Edin Dzeko, 40, faces Italy with Bosnia in bid for final World Cup shot | OneFootball

At 40, Edin Dzeko is chasing one more World Cup with Bosnia and Herzegovina, who face Italy in Zenica on Tuesday at 20:45. Victory would bring only their second finals.

It will be his 148th cap for the Dragons, ranked 66th, and it could be the most significant of a career that began in June 2007, or the last.

He equalised in Thursday’s play-off semi-final against Wales, his 73rd for Bosnia, before they advanced 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Twelve years after 2014, he could cement his legend and Italy could miss a third straight finals.

Dzeko said neither team can claim favouritism for the final and that Bosnia can take the ticket. He added it would matter to him and to the emerging generation.

He knows many Nazionale players, having shared dressing rooms with Gianluca Mancini and Riccardo Calafiori at Roma, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni at Inter, and Moise Kean at Fiorentina.

His Fiorentina stint lasted only a few months before a January switch to Schalke 04 in Germany’s second tier. He speaks Italian and is represented by World Soccer Agency.

Dzeko played 120 minutes in Cardiff. “He is our ultimate reference point, the one who unlocks even the toughest situations,” said Miralem Pjanic to Gazzetta dello Sport. “He can still make the difference on his own thanks to his football IQ, despite his age.”

His goal against Wales was his sixth of this qualifying campaign and made it 20 straight years scoring for Bosnia. Late in 2025 he said the last qualification brought days of celebrations, and he saw no reason it would be different.

Source: Le Progres