“I did not think I would be playing at 40,” admits Edin Dzeko. But here he is. Not just playing but getting ready to captain Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 2026 World Cup, coming into the tournament fresh off a title win with Schalke in Germany.
Ten years ago, he would not have thought it possible. "But I am listening to my body and doing a lot of work before and after training because I am obviously not the youngest anymore and I need to care about my legs, my body and that's what I'm doing," he says.
"Maybe when you are young, you don't think a lot about coming earlier to training and staying 30 to 45 minutes before training in the gym doing the prevention work and then also staying after training, like 30 to 45, one hour, doing some other prevention work.
"Maybe as a young player, when you're 20, you say I don't have time for this, I want to go out for coffee or something with friends or lunch. When you get older, you realise that your body needs it if you want to compete at the best level and stay so long in football."
Dzeko's longevity is remarkable. He is the third oldest outfield player at the World Cup but the two men older than him, the Ballon d'Or winning duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric, were teenage prodigies. Modric was the player of the year in Bosnia at 18.
That same season, in that same league, Dzeko was a struggling midfielder at Zeljo. The story goes that there were those at the club who thought they had won the lottery when flogging the lanky youngster to Czech side Teplice for a five-figure sum back in 2005.
Around 450 goals later, Dzeko is still going. Not only is he Bosnia's top scorer with 73 goals for his country - the next man on the list has 28 - but he is a two-time Premier League winner with Manchester City, having been top scorer in the Bundesliga and Serie A.
Even so, 11 goalless league appearances for Fiorentina at the start of this season felt like evidence of a player whose long career was winding down. He found himself on the fringes of a Fiorentina team at the foot of the Serie A table. "I was not happy," he admits.
By his own admission, he was not playing like he used to play. "Obviously, there was a lot going on in the head, but the one thing I can say about myself is that I was always strong in the head. I know that part of being a football player is ups and downs."
Dzeko's January move to Schalke altered the trajectory. "It was about playing more, which I needed." With one eye on the World Cup, he found more than that under compatriot Miron Muslic, helping a fellow old giant to the title and a long-awaited Bundesliga return.
"I could not have made a better choice, I have to tell the truth," he says. "Everything that happened was even better than expected." There was the buzz of playing in front of huge crowds and six goals in 11 games showed that the old knack has not left him just yet.
"Experience is a very important thing," he says. Schalke know it and have offered Dzeko a new contract, one last crack at the Bundesliga that he won with Wolfsburg 17 years ago. But his focus right now is on his country and a final appearance at the World Cup.
Dzeko has played and scored in a World Cup before but that was 12 years ago in Brazil. "The experience was amazing," he says of a tournament that saw Bosnia face Argentina in the Maracana. But they did not make the knockout stages. "The only thing missing."
A dozen years on and he is back again with a new team, a new generation, aiming to go further. Just making it to this World Cup was an against-the-odds achievement. Bosnia were heading out in qualifying before Dzeko's late equaliser against Wales in Cardiff.
They went on to win that play-off semi-final on penalties, sparking infamous scenes of celebration among the Italy squad, their final opponents. "Italy put even more pressure on themselves." Dzeko and co duly beat them on penalties too to qualify.
Although he would not make the mistake the Italians made and underestimate anyone, the draw appears kinder. "Switzerland are the favourites." But with Canada and Qatar completing Group B and potential for three to go through, it is an opportunity.
Dzeko's job is to help a talented team navigate that. "I am the oldest player, obviously. You always have a big responsibility," he says. "I am happy to be captain of this great generation. It will change their lives for sure. Maybe they don't know it yet but it will."
There is Tarik Muharemovic, a 23-year-old defender at Sassuolo. "He has a lot of quality but also the right mindset." He talks of 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegovic, one of three teenagers in the squad, having a great future. "He has to keep his feet on the ground."
Dzeko has done that throughout an incredible career that began long before some of these newest team-mates were even born. How long can he continue? "Sometimes there is an end for all of us," he concedes. "Maybe mine is coming soon." But not quite yet.
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Sources: Sky Sports
