Former Croatian soccer star Robert Prosinecki has been hired to coach the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team, the Bosnian soccer federation has announced.
The federation on January 4 said Prosinecki, a former Real Madrid midfielder, was chosen ahead of Bosniak Amar Osim, who was also interviewed.
Prosinecki, 49, has been coach of Azerbaijan's national team for the past three years.
As a player, he won a European Cup title in 1991 with Red Star Belgrade, then moved to Madrid. He later played one season with Barcelona.
He is also the only footballer to have scored at two World Cups for two different countries, netting for Yugoslavia in the 1990 competition and then scoring twice for Croatia at the 1998 finals.
Bosnia failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup tournament in Russia. Since becoming independent in 1992, it has only qualified for the final phase once, in 2014 in Brazil.
The Balkan country hopes to rebound in 2020 for the European Championships under Prosinecki’s leadership, the soccer federation said.