Article by Aurelian Botezatu – Published Monday, March 30, 2026, 07:49 / Updated Monday, March 30, 2026 07:49
Bosnia meet Italy in Zenica on Tuesday in a decisive match for qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
Zenica promises to be a hard-to-conquer bastion for the Italian team. And not just because in the city that will host the Azzurri's “decisive” with Bosnia it snowed abundantly, and coach Gennaro Gattuso had to postpone Sunday's trip to Monday.
The video of his players celebrating the Bosnians' penalty shoot-out victory in the World Cup play-off semi-final against Wales has set Sergej Barbarez's players on fire.
Tarik Muharemovic: “We are not afraid of anyone, only God!”
Tarik Muharemovic, one of Bosnia's best players against the Welsh, warned the Italians in the columns of the prestigious Gazzetta dello Sport.
“They were glad to meet us, they think us a more handy adversary than the Welsh. But I tell you we have absolutely no fear of Italy. We fear no one but God!
Tarik Muharemovic / Photo: Imago
We will enter the pitch and devour the Azzurri. We believe in ourselves, from the staff to the last player. We believe in qualification and will fight to the end for our dream. Zenica will be a volcano!” warned Sassuolo's 23-year-old defender.
The owners of the apartments near the stadium made their balconies available to the fans
To create the atmosphere for a second World Cup qualification, Zenica is preparing specifically for the “match of matches”. For security reasons, FIFA reduced the capacity of the local stadium from 15,600 seats to just under 9,000.
But the hosts found solutions even so. Given that there are many blocks around, the owners of the apartments that have balconies overlooking the arena decided to make them available to the fans. In 2019, the same thing happened, but the Italians then won 3-0 and qualified for Euro 2021, which they went on to win.
