Eden Dzeko

Edin Džeko was born in Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia on 17th March 1986. As a child Džeko lived through a bitter civil war within his country that would eventually see Yugoslavia divided into seven states. Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Džeko began his football career in inauspicious circumstances playing in midfield for Željezničar in his home city. Having risen through the ranks Džeko went on to make 41 appearances in the first team, scoring five goals between 2003 and 2005. Džeko's coach in his early career was Jiří Plíšek, who left Željezničar in 2005 to return to his native Czech Republic, taking Džeko with him to Teplice for just €25k and converting him from a midfielder into a striker.

After two years in the Czech Republic, including a brief spell on loan at FK Ústí nad Labem, Džeko was on the move again. Impressed by his goal-scoring during his second season at Teplice, VFL Wolfsburg of Germany tabled a €4m bid which was eagerly accepted. Džeko would go on to spend three and a half happy seasons in Germany, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in his first year and then winning the Bundesliga a year later. In 2008-2009, Džeko netted 26 times in the league and 22 times the year after, making him the top scorer in the Bundesliga in 2009-2010. In August 2010, Džeko became Wolfsburg's all-time top league goal scorer but this was to be his last major achievement in German football.

In January 2011, Džeko completed a €32m move to Manchester City and in his first season with the club he scored six times in 21 matches, including a vital goal against Notts County which kept City in the FA Cup, a competition that they would go on to win. To date, arguably Džeko's biggest contribution to English football came at the end of the 2011-2012 season when he scored a 92nd minute equaliser against QPR on the final day of the season. Sergio Aguero would go on to score the winner in the 95th minute and give City their first top flight title win in 44 years.

In addition to his honours as a club player, Džeko also holds a number of international records. He is the leading scorer of all time for Bosnia-Herzegovina and has been voted their player of the year on three occasions. In qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Džeko scored 10 goals, making him the second top scorer in the UEFA section and helping his country reach the finals of a major tournament for the first time. 

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