Will Bosnia ever catch up to Serbia and Croatia?

That's different. Today's population of Alsace don't think of themselves as Germans (correct me if I'm wrong). And B&H is officialy a country of Croats, Muslims and Serbs, there's no such distinction in France or anywhere in Europe for that matter. I doubt that people of Alsace have double citizeship.

And I wasn't using that as an argument in the first place, it's just a simple indicator how things can be complicated and absurd here. My mom is from Bosnia but I don't feel tied to Bosnia in any way, because she is a Croat. A son of a German father and a French mother is half German and half French. And I'm 100 % Croat, and that's why it is silly to say Šuker could have played for Bosnia just because his family originates from Livno.

I know it's personal, I was trying to prove there's nothing strange or moraly dubious with a Bosnian Croat playing for Croatia. If someone wants to play for Bosnia, that's his right, not that I care too much.

Ethnic group and nationality are two different things. Your mother is an ethnic Croat, but her nationality is Bosnian/Herzegovinian. Since FIFA only recognizes NATIONAL TEAMS (not ethnic teams), it would be only right if the Bosnian Croats played for the Bosnian NT.

Any person living in the USA is an American by nationality. His or her ethnic group can be Germanic, Slavic, African(more than one ethnic group), Asian (more than one), etc. Same goes for Canada and Australia. Same for Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as other countries.

So yes, you are 100% "ethnic" Croatian.

Sarajevo look to the future -> UEFA.com

All FIFA cares about is that you are a citizen of a country you’re representing.

FIFA doesn’t and can’t influence how any country decides on citizenships. Croatia gives citizenships to basically anyone who declares himself to be Croatian . That’s all that matters.

Case closed.

This is incorrect. Prso's family is from Dalmatia.

Well, in this area there are only nationality and citizenship, with "nationality" being synonimous to what you call "ethnicity". And of course things are different in countries with no basic nationality, the US or Australia. But I don't care how things are viewed there.

like iv already said
yes those players could play for bosnia
but back then it was 1 country so these players couldve been born anywhere croatia,serbia and bosnia
but most of them play for their dads country
does anyone know sergej barbarez club team?
i think iv seen him play for inter zapresic (croatia)

Barbarez plays for Hamburger SV and is one of their key players.

http://www.hsv.de/index.php?id=9324

Another potential Bosnian international that plays for Hamburg is Mustafa Kucukovic:

http://www.hsv.de/index.php?id=13238

He currently plays for Germany U-19 and will play for them probably until his 21st birthday.

Bosnia will be next Brazil a poor country where kids play in the streets and go to better euro teams

Of those 3 Balkan nations, Bosnia has produced the best and most talented footballer of the bunch, Ibra, they just didn't want him when he wanted to play for them.

Ibra please... look at his form for Juventus. Look at Vidic.

I don't like Ibrahimovic too, he is too pretentious and selfish.
Of Bosnian players I prefer Salihamidzic and Barbarez.

He's born and raised in Sweden, so I fail to see how he's "produced" by Bosnia.

bosnia has much talent, most of the talent is still young. Just give it another 4 years, they will hav a break through.

Well I'm just going by how Croatia and Boznia played against Iran. My knowledge is limited because I don't get too many Eastern European games ie(Serbia, Croatia, Boznia), so please be kind.

From what I see Boznia has a lot of tallent but Croatia is a better team. Against Iran Croatia tied 2-2. Against Boznia well Iran won the game 5-2. I think the score might be a bit misleading because I think Boznia kind of gave up after Iran scored 3 goals to take the 3-2 lead. Croatia didn't give up when the score was 2-1 Iran, and got that deserved PK in the last min.

As someone pointed out here give it time. You guys have some young tallent and there is no telling how Boznia is going to be. Hopefully your team is going to improve, and I think they will. As of right now though I think Croatia and Serbia are just both a level up on Boznia.

Good luck to Croatia and Serbia in the WC, and good luck to Boznia in the future. I hope to see Boznia in WC 2010 so cheers.

First of all, as Frenil wrote, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is born and raised in Sweden and has got all of his football education in Sweden.
Second, Zlatans father is a muslim from Bosnia (I think he is roma, do not know if that makes him a bosniak or if he falls under som other ethnic "label") but his mother is Croat so if Bosnia can claim him as a potential player so can Croatia.
And third, I have never seen anywere that Zlatan has expressed any intrerest in playing for Bosnia, his father may have wanted him to but that is another story.

Dune, u dont know jack shit about ibrahimovic..he has always said he wanted to play for Bosnia, but he just wasnt given the chance, you should look at the sources before you speak..

Maybe I don't know jackshit about Ibrahimovic but nontheless it seams that I know a bit more than you do

It is well known that both the Bosnian and Croatian federations courted Zlatan when his talent and potential started to show. Zlatans father was also in favor of him playing for Bosnia. It never came to more than informal enquries when it was obvious Zlatan first was going to try to get into the Swedish team.

I remember an intervju with Zlatan at the time he was starting to become a star in Sweden, when asked about how he looked upon his background and nationality his answer was that he saw himself as both Swede and Yugoslav and this was quite a few years after the war and the breakup of Yugoslavia. I thought it was a bit odd but in Sweden a lot of people of mixed background like Zlatan did and still do consider themself Yugoslavs although that country has vanised.
In recent years Zlatan has started to embrace his bosnian roots out of respect of his father. His parents are divorced and Zlatan was mostly raised by his father. He also changed the name on his shirt from 'Zlatan' to 'Ibrahimovic' to honor his fathers name.

When it comes to sources, I think Mr Z. Ibrahimovic is one of the best so when a Swedish tabloid claimed he had wanted to play for Bosnia as a junior his response (quoted below from an other newspaper) is quite telling.

It is an outright lie
I am proud to play for Sweden
When I was a junior someone from the Bosnian federation asked me if I wanted to play in a tournament with their development team. I was not interested at all, I had already played for the Swedish U18 team. I am born and raised in Sweden. It is my home country. The fact that my roots lies elsewhere is a different matter. That is how the world is nowadays. I have never had any thoughts of playing for another country then Sweden.

The myth about how Bosnia could have had Zlatan but missed him is becoming rather tiring. Bosnia should do what other countries do and put more effort on developing their own talent and less on vain attempts to get others.

From what I heard, Bosnia invited Ibrahimovic to play in a tournament with Bosnia's "B" youth team in a real crap tournament. Ibrahimovic was insulted and that's the reason he doesn't play for them.

Zlatan was actually playing for an amateur team called "Sarajevo" in Sweden (very similar to the "Chilean" amateur teams in Sweden that have sprang up specially in the "lower" amateur leagues."
His dad did get in touch, but the FA turned him down, so he chose to play for Sweden.
This is a very tough argument to get involved in, because I've learned that having a passport (a Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, or Bosnian one in this case)) does not necessarily mean one "is" from that specific country. For instance, one could be born in Beograd with a name like Eldar Salihamovic. Is that person Serbian or Bosnian?
Did Koroman score a goal against Bosnia and then celebrate by trying to do the Orthodox star with his fingers? (a Bosnian friend told me this) I think that is utterly unacceptable in his case, considering that he grew up in Bosnia.
However, this is a very interesting subject.
Metro

I dont know what to think of that quote because Ibra has said many times that he wishes that he could have played just one game in a bosnian uniform that he would be satisfied.

According to the latest FIFA rankings Bosnia is ranked 43rd which is up from 63rd so i guess we are catching up to serbia and croatia but not quite there yet. And one thing to note is that Bosnia is losing players to other nations because many bosnians live in other countries bc of the war and some players choose not to play for Bosnia, one example is Haris Medjunanin who is supposed to be a great player but will play for the Netherlands instead of us. But their are two great players coming one is Mustafa Kucukovic who is 19 and plays for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, and another is Zlatan Muslimovic who plays for Messina in the Italian Seria A. Muslimovic will definetely be heard of in the EURO 08 qualifications he really is a great player.

Bosnia must first create soccer schools and get some clubs into uefa competitions

That's correct, his family lives in Dalmatia but his parents are Bosnian Serbs and his real name is Miludin Prso so he could play for Bosnia/Serbia but choose for Croatia.

Well, i hope that you have somebody who knowes how to read bosnian because i have link where Zlatan Ibrahimovic personally stated that he would like to play for Bosnia.

http://www.avaz.ba/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=4513&z=15&isasp=

I will translate it for the people interested:

the journalist asks Ibrahimovic if it's possible that he will play for Bosnia in the near future (this interview dates back from 2003).
Ibrahimovic answers: I've heard that the Croats are interested in me. I have a Swedish passport but Bosnian blood. I know that the Swedish wouldn't let me go but if the choice was up to me, i would play for Bosnia.

I rest my case!