Sarajevo v Celtic: The lowdown on Bosnian champions standing between progress to Europa League group stages

Action from last season's meeting between FK Sarajevo and Celtic in the UEFA Champions League first round qualifier. Photo: ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP via Getty Images

Celtic take on Sarajevo in their Europa League play-off showdown in Bosnia on Thursday night.

The Hoops are desperate to get into the group stage of the competition this season after missing out on the Champions League.

Here is the lowdown on the Bosnian champions.

Previous meeting

The two clubs met in the Champions League first qualifier at the start of last season.

The Scottish champions were 3-1 winners in the first leg in Bosnia, after falling behind in the first half.

Goals from Mikey Johnston, Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair gave Neil Lennon's side a comfortable lead to take back to Glasgow.

A week later, goals from Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor in the 2-1 win ensured a safe passage to the next round.

Form

FK Sarajevo are top of their domestic league with 20 points from eight games.

They have won six and drawn two with 18 goals scored and eight against.

The Bosnian side were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Belarusian outfit Dinamo Brest.

However, their 2-1 win against Montenegro's Buducnost Podgorica in their Europa League qualifier has given them a chance to get revenge against Celtic and reach the Europa League group stages for the first time in their history.

And to help them do that, the Bosnian FA allowed Sarajevo a free weekend as extra preparation.

Manager

Vinko Marinovic has been in charge of FK Sarajevo since December, 2019.

Born in Austria but brought up in Gradiska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he started his career as a defender at Kozara Gradiska.

More notably, Marinovic played for Red Star Belgrade, Beerschot in Belgium and Laktasi and featured once for the FR Yugoslavia national football team.

His managerial career began back at Kozara Gradiska and he then had spells at Kolubara, Borac Banja Luka, HSK Zrinjski Mostar - where he won the title in 2016 - and with the Bosnia and Herzegovina Under-21s team.

The 2019-20 Bosnian Premier League season ended abruptly in June due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and Sarajevo were crowned league champions for a second consecutive time.

Consequently, Marinovic became the first manager to win the Bosnian Premier League since its formation in 2000 with two different clubs.

His first defeat as Sarajevo manager came in the Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Brest in August.

Players

Sarajevo's speedy winger Matthias Fanimo was born in Lambeth, London.

He started his career at West Ham and he played for England at youth level up to under-18s.

In 2014, Fanimo was clocked by GPS during an academy game reaching the top speed recorded by any player in the world, joint with Antonio Valencia.

However, his career did not take off as expected and after a loan spell at Tranmere, he played for Bishop's Stortford, Eastleigh, Margate and AFC Hornchurch before moving to Slovenian side NK Drava Ptuj in 2018.

Then followed a move to Bosnian side Mladost Doboj Kakanj before joining Sarajevo in July, a month before he scored the winner against Buducnost Podgorica to set up the tie against Celtic.

Sarajevo have a sprinkling of foreign players including captain Krste Velkoski, who is a striker for North Macedonia, and the experienced wide-man Mirko Oremus, a former Croatia Under-21s player.