Edin Dzeko Received a Drone Show and Guard of Honour as Bosnia Said Goodbye After 152 Caps

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Edin Dzeko retired from international football after Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 1-1 draw at home to Sweden, playing his 152nd and final appearance for his country at 40 years old.
Fireworks went off to mark his number 11 shirt in the 11th minute, and Dzeko received a standing ovation when he was substituted after 62 minutes in Zenica.
Bosnia staged an official ceremony after the match with a guard of honour and a drone show, and Dzeko was showered with soft toys from the crowd during a lap of honour.

Fireworks for the Number 11, Then a Standing Ovation

Edin Dzeko’s final touch for Bosnia-Herzegovina almost counted. In the first half against Sweden, the 40-year-old forward found the net, only for the goal to be ruled out after the ball had already gone out of play in the build-up. It was the closest he came to scoring in a 152nd and final international appearance that ended in a 1-1 draw, in a career that started before some of his newest teammates were born.

A Night Built Around One Man

Bosnia’s Nations League meeting with Sweden in Zenica might ordinarily be remembered for Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres putting the visitors ahead, or Kerim Alajbegovic’s equalizer securing the 1-1 draw. Instead the result became the backdrop. Fireworks went off inside 11 minutes, timed to Dzeko’s familiar number 11 shirt. When he was substituted in the 62nd minute, the home crowd stood to applaud a player who had worn that shirt for his country for 16 years.

Soft Toys and a Drone Show

The tributes did not stop at the final whistle. Bosnia had planned a ceremony for after the game: a guard of honour, a lap of honour around the stadium, and a drone show overhead displaying messages of thanks to Dzeko. Supporters threw soft toys onto the pitch as he made his way around Zenica one last time.

From Wolfsburg to an Unlikely Champions League Final

Dzeko’s club career ran in parallel to his 152 caps for Bosnia. He won the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg in 2008-09 before moving to Manchester City in 2011, where he scored a 92nd-minute equalizer against Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the 2011-12 season, moments before Sergio Aguero’s famous winner clinched City’s first top-flight title in 44 years.

He later became Serie A’s top scorer for Roma in 2016-17 with 29 goals, and went on to become the first player to reach 50 league goals in three of Europe’s top five leagues. His final club move, to Inter Milan in 2021, produced one more surprise: a run to the 2023 Champions League final, against the Manchester City side he used to play for.

73 Goals for a Country of Four Million

Dzeko scored 73 goals in his 152 appearances for Bosnia-Herzegovina, both national records. For a country of fewer than four million people, producing one of Europe’s most prolific strikers of his generation was no small thing, and Saturday’s ceremony in Zenica was Bosnia’s way of marking an international career unlikely to be matched again soon.

What Bosnia Loses

Bosnia sit in Nations League Group B4 alongside Poland, Romania, Hungary and Georgia, and will have to adjust to playing without the player who led their forward line for most of the last decade and a half. The farewell in Zenica was built entirely around him, a rare moment in a Nations League weekend otherwise dominated by results elsewhere, and a reminder of how long he had been doing this before he finally stopped.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.