Edhem Šljivo

Edhem "Etko" Šljivo (pronounced [edxem ʃʎiʋo]; born 16 March 1950) is a Bosnian former professional footballer. He started his career with FK Sarajevo, going on to become one of the best midfielders of the Yugoslav First League.[1][2][3][4] At international level, he represented the Yugoslavia national team.

Edhem Šljivo
Personal information
Date of birth (1950-03-16) 16 March 1950
Place of birth Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1964–1968 FK Sarajevo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1968–1978 FK Sarajevo 268 (37)
1978–1981 RFC Liège 91 (29)
1981–1982 Nice 36 (3)
1981–1982 Nice B 1 (0)
1982–1984 1. FC Köln 32 (2)
1983–1987 RFC Liège 101 (14)
Total 529 (85)
International career
1976–1982 Yugoslavia 12 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Born in Sarajevo, Edhem Šljivo joined FK Sarajevo as a kid from elementary school, passed through all club's age categories, and made his first senior team debut at the age of 18. He played 424 games for the club in all competitions, counting friendlies. In Yugoslav First League and Yugoslav Cup (Serbo-Croatian: Kup Maršala Tita) he played for the club 268 games scoring 37 times.[2]

In 1978, he joined Belgian side RFC Liège, whom he represented for three seasons. He made his debut for them 30 August 1978 against Winterslag[5] and later made a move to the French Ligue 1 and joined OGC Nice. From Nice he moved to 1. FC Köln[6] on personal insistence of Rinus Michels and after winning the German cup (the first Bosnian to do so)[7] he moved back to Liège.[3] There he concluded his career in 1987 after a traffic collision on 17 December 1986, in which he was severely injured. Šljivo barely survived a life threatening spinal injuries after 40 days of doctors' struggle to save him.[4][2] His final game for Liège was on 14 December 1986 against Berchem Sport.[5]

International career

Šljivo debuted for the Yugoslavia national team on 18 February 1976 in a friendly match away against Tunisia. He was capped in 12 official games (four friendlies, five qualifiers for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and all three matches of the 1982 FIFA World Cup) and scored two goals, while also featuring in two unofficial exhibition-friendlies, 14 games overall. He was first-team regular at play-making midfielder position under Miljan Miljanić, and featured in the same role in 1982 World Cup in Spain.[4] His final international was a June 1982 World Cup match against Honduras.[8]

Personal life and legacy

Šljivo lives and works in Liege, Belgium, where he opened a restaurant "Taverne 8", in reference to a number he used to wear on his shirt as a midfielder. The place is a popular meeting place for Yugoslav expatriate footballers in Belgium and surrounding countries.[4]

Challenge Šljivo Tournament

The Indoor tournament, largest of its kind in Europe, carrying his name, "Challenge Šljivo",[9] with seniors Futsal competition as a main event, is organized in his honor in Marche-en-Famenne, during pre-New Year Eve week for over three decades. Tournament comprises several competitions in Indoor varieties of Association football, for all categories and age. It takes place at Wallonie Expo S.A. (WEX) venue, in Marche-en-Famenne, on eight pitches. Qualifying rounds of the competitions including more than 400 teams and 5.000 football players, while games are followed up to 40.000 spectators in attendance. In final round 72 qualified teams take part. Tournament is very popular, with final game being in live broadcast in Belgium by public TV service.[10][2]

Family

Edhem Šljivo's brother Mehmed was also a football player. He played for Edhem’s FK Sarajevo bitter city rivals, in the "blue side of the city", FK Željezničar Sarajevo.[2]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[4]
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FK Sarajevo 1968-69 1 150
1969–70 1 341
1970–71 1 262
1971–72 1 333
1972–73 1 302
1973–74 1 335
1974–75 1 329
1975–76 1 339
1977–78 1 326
Total 26837
RFC Liège 1978–79 1 3113
1979–80 1 308
1980–81 1 308
Total 9129
Nice (B) 1981–82 10
Nice 1981–82 1 363
1. FC Köln 1982–83[11] 1 2825162395
1983–84[11] 1 40104090
Total 32261102485
RFC Liège 1983–84 1 236
1984–85 1 337
1985–86 1 30140
1986–87 1 150
Total 1011440
Career total 52985
  1. Includes DFB-Pokal

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[4]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Yugoslavia 197631
198020
198141
198230
Total122

References
  1. "Edhem Šljivo, legendarni fantazista FK Sarajevo i jedan od najboljih igrača Kluba svih vremena". FKSInfo (in Bosnian). Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ""Sportski vremeplov" Hayat TV: Edhem Šljivo: U Belgiji turnir nosi njegovo ime". Oslobođenje (in Bosnian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. "Zaboravljeni junaci jednog vremena: Edhem Šljivo, bosanski Kajzer". Doznajemo.com (in Bosnian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. "Šljivo Edhem". Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian). 20 January 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  5. 30 ans après son accident, nous avons rencontré Edhem Sljivo: «Je viendrai voir Liège cette saison» - Sudinfo (in French)
  6. Profile - Kicker
  7. Eintracht šokirao Bayern, a prije 35 godina prvi Bosanac osvojio je DFB pokal - Radio Sarajevo (in Bosnian)
  8. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  9. "Challenge Sljivo - Challenge Sljivo". www.sljivo.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  10. ""Challenge Šljivo"". Sportizon. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  11. "Edhem Šljivo » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
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