Pre-independence (1903–1992) The game reached Bosnia and Herzegovina at the start of the 20th century, with
Sarajevo (in 1903) and
Mostar (in 1905) being the first cities to embrace it.
Banja Luka,
Tuzla,
Zenica and
Bihać were next along with numerous smaller towns as the sport spread. The country was under
Austro-Hungarian rule when official competition began in 1908, though these activities were on a small scale within each territory. At the outbreak of World War I, there were five clubs in Sarajevo, four based on religious and ethnic affiliation: Hrvatski ŠK (later known as
SAŠK) as Bosnian Croatian, Srpski ŠK (later known as
Slavija) affiliated to Bosnian Serbs, Muslimanski ŠK (later known as Sarajevski) affiliated to Bosniaks, and Židovski ŠK (later known as Barkohba) as Bosnian Jewish club; while only multi-ethnic was worker's club RŠD Hajduk. Along with Sarajevo-based clubs there were approximately 20 outside the capital. The creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia post 1918 brought an increase in the number of leagues, and soon a domestic national championship was organised featuring two teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the champions of Banja Luka football sub-association and Sarajevo football sub-association. In 1920, the direct predecessor of the football association of Bosnia-Herzegovina was founded as the Sarajevo football subassociation. The unified championship ran until 1939/40. The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded after the Second World War, being affiliated to the
Yugoslav Football Association. Bosnia and Herzegovina's
best sides at the time were
FK Sarajevo,
FK Željezničar (Sarajevo),
FK Velež (Mostar),
FK Sloboda (Tuzla),
NK Čelik (Zenica) and
FK Borac (Banja Luka) which played in the Yugoslavian
first league,
second league and
cup competitions with moderate to good success, while its
best players with the likes of
Predrag Pašić,
Vahid Halilhodžić,
Davor Jozić,
Safet Sušić,
Josip Katalinski,
Faruk Hadžibegić,
Ivica Osim,
Asim Ferhatović,
Blaž Slišković,
Mehmed Baždarević,
Dušan Bajević,
Edhem Šljivo,
Enver Marić and many others were chosen to represent
SFR Yugoslavia national football team.
Post-independence (1992–present) During the season
1997–98 Bosnia-Herzegovina football league competition included both Bosniak and Bosnian Croat clubs playing against each other for the first time. Before this, the leagues ran strictly divided along ethnic lines. Bosnian Serb clubs joined the league system in 2002.
Premier League unification (May 2002) In May, 2002,
Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina was unified to include both Bosnian entity football associations, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Association, based in
Sarajevo, and Republika Srpska Football Association, based in
Banja Luka. The unified Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina that includes clubs from both entities started from the
2002-03 season and is active today. Each semi-autonomous half also has a federation of its own.
FIFA suspends Bosnian FA , with
Dušan Bajević,
Faruk Hadžibegić, Jasmin Baković and UEFA guests
Michel Platini,
Allan Hansen,
Peter Gillieron,
Theodore Theodoridis, Muhamed Taa.
(October 2012 Sarajevo) On 1 April 2011
UEFA and
FIFA announced the suspension of the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina with immediate effect. UEFA and FIFA decided to do so because the Association didn't follow the new UEFA statute, namely the rule under which the organization must be led by a single president. They had three, one for each one of the constituent national ethnicities:
Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and
Bosnian Croats, as was the case with the Dayton Agreement. The suspension was lifted on 30 May 2011 after the new statute was unanimously approved by all three ethnic groups. In the past years, some Bosnian players were very vocal about their opposition to then-leaders in the Bosnian FA, who were elected or appointed because of ethnic affiliation rather than professional qualifications. Fans often either boycotted the games or displayed anti-FA banners at the games they did attend. 13 Bosnian national team players (
Misimović,
Berberović,
Grujić,
Bartolović,
Hrgović,
Bajramović,
Papac,
Spahić,
Milenković,
Grlić,
Bešlija,
Hasagić, and
Tolja) released a statement published in
Dnevni Avaz daily, announcing they would boycott all national team matches until four FA officials –
Milan Jelić, Iljo Dominković, Sulejman Čolaković, and Ahmet Pašalić – resigned. "We will no longer accept call-ups to the national team while these people are performing these functions, hoping that our gesture will mark the first step in the healing of this cancer in our soccer and a new beginning for the national team for which our hearts beat." in the letter it was quoted. A new team had to be assembled to continue
qualifications for Euro 2008. Former forwards
Sergej Barbarez and
Elvir Bolić were the most vocal against the corruption in the Bosnian FA appearing on numerous TV shows expressing their deep frustration about the situation in the Bosnian football over the years.
FIFA imposes normalisation committee (April 2011 – December 2012) become the interim leader of the Bosnian FA, after FIFA and UEFA suspended the country from international competitions for two months in April 2011 From 1 April 2011 to December 2012, NSBiH was run by a FIFA-imposed normalisation committee headed by football great
Ivica Osim, which helped lift the FIFA imposed suspension of Bosnian football. Other members of the Normalisation Committee included former football players and managers:
Faruk Hadžibegić,
Dušan Bajević,
Sergej Barbarez and Jasmin Baković. According to many football enthusiasts, this was a welcome change for the football in the country. One of those dismissed from their positions was a former NSBiH secretary general
Munib Ušanović, who was successfully prosecuted over tax evasion and illegal misappropriation of the NFSBiH funds. Together with Miodrag Kureš, Munib Ušanović has been sentenced to five years in jail over tax fraud.
Elvedin Begić elected first single president (December 2012) On 13 December 2012, members of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted in
Elvedin Begić as the new first single president of the BiH football organization for the next four years. Begić was serving as vice president of the Normalisation Committee prior to this position.
UEFA President opens sport centre in Zenica (September 2013) On 2 September 2013, UEFA President
Michel Platini opened the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Association new state of the art training centre, built with UEFA, FIFA and city of Zenica funding. Alongside of Michel Platini and Bosnian FA president
Elvedin Begić, other special guests from the region included president of the
Croatian Football Federation Davor Šuker, and
Football Association of Serbia general secretary Zoran Laković. Also joining them were
Ivica Osim, Jasmin Baković, Rodoljub Petković and at the time Bosnia-Herzegovina team coaches
Safet Sušić and
Borče Sredojević, as well as past team captain
Emir Spahić,
Senad Lulić, as well as
Vlado Jagodić (coach of U21 Bosnia side at the time), former Bosnia players
Muhamed Konjić,
Elvir Bolić,
Vedin Musić, and many others.
Football academy in Mostar (January 2015) On 20 January 2015, Project dubbed "Projekat obnove sportskog centra u Mostaru za pomirenje u zajednici kroz promociju sporta" was announced meaning SKC Kantarevac in
Mostar will be built and serve as the city's new football academy sponsored by Japanese embassy and
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and supported locally by
Ivica Osim, former
Japan national football team manager.
Vico Zeljković elected president (March 2021) On 16 March 2021,
Vico Zeljković, president of the
Football Association of Republika Srpska, was elected president of the Bosnia and Herzegovina FA. ==Management==