Husref Musemić (born 4 July 1961) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the most successful Bosnian football managers.

Club career

Born in the town of Janja, near Bijeljina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia, Musemić began his career playing at local club Radnik Bijeljina, which played in the Yugoslav Second League group West. In 1979, he joined Yugoslav First League side FK Sarajevo, where he played for 6 seasons. He was an important member of the memorable Sarajevo squad that won the 1984–85 Yugoslav First League, which earned him a move that summer to Red Star Belgrade. In Belgrade, Musemić represented the red & whites for the following four seasons, winning another Yugoslav First League title in the 1987–88 season. He moved abroad in summer of 1989 to join Hearts in Scotland, but he only played the first half of the 1989–90 Scottish Premier Division, though scoring a derby winner against Hibernian in August 1989, though, to cement his place in Hearts' history books. During the winter break he returned to Yugoslavia and joined his former club, FK Sarajevo. By then, Sarajevo had already lost many of the championship winning squad of 1985, so a year later, Musemić moved abroad again, this time to the Netherlands by joining Twente. He played nine games in the second half of the 1990–91 Eredivisie season, but in the following season he only managed to play one match, so he spent the second part of the season playing with FC VVV. He however played no official games for them. Before retiring, Musemić played in Germany between 1992 and 1994 with SC Pfullendorf in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg where he got the chance to show his scoring skills by netting 16 times in 32 matches. He finished his playing career after the end of that season at the age of 33.

International career

Musemić made his debut and played his only match for the Yugoslavia national team in a friendly match played in Timișoara, Romania, on 30 March 1983, in a Yugoslav victory of 2–0 against Romania. Later, after the break-up of Yugoslavia, in 1995, he played in the first half of the first ever official match of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, away against Albania.

Managerial career

Early career

After retiring from playing, Musemić began his managerial career. Initially, he worked at Sarajevo as an assistant to managers Mehmed Janjoš and Nermin Hadžiahmetović. Afterwards he managed Đerzelez in the late 1990s, before becoming Sarajevo's main manager and winning the 2004–05 Bosnian Cup and two years later, the 2006–07 Bosnian Premier League. After Sarajevo, Musemić managed Olimpik, with whom he won the 2008–09 First League of FBiH and got them promoted to the Bosnian Premier League. He also managed Sloboda Tuzla and Mladost Doboj Kakanj. While at Sloboda, Musemić also had good success, finishing 2nd in the 2015–16 Premier League season and being the 2015–16 Bosnian Cup runner-up. In between his two appointments at Olimpik, from 29 June 2011 until 2012, he was head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 national team.

Return to Sarajevo

In August 2017, for the fifth time in his career, Musemić was appointed as the manager of Sarajevo. In November 2017, he overtook Miroslav Brozović as Sarajevo's manager with the most wins in the club's history. In the 2018–19 season, he had for a second time in his career won the Bosnian Cup after Sarajevo beat Široki Brijeg in the final on 15 May 2019. Just three days after the cup success, on 18 May 2019, Musemić led Sarajevo to a 4–0 home league win against Zvijezda 09 and won the league title with Sarajevo once again and also won the club's first ever double in history, as well as also the first double ever in his managerial career. On 23 May 2019, he was given the Bosnian Premier League Manager of the Season award for the 2018–19 season. On 12 June 2019, he extended his contract with Sarajevo, which was due to keep him at the club until the summer of 2021. On 2 December 2019, Musemić got sacked from his position of Sarajevo manager after an underwhelming performance of his team in its 3–1 home league loss against fierce city rivals Željezničar in the Sarajevo derby two days earlier, on 30 November. It was that same season in which Željezničar also beat Sarajevo 5–2 at home on the Grbavica Stadium on 31 August 2019, with Musemić getting most of the blame for the team's loss.

Tuzla City

On 7 January 2021, it was announced that Musemić had become the new manager of Tuzla City, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. In his first game in charge, Tuzla City beat city rivals Sloboda in a league match on 28 February 2021. Musemić oversaw his first loss as Tuzla City manager against his former Sarajevo, in a semi-final cup game on 7 April 2021. He left the club by mutual consent on 10 April 2022, following a string of poor results.

Igman Konjic

On 22 December 2022, Musemić was appointed as the manager of relegation threatened Igman Konjic. He was victorious in his first match in charge, as Igman won 3–1 against Željezničar on 25 February 2023. Musemić suffered his first defeat on 11 March 2023, losing 3–0 at home in a match against Zrinjski Mostar. He finished the season with the side in eighth place, managing to avoid relegation. On 27 July 2023, it was announced by Igman that Musemić had left the club by mutual consent, two days before the start of the new season.

Return to Igman Konjic

On 22 June 2024, Igman Konjic announced Musemić's return to the club as manager. His first competitive game back in charge of Igman ended in a 1–0 away loss to Posušje on 4 August 2024. After a 7–1 away defeat to Zrinjski Mostar on 21 October 2024, he verbally attacked and threatened the game's referee observer. Following the incident, Musemić was fined and banned from working in Bosnian football for a period of six months. He ultimately resigned as Igman manager on 6 November 2024.

Personal life

Musemić's older brother Vahidin was a professional footballer as well and Sarajevo legend.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Sarajevo Red Star Belgrade

Manager

Sarajevo Olimpik Individual