Nowadays, many things are becoming more complicated and complex and the worst thing is that there are still many people that live on the edge of poverty. If it had not been for diaspora, many would have still been starving. The reason behind this lies in the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina used to be a highly industrialized country, and I don’t think that is the case at this moment in time. I wish Bosnians and Herzegovinians talked less about conflicts and disagreements, quarreled less, and understood that we were made to live together.”

i-platform: You grew up in a family of teachers and educators. How did your parents react to your decision to become a professional football player?

Vladimir Petković: My father used to play football as well, and later he became a manager. Ever since I can remember, I went to football games, spent time sitting in a locker room or on the bench surrounded by football players, and played football. So it all came and happened spontaneously. Every parent is happy when their child gets to build the sense of teamwork and a winning mentality through sports. It was a useful life lesson, both for those that continued to practice sports later in their life as well as for those that only wanted to make new friends when they were at younger age. Even today parents still prefer and are happier when their children practice sports and are not out on the streets.

As a former Sarajevo Football Club player, you were a part of the golden generation (1984/1985) that won the Yugoslavian Football League championship and thus disrupted the usual division of spoils between “the Big Four” (Dinamo, Hajduk, Crvena Zvezda, Partizan). How was it to play for Sarajevo Football Club back at the day, knowing that none of these clubs could come close to you?

It was difficult to get a standard position and play for Sarajevo FC because it was an extraordinary generation of players. I was twenty-two years old at the time. To win the place within team was not an easy thing to do. When I was only sixteen, I started to train with players that were in the starting lineup like Sušić, Pašić, Hadžibegić, and many other great players that were also members of our national team. That was the year when everything aligned and came together. The team’s comradeship and homogeneity were superb. We all worked well together; we were certainly not the best in terms of our individual skills, but we were the best as a team.

True, that it was not easy to become a regular first team player in Sarajevo FC at the time was proven by the fact that you were mostly a substitute player. Did it bother you?

It did. Any player that is not in the starting lineup would be bothered. However, it is not to compare those with present times. Nowadays, young football players are supported and acclaimed both for the sake of the club’s profit as well as for the players to become independent promptly and rapidly in order to show that it is possible to benefit from playing football. Before it was very hard, you had to work and train a lot, show a lot of respect and humility towards older players in order to be a part of the team – it was not easy at all. Since patriarchy was and still is dominant in Bosnia, it was reflected and observable in football as well. A lot of respect was shown towards seniors, while younger players had to be perfect, or much better than that, to win their position on team. I was unhappy and displeased for being a substitute player (or for sometimes not even being among eighteen players, but rather sitting on the stand). However, you have to accept it and push forward. 

Your field position had already been taken by top notch football players, with one of them being Safet Sušić. Today, just like at that time, he is known and praised as a football legend. How was he as a player and how was he personally?

It is hard to talk about him. After all, Sušić is a Bosnian, Yugoslavian, and European football legend! He even left his mark in Paris Saint-Germaine. He did not stand out for anything else but his playing style, primarily the way he used to receive ball on the outside of his foot in full sprint, while effortlessly passing three defenders of the opposite team. His technique and his amazing speed and agility, that were not required nor praised at the time, showed and proved he was an exceptional footballer. Besides, he was always nice and willing to help. Just like today. He lived in France and Turkey. But he always remained the same good old Safet.     

Eventually you did play in many matches and scored many goals, but in Switzerland! How did you make that decision that, as it was shown later, was the best possible decision you could make in order to advance your football career?

I am not sure whether it was a right thing to do. I probably could have or must have achieved much more than I actually did. In the end, I am quite happy with my career. Through my football career I learned certain things that helped me become a better and more confident manager. I came to Switzerland in 1987. At the end of May or at the beginning of June of that same year, I played a match for Sarajevo FC in Titograd; I even scored a goal, the final score was tied, and my contract was due to expire anytime soon. In the meantime my father contacted Zlatko Dupovac that was staying in Zurich at the time. Dupovac directed me to another manager and I was invited for the recruit. At that time, it was not allowed to leave Yugoslavia before one turned the age of 28. But then Slavko Šajber became the president of the Yugoslavian Football Federation, the law was changed, and by the time my contract expired it was allowed to leave the country: I was one the first people to seize that opportunity and leave the country when I was still only twenty-three years old.  

What did those first few months in the new club and another country look like?

From the very first day I spent in Switzerland up to now, I have been struggling and fighting. No one welcomed me in Zurich, and I only spoke Russian that I learned at school. Then I started to play for FC St. Gallen where I stayed for one month. Back at the day, only two foreign footballers could and were allowed to play. On team, there were already Dietmar Metzler and Ladislav Jurkemik, players that already won their place on European football scene, so I did not stay there. Transfer window was already closing. I had to make decisions and I ended up in FC Chur, a club that was in the Second League (2. Liga Interregional). I stayed there for a year and used that time to learn a little bit of German. I spent my second year in FC Sion, where I was a third foreign player. It was peculiar that manager Gilbert Gress wanted Baljić to move to Neuchâtel Xamax FCS, but only for a probe period even though he already played 35 times for Yugoslavian national team. Such was the situation, not everybody held footballers in high regard unlike the skiers that everybody put on throne. After FC Sion I played for FC Martigny-Sports, then FC Chur again and finally for FC Locarno, and AC Bellinzona in canton Ticino from 1993 to 1998.

How did you manage to play and integrate in Swiss society without even knowing the language?

A few months after my arrival, my girlfriend at the time, that would eventually become my wife, came to Switzerland and we instantly took private German lessons. Since she knew some English, we were able to communicate and hang around with people from my club. It was a beautiful period in our lives. When we moved to Sion, we soon began to learn French as well. Thus today, after thirty years, I can communicate in French too. Six months before we moved to Ticino, we took lessons in Italian, and that is the language I know the best. To summarize, we had to learn and better ourselves all the time.”

Can you now remind our readers of some of the stellar moments from that period of your football career?

While I was in Sion, we played UEFA European Championship semi-finals. In Chur, we got to the finals and played the pivotal match that could take us to the Swiss Super League. Every year, it was a struggle. I did not make a lot of money, but those experiences were tremendously significant and valuable, much more than the final score itself. I was lucky enough to avoid any serious injuries. Whenever I would make and achieve something, I would suddenly lose everything, and then I had to try even more to be a better version of myself. Whether it was luck or my pride that pushed me through the struggle – I am not sure.

Is it logical and natural for football players to become managers eventually? At one time, you were both a player and a manager, which is an unusual situation that enabled Ruud Gullit to write history. Perhaps only midfielders can be successful both as players and managers?

It is not something that happens just like that. From the very beginning, after my arrival to Switzerland, I worked with juniors. However, it took me at least six years before I completed the football manager course. If one starts thinking about becoming a manager at the age of 24 or at a later age, time flies by. I already took my first course in football management in 1992, and later I both played and managed the club that was in the first amateur league. I learned theory from different books and I gathered experience on the field. Now, when it comes to midfielders, it is certain that they are skilled at observing carefully and impeccably the game so that they can know what is going on at every moment and at every corner of the field. I was a center forward, but I also played as a central attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder, which helped me a lot. I played football actively by the age of 38. Many players find it difficult to retire at the right time.

You also worked as a football expert – humanitarian. What experiences you took with you from that period of your career?

I had many ups and downs, not only in my career, but also between all those cycles of my journey and preoccupation with football. It was difficult at the time, but now I can see it was a good lesson. I learned from difficult situations and always aspired to extract something from such experiences. It would often happen that I would lose something, but later I would gain something even better. At the turn of the millennium I worked for two years with unemployed people and organized building and house cleaning in Ticino. Then an accountant halted it all, and I was left without a job. Football was the only thing I had. I was looking for a job and thus contacted Caritas that was looking for a social worker. That is how I started working for them. In the meantime, I managed to enter the Swiss Super League with FC Lugano, but was soon left without it as well. Later, representatives of AC Bellinzona contacted me and asked me to join their team. At the time I had already been offered to become a professional manager, but had I accepted it, I would have worked for two franks, to put it like that, and would not have been able to operate on my own terms. I told myself that I would become a manager if the right opportunity came by. And that right opportunity came with BSC Young Boys. I moved to Bern where everything was different: a lot of cameras, journalists, a big stadium with artificial grass, and numerous possibilities.

And what memories did you collect from your experience and engagement on international football scene –Turkey and Italy?

Beautiful memories and adventures! I was quite successful while managing BSC Young Boys - we played against Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and Fenerbahçe S.K. It was our chance to shine on the international football scene and allow for other clubs to come and see our players. For example, S.S. Lazio was interested in Lulić. They found our style interesting so they became interested in me (i.e., the manager). After managing BSC Young Boys, I went to Turkey and stayed there for eight months. It was a wonderful experience. I managed the team that had just entered the Süper Lig, and everything needed to be rebuilt and rearranged. The club owner lost two million because he did not know how to manage the business – he was working with hazelnuts (laughter). I really liked my life in Turkey: I made a lot of friends and fell in love with Turkish cuisine. At the beginning, I had my own interpreter and assistant manager, but he was doing things behind my back so I sent him home after two or three months. I learned fast to manage and order trainings in Turkish. After Turkey, I came to Sion and made my first connection with the representatives of S.S. Lazio, just at the time when FC Sion was taken away points and was about to be dropped out of the league. I learned to tell the truth – I told the owners of FC Sion that I was in contact with the representatives of S.S. Lazio and that I agreed to stay for another year only if we remained in the Swiss Super League. The owners accepted my offer. Untrained team was what I encountered – players were waiting impatiently for the training session to be over so that they could go home. And then we won against FC Aarau and managed to stay in the first league. After that I was contacted by a person that told me I was supposed to come to Rome that same night because they wanted to talk to me about something. Until around 7 pm I trained with FC Sion, then took the plane, and flew to Rome. When I arrived, there was no one waiting for me! Just like when I came from Sarajevo to Zurich. While I was staying in Rome, the representatives of S.S. Lazio told me that they were followed by journalists and decided not to meet me because they did not want anyone to know about their plans. So they gave me a hotel address that I managed to find eventually, and I finally got a chance to talk to them. The next day at 11 am I was back with my team in Sion, and nobody knew I flew to Rome. Had we dropped out of the the Swiss Super League, none of the agreements would have become a reality. I went back to Rome and was hiding from journalists until I signed the contract. The first press conference was crowded; there were around a hundred journalists. I gained my experience gradually and slowly, I did not skip any steps of my journey.

At the end, or at your new beginning, you had a lot of success as the manager of the Swiss national football team. Is there a difference between operating as a manager of a football club and as a manager of a national team? What is the difference?

I became a manager of the national team even though I never wanted to become one. I have always wanted to be a manager of a football club. Players from the national team usually see their responsibilities (they have with the national team) as an active holiday. I wanted to work hard and give them my ideas and inputs. Perhaps I tried too much at the beginning, but they ultimately began to assimilate and make results. In first two matches we lost to England and Slovenia. The difference is huge because here you could meet players only two or three times, while in club you can work faster each day. In both cases, mathematics is what matters. If you have it, as well as the score, everything is easier. I am happy that I managed to create a special style of game that the Swiss national team was recognized for. There are only few national teams that have their own and original game style. It often happens that national teams made of excellent individual players have higher chances to win. And we reached the level where we can oppose such teams because of our unity and the power of teamwork. Had we not had regular trainings, had we not operated like football clubs normally operate, and had I not always asked from my players to give their maximum, we would not have achieve such excellent results.

Is it better to score goals or win cups?

It is better to win cups, but scoring goals has its charms too.

Nowadays football is fast – there is a quick transition from a defense to an attack. Many call it the ‘total football’. For a while you used the avant-garde 3-4-3 formation. Do you have a football philosophy of your own and can you compare the art of football how it used to be and how it is today?

I was told we played an old-fashioned style of football. But it is possible to develop only the game style that your players allow for. I was lucky enough to have the kind of players that I had. And while I was managing the national team, the most important thing for me was the mental aspect – I wanted my players to believe that we could play against any team in the world, I wanted my players to develop a winning mentality. I managed to do that in every team I coached and managed. Technique and tactics are also important, but when one is mentally strong, everything is easier.

What challenges await you in the future, that is, what are your future assignments, responsibilities, and goals?

To give my maximum, and to be better today than I was yesterday!

Since this interview will be published on platform that is dedicated to Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora, I would now ask you to describe your memories of your home country and the way you feel about Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as your opinions on Switzerland, the country that is ideal and perfect from the perspective of our people?

“When I was young, we had more opportunities. Life was so beautiful and diverse. Nowadays, many things are becoming more complicated and complex and the worst thing is that there are still many people that live on the edge of poverty. If it had not been for diaspora, many would have still been starving. The reason behind this lies in fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina used to be a highly industrialized country, and I don’t think that is the case at this moment in time. I wish Bosnians and Herzegovinians talked less about conflicts and disagreements, quarreled less, and understood that we were made to live together.”

PHOTO: reprezentacija.ba