Vahid Halilhodžić

With his first inclusion in the starting lineup by returning coach Mladinić also came his first goal – Yugoslavia was down 0–2 in the first half when Halilhodžić pulled one back in the 44th minute for 1–2, which ended up being the final score as Yugoslavia again lost at home to Spain.

With his performance versus Spain, Halilhodžić's stock was somewhat raised and as a result he got to start the next qualifier away at Romania that Yugoslavia also lost, this time 2–3.

The second consecutive qualifier loss prompted the end of Biće Mladinić's time as head coach – he got replaced by interim coach Dražan Jerković.

Halilhodžić played the next friendly match under Jerković, scoring a hat-trick against Greece.

Vahid Halilhodžić (born 15 May 1952) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player.

He is regarded as one of the most controversially successful Bosnian football managers, due to his successful tenure in coaching various national teams yet having problematic relations with his teams and players due to different approaches.

Halilhodžić then went on to become one of the club's key players throughout the 1970s, appearing in a total of 376 matches and scoring 253 goals for the club (including 207 appearances and 103 goals in the Yugoslav First League) before leaving the country in September 1981 to join French side Nantes.

Earlier that year, he was instrumental in winning the club's first major silverware, scoring two goals in their 3–2 Yugoslav Cup final win against Željezničar.

Upon his return from loan, he quickly broke into the first-team squad in the 1972–73 season, forming a successful attacking partnership with Dušan Bajević and helping Velež finish the season as league runners-up behind Red Star Belgrade.

After debuting as a full international in June 1976, he also appeared in a few matches for Yugoslavia under-21 team in 1978, helping them win the 1978 European Under-21 Championship where he claimed the Golden Player award for the best player in the tournament.

He made his debut as a substitute at UEFA Euro 1976 under head coach Biće Mladinić during the third place match versus Holland that Yugoslavia lost 2–3 at Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium.

The 23-year-old Halilhodžić came on for Slaviša Žungul.

Over the next couple of years, he recorded two more substitute appearances – first in September 1976 in a friendly against Italy in Rome and in November 1977 at home against Spain (the infamously violent qualifying home loss at Belgrade's Marakana that ended Yugoslavia's chances of going to the 1978 World Cup).

Halilhodžić, who was 26 at the time, took advantage of the rule that allowed two players over the age of 21 to participate – hence him and Velimir Zajec (who had also already debuted for Yugoslavia full squad in 1977) were the two senior players brought in to strengthen the under-21 squad.

Spanning nine years, Halilhodžić's time with the national team was marked by frequently alternating ups and downs, periods of automatic inclusion followed by years-long omissions and frustrating substitute stints.

During that time, he earned 15 full international caps for Yugoslavia and was part of national squads who won the 1978 European Under-21 Championship and played at the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

It was not until October 1978 that now 26-year-old Halilhodžić (riding high from his under-21 European championship win) got his first national team start – the opening Euro 80 qualifying clash versus Spain at home in Maksimir.

The resumption of Euro 1980 qualifying five months later in April 1979 saw the return of Miljan Miljanić to the Yugoslav bench as the FA's permanent solution at the head coaching position.

At Nantes, he struggled in his first year although he quickly became a first-team regular, scoring 7 goals in 28 appearances in the 1981–82 season.

He also got sent off in the first round of the UEFA Cup vs. Lokeren and received a 4 matches suspension from UEFA.

The following season, he helped Nantes win their sixth French championship title and was the league's top scorer with 27 goals in 36 appearances.

He was top scorer of the French league in 1983 and 1985.

Halilhodžić went on to spend five years at La Beaujoire, appearing in a total of 163 league matches and scoring 92 goals for the club, also becoming league top scorer in the 1984–85 season with 28 goals.

In 1986, Halilhodžić decided to return to Mostar so he could spend more time with his father, who in the meantime fell seriously ill.

While negotiating a new contract with Nantes, he intentionally asked for a salary bigger than anything the club could afford so that he could be released and return home.

However, Francis Borelli, chairman of Paris Saint-Germain, stepped in and made him a "fantastic offer" to sign a one-year contract, with the intention of bringing Halilhodžić to Parc des Princes in order to strengthen the team for their upcoming 1986–87 European Cup campaign.

Halilhodžić accepted the offer and went on to appear for the club in the first 18 games of the 1986–87 season, scoring eight goals.

However, his mother back home died during the season, and it was then that Halilhodžić decided to finally retire from active football.

Halilhodžić was capped 15 times for the Yugoslavia national team, scoring eight goals.

Regarded as one of the best Yugoslav players, Halilhodžić had successful playing spells with Velež Mostar and French clubs Nantes and Paris Saint-Germain before retiring in 1987.

In the early 1990s, Halilhodžić turned to coaching and, after a short stint as a sporting director at Velež, permanently moved to France in 1993 after fleeing war-torn Bosnia with his family.

Since then, he managed a number of teams in French-speaking countries and his achievements include winning the 1997 CAF Champions League with Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, leading French side Lille from second level to third place in Ligue 1 in less than three years, winning the 2003–04 Coupe de France with Paris Saint-Germain, and winning the Croatian league in 2011 with Dinamo Zagreb.

Halilhodžić also qualified for the 2010 World Cup with Ivory Coast (although he was sacked only months before the final tournament) and the 2014 World Cup with Algeria, with whom he reached the round of 16, Algeria's best result in history.

Later, he qualified for the 2018 World Cup with Japan, but again was fired just prior to the tournament.

After a short stint with Nantes in 2018, where he helped avoid relegation to Ligue 2, Halilhodžić became head coach of the Morocco national team, whom he qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

Like with Ivory Coast and Japan, he was also sacked by Royal Moroccan Football Federation on August 11, 2022 after Morocco's poor performance at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and his fallout with star player Hakim Ziyech.

Born in Jablanica, Halilhodžić started playing football in his early teens at local minnows Turbina Jablanica, as the club's ground was located some 100 metres from his family home.

According to his admission, he did not consider becoming a professional footballer at the time and instead chose to continue his formal education, moving to the nearby city of Mostar at age 14 to study at the local electrotechnical high school, without ever appearing for Turbina in an official match.

Nevertheless, it was in Mostar that he first started taking football seriously as he went on to join Yugoslav First League side Velež Mostar academy at age 16, in part on the insistence of his brother Salem, who at the time played for the club as a striker.

Halilhodžić then went on to play there at youth levels for the next two and a half years, and, upon signing a professional contract with the club, was sent on a six-month loan to second level side Neretva Metković to gain some experience.