Lifelong soccer fan Almina Zukic attended each game Bosnia and Herzegovina has played so far in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
From Toronto to Los Angeles to Seattle, the 19-year-old from Spokane continued to cheer her team in only its second World Cup run.
Tuesday, she traveled back to California to watch her team take on the United States in Santa Clara during the round of 32.
“I have to root for Bosnia. It’s just very close to home,” she said. “Even though I’ve lived in the U.S. my whole life, I go every summer over there, and that’s where my family’s from, so it’s very close to my heart.”
One of the best parts of the tournament is coming together with other Bosnians, she said. Over 70,000 attended the match against Switzerland in Los Angeles, according to FIFA.
“It was really certainly amazing to see everyone come together, and how much one sport can bring everyone together and meet new people,” Zukic said.
The tournament is even appealing to people who don’t follow sports.
Despite not being a big sports fan, Spokane resident Miralem Cosic has traveled three times to see Bosnia and Herzegovina play in the World Cup, and he’s part of the Spokane-Bosnian cohort that landed in Los Angeles to continue their steadfast support of their lineage.
“I think the World Cup being in the United States, Bosnia qualifying and making it to the knockout round, United States making it to the knockout round is kind of what got me hooked,” Cosic said.
He first left Bosnia in 1992 when the Bosnian War broke out. He eventually made it to the United States in 1999 and landed in Spokane among other Bosnians in similar situations. He’s been a part of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Heritage Association of Spokane since its inception in 2004.
“We’re a tight community. I would say many or most Bosnians, or people with Bosnian heritage, in Spokane know each other,” Cosic said.
For the World Cup, Cosic, along with others from the Bosnia and Herzegovina Heritage Association of Spokane, first traveled to Los Angeles to watch the team play against Switzerland. Bosnia and Herzegovina lost 4-1, but the match still excited the club, he said.
Almost a week after Bosnia and Herzegovina’s loss 1,200 miles away, Spokane Bosnians hit the road again. More than 200 members of the heritage association traveled to Seattle to watch their team face Qatar. Some members of the heritage association formed a procession for the ride across the state. The group stopped along the Columbia River to take photos with the Bosnia and Herzegovina flag as the 20-car caravan made its way to Seattle.
To celebrate the team’s 3-1 win against Qatar, Bosnians poured onto Seattle’s streets and ended up getting rowdy with the fans they defeated.
“We even partied with some folks from Qatar after we beat Qatar, so it’s definitely, I think, something that’s … uniting a lot of folks,” Cosic said.
The tournament has brought people together, and he enjoys sharing Bosnian culture with the world.
“We try to go above and beyond to make them welcome and show them what our culture is about,” he said.
Source: The Spokesman-Review
