Amar Osim


Amar Osim is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Bosnian Premier League club Željezničar. He is regarded as one of the most successful Bosnian football managers.
Osim was a talented player during his teens. However, he did not transfer his talent after getting called up to the Željezničar first team. Apart from Željezničar, Osim also played in France for Saint-Dié and Strasbourg. He ended his career while at Željezničar in 1997.
He decided to stay in football, becoming a manager. Osim is the most successful manager in Željezničar history, winning five Bosnian Premier League titles, four Bosnian cups and one, now disabled, Bosnian Supercup in his three stints with the club. He won many awards while being Željezničar's manager. Osim has also won one J.League Cup with J2 League club JEF United Chiba in 2006. He also managed Qatar Stars League club Al Kharaitiyat, making mediocre results.
Osim was also a two time candidate for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team head coach position in 2014 and 2018. He was closest to becoming national team head coach in January 2018, but at the end "lost" to Croatian manager Robert Prosinečki.

Playing career

Born and raised in Sarajevo, Osim started playing football in hometown club Željezničar. After playing for the youth team, he entered the senior squad in 1986. In 1991, he left for France where he played for lower division clubs Saint-Dié and Strasbourg. In 1996, he returned to his home country. Osim played one more season for his favourite Željezničar before he retired from professional playing career.
Although a talented player, with good technical skills, Amar never managed to match the success or renown of his father, Ivica Osim's playing career.

Managerial career

Željezničar

Osim's managerial career started in Željezničar's youth squad which he guided to success in domestic competitions. After Hajrudin Đurbuzović was sacked in the spring of 2001, club officials promoted him to the place of the first team manager.
He immediately led the club to two Bosnian Premier League titles in 2001 and in 2002, being runner-up in 2003.
In August 2002, Osim led Željezničar to the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where the club lost 0–5 on aggregate to English Premier League club Newcastle United That is so far, the club's biggest post-war European competition result.
He also claimed two national cup titles in 2001 and 2003, being the runner-up in 2002. Osim claimed the Bosnian Super Cup in 2001 as well, after he claimed the double that year. In 2002, he got the award for Bosnia and Herzegovina Manager of the Year.
Osim was sacked at the beginning of the 2003–04 season, allegedly because of the poor results.

JEF United Chiba

Amar's father Ivica Osim invited him to Japan to be his assistant at JEF United Chiba. After Ivica was named the head coach of the Japanese national team, Amar got promoted.
He guided JEF United to win the J.League Cup in 2006. But after a poor finish to the 2007 season, in which JEF United finished in 13th place in the J1 League, Osim got sacked.

Return to Željezničar

After his Japanese adventure, Osim returned to his hometown and in June 2009, he returned to Željezničar for his second spell as the club's manager.
In his first season as manager, Osim immediately guided the club to win the league title and finished as national cup runners up. In the following season he won the national cup, losing the league title just one round before the end of the season and ending third. In 2012, he claimed once more the league title, with three rounds left to play, breaking many records on the way and also defended the national cup, bringing after 11 years the double back to Željezničar.
He left the managerial position of the club in August 2013, becoming only the sporting director of the club. In December 2014, he completely left the club.
While at Željezničar, Osim won many individual managerial awards after his success with the club. In 2010, he won the Bosnian Premier League Manager of the Year award. In 2012, Osim won the 2011–12 Bosnian Premier League Manager of the Season award and the 2012 Manager of the Year award, while in 2013 he won the best in the season award for the 2012–13 season.

Al Kharaitiyat

In December 2014, Osim was named the new manager of Qatar Stars League club Al Kharaitiyat.
In his first season he made a club record of a 7-game unbeaten run in the league, 9 games in all competitions. In that season's league, Al Kharaitiyat finished on a descent 9th place. In March 2015, Osim was named Qatar Stars League Manager of the Month for February 2015.
In his second season as the club's manager, Osim's Al Kharaitiyat finished on a disappointing 12th place, just narrowly missing relegation.
Finally, in November 2016, after a poor start to the 2016–17 season, Osim was sacked after almost two years as Al Kharaitiyat's manager.

Second return to Željezničar

2018–19 season

On 31 December 2018, Osim once again came back to Željezničar and signed a three and a half year contract after monthly speculations of him becoming the manager even earlier.
His first win in his third term as Željezničar's manager came on 3 March 2019, in a 2–1 home league win against Mladost Doboj Kakanj. In Osim's first Sarajevo derby after 6 years, Željezničar handled a big 0–3 disappointing home loss to fierce city rivals FK Sarajevo on 6 April 2019.
On 13 April 2019, in a 1–0 away league loss against Zrinjaki Mostar, Osim made his 300th appearance as Željezničar's manager and became the club's third manager with the most games. At the time, the first two were Milan Ribar with 367 games and his father Ivica Osim with 301 games. On 20 April 2019, in his 301st managerial appearance for Željezničar, Amar tied his father Ivica's number of 301 managerial appearances and became joint 2nd people with most appearances as the club's manager. In that game, Željezničar beat Krupa 3–0 on their home stadium Grbavica, stayed on 4th place in the league and ended their three match winless run.
On 24 April 2019, in his 302nd managerial appearance for Željezničar, in which the club tied 0–0 against Široki Brijeg on their home stadium, Amar surpassed his father Ivica and became the second manager with the most appearances in Željezničar's history. In the last game of the season, Željezničar beat Tuzla City 0–3 away on 25 May 2019, putting an end to a very turbulent season.

2019–20 season

Osim's first win as Željezničar's manager in the 2019–20 season came on 27 July 2019, a 0–2 away league win against Mladost Doboj Kakanj. Željezničar won their first Sarajevo derby since Osim's second return in a thrilling 5–2 home league win against Sarajevo on 31 August 2019.
He made a new Bosnian Premier League record with the club on 28 September 2019, after a 2–2 away league draw against Tuzla City, in which Željezničar ended the game unbeaten and continued their 11-game unbeaten run in the league since the beginning of the season, surpassing the one of city rival Sarajevo, which was a 10 league game unbeaten run since the start of the 2006–07 Bosnian Premier League season.
On 6 October 2019, Osim's team lost 3–0 away in a league match against Borac Banja Luka, thus ending their 11-game unbeaten run in the league. On 30 November 2019, Željezničar once again beat their rivals Sarajevo, this time in a 1–3 away league win, with Osim being praised from Željezničar fans for his tactical geniusness. In that game, he also earned a yellow card for arguing with referee Haris Kaljanac.
At the end of the season however, Željezničar failed to win any trophy, with Osim's team finishing in 2nd place in the 2019–20 Bosnian Premier League season, three points short of 1st placed Sarajevo, though after the season ended abruptly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 June 2020. He also guided the team to the semi-finals of the 2019–20 Bosnian Cup, but did not get the chance to win the competition as it was abandoned due to the already mentioned COVID-19 pandemic, with no winner getting proclaimed.

Personal life

Amar is the son of legendary player and manager Ivica Osim. His mothers' name is Asima. He has two children and one grandchild.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Željezničar
JEF United Chiba