Football has unified this country more than anything else in the past 20 years.
We're tin pot football channel Sausages and Caviar and the cats at the Guardian have asked
us to follow the career path of the Bosnian diamond, Edin Dzeko.
Sarajevo was interesting for many reasons because we're called Europe's Jerusalem. We
have mosques, churches, Catholic churches, Orthodox churches, Jewish synagogues and you
have people who fill them up so, I mean, the city is mixed.
During the civil war the city was completely destroyed, I mean, two million bombs which
hit and exploded in Sarajevo have really destroyed the city. Many people did die: 11,500 people
died in Sarajevo, so it's a big number.
There's reminders of the war absolutely everywhere, bullet holes in everything.
Football is the biggest thing here, especially in recent years because the Bosnian national
team has qualified for the World Cup in Brazil. There is so much expectation, I know people
are preparing to buy new HD TVs, you know, this is a really big thing going on.
In the past 20 years, all the negative and positive emotions have been sublimed in that
moment when we qualified and later, whatever happens, doesn't matter.
been all cocky and tried to go on some shortcut and now we're lost.
Fuck off. We're bloody lost.
Tonight we're going to the Sarajevo derby, a cup replay game between FK Sarajevo and
Zeljeznicar, the club where Dzeko started his career.
Zeljeznicar football club is a working class club, it comes from working class people.
So, the people who started it are railroad men.
Just after then war, Dzeko's father took him to Zeljeznicar to train with the youth team.
At the time the stadium was torn to pieces by the war and the pitch had to be combed
for unexploded mines.
Dzeko struggled during his forty games for the first team and acquired the unflattering
nickname of "kloc".
Kloc means somebody physically and mentally incapable of doing what he has been given
the job of.
During the war, the Zeljeznicar youth team had no where to practise because they were
under fire from the constant shelling from the hills surrounding them.
Bombs are hitting, snipers are shooting, so you couldn't stay too much, kind of, outside
because there was a chance you could die.
But they used to practise under a bridge or on a concrete pitch protected by a cluster
of buildings and, according to the coach, Dzeko never missed a session.
We're just arriving at the Olympic stadium for the game.
Still 0-0 after 53 minures, the are fans are providing more interest than the players at
the minute.
The last ten minutes.
Offisde. Offside.
FK Sarajevo are going through to the next round of the cup. Zeljo fans are going mental,
smashing up the fences, they're going absolutely ape shit.
We're just about to leave Sarajevo, it's quite easily the nicest, most beautiful place we've
been so far on these trips.
The game was really interesting. It was a little bit aggro at the end but we've had
a lovely time.
Dzeko's next stop was Teplice in the Czech Republic. We didn't have enough money to get
there so we're in Wolfsburg.
Cut myself shaving.
Dzeko signed for Wolfsburg in 2007. He formed a magic triangle with Misimovic and Grafite,
propelling them to their first ever Bundesliga title.
We're a little worried that we're in the under 15s end. Maybe that's why the tickets were
so cheap.
We're in the family zone, so it's rocking.
We're right next to the Frankfurt fans and they're pretty good.
1-0 to Frankfurt.
Lovely, lovely England.
We're back in Blighty for our next stop, Manchester stitty. Stitty? Ha.
I think there's a very big divide between City and United, I think United fans are usually
full of confidence, maybe not so this season and City fans are terrified that everything's
going to go wrong because history ahs kind of taught us that if you think that City are
done, then there's always another surprise in store for you.
At City I think Dzeko has been good and bad at the same time. There's been a couple of
games where he's been absolutely anonymous, his touch has been dreadful, it's bounced
off him, he's looked like he's not been able to win a ball in the air and he's come away
with a goal or two goals and it's been crucial to City winning the game.
I was sat in the stands against QPR. I was actually cursing Edin Dzeko when he scored
that equaliser because I thought: "the selfish bastard has only done that to give us all
a bit of false hope."
If there's a way to win the league, I don't think that will ever be bettered. I think,
you know, City could win the league by 20, 30, 40 points, you know, it will never better
that day against QPR, simply because you're going from so low to so high in so short a
time. The elation was huge.
I think if any fanbase deserves a bit of time in the sun, it's probably City's.