League in the second qualifying round by Maltese clubĦamrun Spartans.[29] On 5 August 2022, Osim won his first match as Velež manager after a 3–1 win over his former club Željezničar.[30]
Osim terminated his contract with Velež by mutual consent on 29 November 2022.[31]
Osim's fatherIvica was a renownedplayer and manager. His mothers' name is Asima. He has two children and one grandchild.[32][33] On 1 May 2022, Osim's father died inGraz, Austria, where he had mostly lived since 1994.[34] He was buried inSarajevo at theBare Cemetery on 14 May, thirteen days after his death.[35]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Željezničar | 1 March 2001 | 10 October 2003 | 150 | 93 | 35 | 22 | 259 | 115 | +144 | 062.00 |
| JEF United Chiba | 20 July 2006 | 31 December 2007 | 66 | 25 | 7 | 34 | 101 | 109 | −8 | 037.88 |
| Željezničar | 22 June 2009 | 19 September 2013 | 144 | 85 | 28 | 31 | 245 | 119 | +126 | 059.03 |
| Al Kharaitiyat | 27 December 2014 | 5 November 2016 | 42 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 63 | 72 | −9 | 033.33 |
| Željezničar | 31 December 2018 | 11 April 2021 | 68 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 114 | 63 | +51 | 050.00 |
| Velež Mostar | 11 June 2022 | 29 November 2022 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 21 | +2 | 028.57 |
| Total | 491 | 257 | 105 | 129 | 805 | 499 | +306 | 052.34 | ||
Željezničar
JEF United Chiba
Individual
