Miralem Pjanic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is moving to Russia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s top soccer player and former national team captain Miralem Pjanic is in the process of signing a contract with the Russian club CSKA Moscow. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports on the matter, among others.
In the last few years, few top foreign players have signed contracts with Russian clubs due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The 34-year-old Pjanic’s contract is also made special by the fact that he did not agree to play in the Bosnian shirt against Russia at the end of 2022.
The Russian national team was banned from international matches that year. However, Bosnia was thinking about that possibility. It did not make it to the World Championships in the sport played in December.
Pjanic was asked about his country’s football association’s willingness to participate in that match against Russia. However, Pjanic rejected the proposal.
– I stated that in this situation it makes no sense to play against them, because Uefa had left them out. The whole world is suffering in some way from this war, so why should we be the first to play against them, Pjanic wondered at that time.
However, the match was ultimately not played. Two years later, however, Pjanic grabbed the wounds of the Russian club.
He now explained what he had said to the Russian For Championat.
– I know that many will bring up my words two years ago, but I have never said anything against Russia or the country’s football. I am sorry if my statement has offended someone and I am ready to apologize for it. This is difficult for Russian football because of the ban, Pjanic referred to the fact that Russia is out of international matches.
CSKA Moscow is one of the big clubs in Russian football. It has won the Russian championship five times.
Pjanic has played 115 international matches and scored 17 goals in them. During his career, he has played for, among others, Juventus, Barcelona, AS Roma and Besiktas.
Pjanic is remembered by Finns for the fact that he loaded goals into the Huuhkajie net.