Asmir Begovic: From fleeing homeland to joining an elite list

• Begovic was part of the Bosnian team that made the country’s first-ever World Cup appearance

• In 2013, the goalkeeper scored a 91.9m-long goal for Stoke City against Southampton

• He has kept 27 clean sheets for Bosnia in 63 matches, a record for the Dragons

Jayanta Oinam From Trebinje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Heilbronn, in southwest Germany, then to Edmonton, in Canada. That’s the route taken by Asmir Begovic before he landed a contract with Portsmouth in 2005 to become the second player, after Muhamed Konjic of Coventry City, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to join an England Premier League side. That journey, with a lot of detours, was not an easy one. Born a few years before the declaration of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence in 1992, Begovic fled the country as a four-year-old, with his family finally settling in Canada. It’s claimed that more than 100,000 who have stayed in the Balkan country were killed in the ensuing civil war fuelled by ethnic clashes. In stark contrast to what had happened in the early 1990s in his homeland, Asmir Begovic in 2014, took the field at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana Stadium against Argentina for Bosnia’s first-ever World Cup match. They lost the match 2-1 with his team-mate Sead Kolasinac and Lionel Messi beating the goalkeeper.

Begovic, who had previously turned up for the Canada U-20 team, was one of many Bosnian players in the 23-man squad who were either born or raised abroad. And they, despite the failure to escape the group stage in Brazil, became heroes in the eyes of Bosnians, with many terming Safet Susic’s men as the country’s ‘golden generation’. And like his illustrious teammates like Edin Dzeko (Manchester City), Miralem Pjanic (AS Roma), Emir Spahic (Bayer Leverkusen), Senad Lulic (Lazio), etc., Asmir Begovic was already playing in one of the top five leagues in Europe. “It’s an intriguing story because we have come together from all around the world — I guess what you might call a golden generation, raised in different environments but with a common country and a common goal,” Asmir Begovic told BBC before the 2014 World Cup, while also reliving Bosnia’s near-misses. “Our country has wanted this so much and we lost in play-offs against Portugal for both the World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, so it was a huge relief to finally do it.” Begovic, by then was already an established name in England. After years of struggle at Portsmouth, a five-year stint that also witnessed loan spells at lower division teams, he finally became the first-choice keeper at Stoke City. And there, he entered the record books for scoring the then-longest goal in football. In 2013, a fortuitous 13th-minute clearance kick helped Asmir Begovic beat Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc during their Premier League match. Later Guinness World Records revealed that the distance covered by the ball was 91.9m. The record has since been broken by Newport County’s Tom King, who scored a 96.01m long-ranger against Cheltenham Town in a League Two match in 2021.

After the goal, Begovic told the club’s website: “I feel amazing to be honoured in this way and as a goalkeeper I didn’t expect this to happen, not for this type of record anyway. I will take it though and enjoy it... I really do appreciate this award and the certificate will certainly take pride of place on the wall at home. So thank you to everyone at Guinness World Records for presenting me with this wonderful award.” But Begovic, who became the fifth goalkeeper to score a goal in the Premier League era, remains the fastest to do so. Before him, Peter Schmeichel, for Aston Villa against Everton in 2001; Brad Friedel, for Blackburn Rovers against Charlton Athletic in 2004; Paul Robinson, for Tottenham Hotspur against Watford in 2007; and Tim Howard, for Everton against Bolton Wanderers in 2012 have achieved the feat before the Bosnian. In 2021, Liverpool’s Alisson Becker joined the list with a goal against West Bromwich Albion. In a storied career, Begovic has also turned up for teams in Belgium (La Louviere), Azerbaijan (Qarabag) and Italy (AC Milan), and lifted the domestic league trophy in England, with Chelsea in 2017 and Azerbaijan in 2020. In 2021, he returned to England and made his first Premier League start in 869 days, turning up for Everton. For the national team, Begovic has made 63 appearances and kept 27 clean sheets, the most for the Dragons.