Post by SWISS DO - Swiss Institute of Sports Diplomacy

🇨🇭🇧🇦 With #SwissDO today’s Bosnia-Herzegovina focus is a chance to look at one of Switzerland’s strongest football and migration stories. 🇨🇭 💡 Did you know? The Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland connection runs through the Nati bench, Swiss club football, post-war migration, diaspora life, cooperation policy and new debates about Europe’s energy future. The most visible football link is Vladimir “Vlado” Petković, who spent seven years as head coach of the #Nati. His story connects Bosnia, Switzerland, football, in a particularly powerful way. Petković arrived in Switzerland in 1987, before becoming an important figure in Swiss football and later one of the people who helped welcome refugees arriving from Bosnia during the war in the 1990s. ⚽ The football exchange between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland runs deep. It includes players and coaches with origin stories or family links across both countries, from Miroslav Blažević and Vladimir Petković to Ivan Rakitić, Haris Seferović, Bećir Omeragić, Haris Tabaković and Eman Košpo. This is more than a football story. It is also a diaspora story. The Bosnian community is one of the largest foreign diasporas in Switzerland. In 2018, it was estimated at more than 60,000 people. Much of this migration stems from the Balkan wars after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, especially the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s, although people from the former Yugoslavia had already been arriving in significant numbers during the 1980s. Economically, the relationship is smaller than Switzerland’s links with some other Group B countries, but it is growing. Trade is reaching close to CHF 250m, with Swiss exports to Bosnia-Herzegovina growing at almost 10% per year between 2019 and 2024. Switzerland also sits just outside the top ten destinations for Bosnian exports, making it an important source of revenue. The relationship also has a development dimension. Switzerland operates a dedicated cooperation programme in Bosnia-Herzegovina, focused on political and social reforms, effective institutions and public services, a greener economy, improved migration management and a stronger health sector. A newer economic story is also emerging. Swiss mining firm ARCORE has identified significant lithium reserves in Lopare. The discovery has drawn international attention as a possible European source of a mineral used in batteries. It has also created local controversy, with concerns about pollution, land use and community impact. #SwissDO #SportsDiplomacy #WorldCup2026 #Switzerland #BosniaHerzegovina #FootballDiplomacy #Migration #Diaspora #Nati #VladoPetkovic #SwissFootball