Edin Isanović freely admits to his obsession with FK Sarajevo. He has been a fan of the football team since childhood and has now made a new documentary about two of the club’s most celebrated figures. Striker Vahidin Musemić was part of the team that won the 1966-67 Yugoslavian league title, thereby breaking the Serb stranglehold on the championship. His younger brother Husref was in the team that won the League in 1984-1985. The Musemić Brothers, co-directed with Nihad Ušanović, tells their remarkable story.
“We all know how difficult it was to win the championship of Yugoslavia, and these two [the brothers] were the most important links in those two titles. Therefore, my whole life has been marked by the surname Musemić,” the director says, describing the brothers as “true legends” of FK Sarajevo.
“These are two knights who made not only FK Sarajevo famous, but also the city of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, even Yugoslavia.,” he enthuses.
Isanović didn’t watch Vahidin play, because the older player finished his career before the future director was born, but his father told him that the striker was the best centre forward in Europe. The new documentary has archive footage to support such a claim. There is plenty of footage of Vahidin’s goals. Journalists who watched him in his prime say the contemporary player he most resembled the France and Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.
The director saw Husref for himself. “I remember those incredible goals with his head. I certainly remember Husref Musemić’s goal in the last game of the Yugoslav championship in 1985 when he scored against Crvena zvezda [Red Star Belgrade]. It was 2:1 for Sarajevo, which won the title and celebrated in front of 45,000 spectators. It was an unforgettable celebration.”
The brothers came from Janja, a town in the Podrinje region which has produced a surprising number of top footballers. It wasn’t just the Musemić brothers. Others from the region include Savo Milošević (remembered by British fans for his feats at Aston Villa), Dejan Joveljić, Admir Smajić and Luka Jović,
“It is incredible that in such a small area around the city of Bijeljina there are so many world-famous football players. Zlatan Ibrahimović’s father is from that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Isanović notes of the country’s very own footballer factory.
Their documentary is intended as a tribute to two figures who’ve given local fans huge amounts of pleasure and pride. “It was made to record what they managed to achieve, their incredible results.”
Vahidin’s death in June of this year was like a bolt from the blue. It affected the filmmakers deeply. “It was difficult for me when they informed me. But as fate would have it, we managed to shoot the last shots for the film seven days earlier. It’s fate. The relationship within the family that I have seen is incredible support from everyone and great brotherly love and respect.”
This isn’t the first football doc Isanović has made. It follows on from The Last Penalty of Faruk (2020). This was inspired by the penalty kick taken at the 1990 World Cup in Italy by the legendary Bosnian football player Faruk Hadzibegic. It was saved by Argentinian goalkeeper Goycochea, “It’s a film you should watch and it talks about whether there would have been a war in Yugoslavia if Hadžibegić had scored,” the director says of a sporting mishap with profound social and political consequences.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death – I assure you, it’s much more important than that,” the Liverpool manager Bill Shankly was once quoted as saying. In cases like that of Faruk, his words take on a grim and even tragic resonance.
The Balkans have been riven by war and political feuding – but almost everyone, regardless of religion or nationality, admired the brothers Musemić.
“As soon as they are mentioned, everyone gives a “thumbs up,”” the director notes of two of the region’s best-loved sporting icons. It’s a long while since they hung their boots but their memory endures. “The Musemić brothers mean a lot to young Bosnians. They research and watch their goals and admire them,” Isanović insists. “Vahidin was one of the best players of FK Sarajevo. Along with Asim Ferhatović Haset and Safet Sušić, he is the biggest name of FK Sarajevo, while his brother Husref is the coach with the most trophies in the history of FK Sarajevo.”
Winning all those trophies didn’t stop Husref from losing his job at the club. His dismissal in 2019 is regarded with dismay by many of the club’s fans. “The bitterness over the unfair dismissal of Husref is still present today because he is the most popular coach of the team…He had the best results. No one can take that away from him,” the director reflects on a decision which still pains him.
Al Jazeera financed the documentary and will decide on how it is distributed and broadcast after AJB Doc. Isanović is already beginning to look at making further documentaries about his beloved FK Sarajevo and other of its players who are regarded as legends today.
