Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup 2026: the long shots of Group B

Few teams arrived at the 2026 World Cup with a better story than Bosnia and Herzegovina. After finishing second in qualifying behind Austria, the Zmajevi went the hard way through the European play-offs, edging Wales away in Cardiff on penalties after Edin Džeko's 86th-minute header forced a shootout, then knocking Italy out in Zenica — 1-1 after extra time, Haris Tabaković with the equaliser and Esmir Bajraktarević burying the winning spot-kick. It sealed only their second World Cup ever, and their first since the 2014 debut in Brazil.

The man steering it all is Sergej Barbarez, the former striker who took over in 2024 and reaches a World Cup as a head coach for the first time. His emotional core is Džeko: 40 years old, captain, all-time leading scorer with more than 70 international goals and six of them in this qualifying cycle. Around him sits a generation worth watching — Bayern-bound right-back Amar Dedić, the teenage talent of Bajraktarević, and the experienced Miralem Pjanić feeding the engine room — but the squad's honest weakness is depth and an over-reliance on a striker now in his fifth decade.

The final draw was not kind. Group B pairs Bosnia with co-hosts Canada, who open against them at Toronto's BMO Field on 12 June, with Switzerland — the seeded side and the group favourites on paper — and Qatar completing the quartet. Realistically our model rates Bosnia a rank outsider for the trophy itself; this is a team built to spoil, not to dominate, and a title run would be pure fairytale.

But the round of 32 is a genuinely different conversation. In the expanded 48-team format the top two of every group advance, plus the eight best third-placed teams, which means even a single win and a draw could be enough to go through. Switzerland aside, the margins against Canada and Qatar are thin, and a Džeko-led side that just eliminated Italy and Wales back-to-back has earned the right to believe one big night could carry them out of the group.

We break down exactly how those permutations play out — and where Bosnia sit against the rest of the field — in our World Cup 2026 predictions. Want to test it yourself? Run Group B through our match simulator or dig into the full profile on the Bosnia and Herzegovina team page.