Zlatan Muslimović, (born March 6, 1981 in Banja Luka, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian international football player. He holds both Bosnian and Swedish citizenships.

[edit] Early career

As a teenager, Zlatan played for the Swedish teams Habo IF and Husqvarna FF. He went on to play for the Swedish team IFK Göteborg youth team in 1998 and 1999, before coming to Italy in the year 2000.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Italy

Muslimovic signed his first professional contract with Udinese Calcio. During the 2004/2005 season, he was the top scorer of Serie C1/A side Rimini, with 15 goals in 32 matches, helping his team in winning the league and being promoted to Serie B. In 2006/2007 he was loaned to Parma FC. In the summer of 2007 he signed for Serie A side Atalanta but suffered from lack of playing time under head coach Luigi Del Neri.

[edit] PAOK Thessaloniki

On 22 July 2008, Muslimovic signed with the Greek team PAOK Thessaloniki, on a 3 year deal. Muslimovic was very excited to see the massive number of PAOK fans who came to welcome him upon his arrival in Thessaloniki. Muslimovic has become a fan favorite and has largely contributed to PAOK's successful run in the first few games of 2008. Zlatan scored his first goal for PAOK in a friendly against Udinese Calcio, with PAOK defeating the Italian side 3-1. He also scored his first league goal in a home derby against AEK Athens.

[edit] International career

Muslimović has made 16 appearances for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team^[1] since making his debut in 2006 in a friendly match against France as a second half substitute. He also played for the team in their Euro 2008 qualifying matches against Malta (x2), Hungary, Norway and Turkey. Against Croatia, he scored a hat-trick.

One of Muslimović's most memorable current games was the encounter with the Norwegian National Football team in Oslo. He along with middle fielder Zvjezdan Misimović scored two early goals in the first half giving Bosnia-Herzegovina a night to remember on the 24th of March 2007 with a 2-1 victory. He turned in another solid performance in the match against Turkey by calmly slotting a cheeky ball from Zvjezdan Misimović past Rüştü Reçber to level the score at 1-1. Bosnia went on to win the game 3-2 via a header off a corner in the 89th minute from substitute Adnan Čustović.

Another great feat from Muslimović was a hat-trick during the friendly match with Croatia. Muslimovic is currently the only player with Elvir Bolić, Elvir Baljić and Zvjezdan Misimović to ever score a hat-trick for the Bosnian national team.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Muslimović Hat-Trick against Croatia
• Zlatan Muslimović at National-Football-Teams.com