Elvir Baljić
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Elvir Baljić | ||
| Date of birth | 8 July 1974 | ||
| Place of birth | Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| FK Željezničar | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–1995 | FK Sarajevo | 11 | (8) |
| 1995–1998 | Bursaspor | 87 | (42) |
| 1998–1999 | Fenerbahçe | 30 | (18) |
| 1999–2002 | Real Madrid | 11 | (1) |
| 2000–2001 | → Fenerbahçe (loan) | 27 | (5) |
| 2001–2002 | → Rayo Vallecano (loan) | 10 | (1) |
| 2002–2005 | Galatasaray | 34 | (3) |
| 2005 | Konyaspor | 14 | (2) |
| 2005–2006 | Ankaragücü | 15 | (2) |
| 2006–2008 | Istanbulspor | 25 | (9) |
| Total | 264 | (91) | |
| National team | |||
| 1996–2005 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 38 | (14) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2010–2014 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (assistant) | ||
| 2015 | Karabükspor | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Elvir Baljić (Turkish: Elvir Baliç) (born 8 July 1974) is a Bosnian football manager and former player. He was assistant manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team, with whom he qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
His career began with FK Željezničar, but in 1993, during the Bosnian War, he signed for FK Sarajevo. During his time with FK Sarajevo, he played eleven games, and scored eight goals.
Later, he was moved to Turkey where he played for Bursaspor. He was the best player at the club for several seasons, which made him an interesting target for the best Turkish clubs. During his spell in Bursaspor, he took also Turkish citizenship in 1996. However he chose playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team instead of Turkey.
Fenerbahçe SK signed him in summer 1998 for €9.3 million. He spent a season at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium scoring 18 goals in 30 appearances as the club finished the season in third place.
Baljić's stellar performances at Fenerbahçe made the 25-year-old a target for various European clubs. Still, his €26 million transfer to Real Madrid under club president Lorenzo Sanz during summer 1999 caused a major surprise. The signing was inititiated by Real Madrid's head coach John Toshack who knew Baljić well from Istanbul as the Welshman coached Beşiktaş while the Bosnian starred for Fenerbahçe. For more than a decade, the transfer fee paid by Real to Fenerbahçe for Baljić stood as the biggest sum of money paid for a player from ex-Yugoslavia, until Edin Džeko's January 2011 move from Wolfsburg to Manchester City for £27 million (€32 million).
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