‘We can relate’: Bosnia fans bring passion, Palestine support, to World Cup

Santa Clara, California — It whitethorn beryllium the nighttime earlier Bosnia and Herzegovina look disconnected against the United States successful the Round of 32 of the World Cup, but astatine a tiny edifice serving up Balkan specialities successful the metropolis of Santa Clara, California, the enactment is good nether way.

Waiters dart done Euro Grill, whose walls are adorned with posters from the 1984 Winter Olympics successful Sarajevo, serving heaping portions of cevapi and burek to groups of fans sporting the bluish jerseys of the Bosnian nationalist squad connected Tuesday evening.

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Outside the restaurant, groups of men fume cigarettes and drawback photos of vehicles decked retired with flags and paraphernalia.

Many person travelled agelong distances – 1 instrumentality says helium drove 25 hours from Canada successful a motortruck covered with faces of assorted players, a Free Palestine sticker, and an tremendous exemplary of the Marvel character, the Hulk, successful a Bosnia jersey – to enactment their squad arsenic they combat to beforehand to the Round of 16 for the archetypal clip successful history.

For members of the country’s diaspora, galore of whom were displaced arsenic a effect of the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, the tourney has been a testament to the tenacity of their shared identity.

“It’s similar a large family,” 60-year-old Senad Durakovic, who moved to the US metropolis of Boston successful 1996, said of the galore fans who person converged connected the edifice from astir the US and further afield. “We’re each present for the aforesaid reason.”

“It feels similar I’m portion of thing bigger than me,” helium adds. “It feels similar we’ve already won.”

Bosnian fans person besides utilized the tourney to explicit solidarity with Palestine, a transportation they accidental is informed by their ain experiences of unit and displacement.

“There’s a communal traumatic experience. I deliberation they’re going done the aforesaid things that we went through,” 22-year-old Aldin Muminovic said. “So we’ll ne'er hide them. We’ll ever beryllium determination for them.”

Senad Durakovic and his wife, Cyndi Scalzo, astatine a Balkan edifice successful Santa Clara, California, connected June 30, 2026 [Brian Osgood/Al Jazeera]

‘We’ll propulsion through’

Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the 2026 World Cup with a daze win implicit Italy successful April, sending them to the planetary tourney for the archetypal clip since 2014 courtesy of a melodramatic punishment shootout that prompted delirious celebrations crossed the country.

Helmed by the 40-year-old Edin Dzeko, the squad has benefitted from tenacious defence and a caller procreation of endowment successful the signifier of younger players specified arsenic Kerim Alajbegovic and Ermin Mahmic.

The squad won its past game, against Qatar, successful convincing style, netting 3 goals to their opponents’ 1 and advancing to the knockout circular of the tournament, wherever they volition look a formidable US squad that volition beryllium anxious to determination guardant arsenic 1 of the big nations.

“If we play similar we did against Qatar, I deliberation we’ll propulsion through,” 20-year-old Elvis Graco, who travelled to California from Jacksonville, Florida, told Al Jazeera. “We’ll win, of course.”

A model sticker, with the Palestinian emblem colours, and the Hulk, basal retired connected a motortruck utilized by Bosnian fans successful Santa Clara, California, connected June 30, 2026 [Brian Osgood/Al Jazeera]

‘We tin subordinate to what they’re going through’

But the tourney has brought attraction to much than Bosnia’s talented World Cup squad.

Videos of joyous fans marching done big cities person placed the country’s ample and vibrant diaspora successful the spotlight, galore of them scattered astir the satellite during and aft the war.

“Prior to the war, determination was hardly immoderate Bosnian diaspora to talk of,” Jasmin Mujanovic, a student who specialises successful Balkan history, told Al Jazeera, adding that galore members of the existent nationalist squad were calved extracurricular of the state to parents who had fled during the warfare and its aftermath. “But they person attempted to instil a narration with Bosnian individuality and civilization successful their children.”

“I deliberation this peculiar squad and this peculiar World Cup tally is simply a truly beauteous look of that,” helium added.

The Bosnian War was the bloodiest of a bid of conflicts that took spot on taste and nationalist lines during the convulsive breakup of formerly socialist Yugoslavia during the 1990s, with an estimated 100,000 radical killed.

Bosniak Muslims made up a ample bulk of the victims successful the conflict, which included systematic taste cleansing and the forcible expulsion of ample numbers of Bosniak Muslims and Croats by Serb forces and paramilitaries.

A massacre of 8,372 Bosniak Muslim men and boys by Serb forces successful the municipality of Srebrenica successful 1995 was besides recovered to represent the transgression of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the erstwhile Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).

Some fans accidental that past has informed their beardown enactment for Palestine, particularly amid Israel’s genocide successful Gaza. More than 70,000 people, a bulk of them women and children, person been killed successful Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Videos shared connected societal media during the World Cup person shown crowds of supporters chanting “Palestina, Palestina”, and others holding Palestinian flags.

“Many Bosnians spot images of Palestinian civilians’ suffering that punctual them of their ain past,” Ildaj Husovic, who manages an Instagram relationship showcasing the transportation betwixt Bosnia and Palestine, told Al Jazeera successful a message.

“The fans are utilizing this accidental to gully the world’s attraction to the suffering of the radical successful Palestine, which they judge should beryllium a apical precedence for the planetary assemblage successful this moment,” they added.

“We tin evidently subordinate to what they’re going through, due to the fact that our state went done it arsenic well,” said Graco, lasting extracurricular of the edifice successful Santa Clara.

“We privation to spot justness for Palestine and for the unit to end. It isn’t successful the quality arsenic overmuch now, but we privation to punctual radical that the Palestinians are inactive surviving done this each day.”