Exactly 45 days after Odsonne Edouard slotted home the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final, competitive football is back for Celtic and first up is FK Sarajevo of Bosnia.
The game is live in the UK on Premier Sports (kick off 18:45) and worldwide on Celtic TV. If you’re going to the pub with pals or having family over, here’s a quick ACSOM cheat sheet so you can show off your knowledge on our opponents.
Team name: FK Sarajevo (Fudbalski klub Sarajevo).
Founded: 1946 as SD Torpedo, became FK Sarajevo in 1949.
Ground: Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium (Capacity: 34,500).
Manager: Husref Musemić (Former Player 1979-85, 1990. Also played for Hearts in 1989).
Captain: Krste Velkoski – Macedonian Striker (2018/19 – 43 appearances, 15 goals).
Weather/temperature in Sarajevo: Forecasted thunderstorms on Tuesday night with temperatures of 21 °C.
Kick-off time locally: 19:45 (one hour ahead of Celtic Park time).
Factsheet:
Finished first last season, winning the Bosnian Premier League by 5 points from Zrinjski Mostar.
They were knocked out of the Europa League Qualifying last season in the second qualifying round by Atalanta of Italy. Drew 2-2 in Italy before losing 8-0 at home.
Best performance in European football is reaching the last 16 of the European Cup in season 1967/68, the year in which the Lions crashed out in the first round.
FK Sarajevo’s last Champions League qualification campaign was in 2015/16 where they lost 3-0 on aggregate to Lech Poznan of Poland.
Their best success of recent years in Europe was reaching the Europa League play-off round in 2014/15, losing to Borussia Monchengladbach of Germany 10-2 on aggregate (this included a 7-0 defeat in Germany).
Top goal-scorer last season with 16 goals was Bosnian, Mersudin Ahmetović, who signed from FK Sloboda Tuzla in 2016. Ahmetović has 42 goals in 106 appearances for Sarajevo and has been the top goalscorer for the last two seasons.
Sarajevo also won the Bosnian Cup last season, 3-1 on aggregate, over Siroki Brijeg, winning the first leg 3-0 in Sarajevo before a 1-0 loss in the return leg.
They’ve brought in five players already this summer including former Croatian under-21 player Mirko Oremus. A former Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hadjuk Split player, Oremus plays right-wing / right-back and could be a big threat to either Hayes or Bolingoli.
Celtic have never faced FK Sarajevo and, indeed, the game on Tuesday will be Celtic’s first game played in Bosnia.
Colin Watt
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