Zlatan Muslimovic

Zlatan Muslimovic it seems is determined to see every part of Italy before he calls time on his career, he is only 26 but already he has been at nine different clubs in Italy.He has played in the Serie A,B and C making his Serie A debut for Udinese in the 2000/1 season playing a handful of games, the following season he went on loan to Pistolese in Serie B, he made only 8 appearances but did manage his first goal in Italian football, he was also at Perugia during the season but didnt play a game there. Muslimovic then departed to Ascoli in Serie B for the 2002/3 season but didn't enjoy the most successful of times playing 19 league matches but not managing a goal, not surprisngly he changed clubs again for the 2003/4 season, though this time he fared better, scoring 6 goals in 30 league appearances for Padova in Serie C1.

He was still playing in Serie C in 2004/5 but this time with Rimini, indeed it was a very successful season both for Rimini who won the league title and for Muslimovic who finished the season as top scorer in the league with 15 goals from 32 matches. Messina of Serie A secured his services for the 2005/6 season where he managed 4 goals from 25 league appearances, two goals in a game against Empoli being the highlight of his season. However he was offloaded again for the 2006/7 season, this time to Parma where he managed 3 goals in 28 league matches, making his career total of 7 goals in 55 Serie A appearances but coach Luigi Del Neri of Atalanta had seen enough in Muslimovic to believe he could deliver goals for Atalanta and so in the summer of 2007 Muslimovic joined his ninth club in Italy.

However while sustained success in Serie A has so far eluded Muslimovic, for Bosnia, the story could hardly be more different, for he has made a staggering start to his international career. He made his international debut in 2006 as a second half substitute in a friendly against France in Sarajevo, in his next international against Malta he scored his first goal for Bosnia as they ran out comfortable 5-2 winners in a European Championship qualifier. Muslimovic then scored the decisive goal as Bosnia beat Norway 2-1 in another European Championship qualifier, in Oslo and was on target again as Bosnia beat Turkey 3-2 in their sixth qualifying match for Euro 2008. Zlatan then scored for the third consecutive international as Bosnia beat Malta 1-0 in their Group C European Championship clash. Muslimovic then registered his first international hat trick, albeit in a losing cause against Croatia but he has shown that he has the temperament and ability to score goals at international level, it looks as though he will be around on the international stage for many years to come yet.