Amar Osim (born 18 July 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. Regarded as one of the most successful Bosnian football managers, he is the most decorated manager in the country's domestic football.
Osim was a talented player during his teens. However, he did not transfer his talent after getting called up to the à ½eljezniÃÂar first team. Apart from à ½eljezniÃÂar, Osim also played in France for Saint-Dié and Strasbourg. He ended his career while at à ½eljezniÃÂar in 1997.
Osim decided to stay in football, becoming a manager. He is the most successful manager in à ½eljezniÃÂar's history, winning five Bosnian Premier League titles, four Bosnian cups and one Bosnian Supercup in his three stints with the club. Osim also won the J.League Cup with Japanese club JEF United Chiba in 2006. He managed Qatari club Al Kharaitiyat as well, with mediocre results. In 2022, Osim briefly managed Veleà ¾ Mostar.
Born and raised in Sarajevo, Osim started playing football in hometown club à ½eljezniÃÂar. After playing for the youth team, he entered the senior squad in 1986. In 1991, he left for France where he played for lower division clubs Saint-Dié and Strasbourg. In 1996, he returned to his home country. Osim played one more season for à ½eljezniÃÂar before retiring.
Although a talented player, with good technical skills, Amar never managed to match the success or renown of his father, Ivica Osim's playing career.
Osim's managerial career started in à ½eljezniÃÂar's youth squad which he guided to success in domestic competitions. After Dino ÃÂurbuzoviàwas sacked in the spring of 2001, club officials promoted him to the place of first team manager.
He immediately led the club to two Bosnian Premier League titles in 2001 and in 2002, being runner-up in 2003.
In August 2002, Osim led à ½eljezniÃÂar to the 2002âÂÂ03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where the club lost 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate to English Premier League club Newcastle United. That is, so far, the club's best post-war European competition result.
He also claimed two national cup titles in 2001 and 2003, being runner-up in 2002. Osim claimed the Bosnian Supercup in 2001 as well, after winning the double that year. In 2002, he got the award for Bosnian Coach of the Year.
Osim was sacked at the beginning of the 2003âÂÂ04 season due to poor results.
Amar's father Ivica Osim invited him to Japan to be his assistant at JEF United Chiba. After Ivica was named the head coach of the Japan national team, Amar got promoted.
He guided JEF United to win the J.League Cup in 2006. But after a poor finish to the 2007 season, in which JEF United finished in 13th place in the J1 League, Osim got sacked.
After his time in Japan, Osim returned to his hometown and in June 2009, returned to à ½eljezniÃÂar for his second spell as the club's manager.
In his first season as manager, Osim immediately guided the club to win the league title and finished as national cup runners-up. In the following season he won the national cup, losing the league title just one round before the end of the season and ending third. In 2012, he claimed the league title once again, with three rounds left to play, breaking many records on the way and also defended the national cup, bringing the double back to à ½eljezniÃÂar after eleven years.
Osim left the managerial position of the club in September 2013, becoming its new sporting director. In December 2014, he resigned as sporting director and left à ½eljezniÃÂar.
While at the club, Osim won many individual managerial awards after his success with à ½eljezniÃÂar, including three Manager of the Season awards, the most out of any manager.
In December 2014, Osim was named the new manager of Qatar Stars League club Al Kharaitiyat.
In his first season, he made a club record of a seven-game unbeaten run in the league and nine games in all competitions. In that season's league, Al Kharaitiyat finished in 9th place. In March 2015, Osim was named Qatar Stars League Manager of the Month for February 2015.
In his second season as the club's manager, Osim's Al Kharaitiyat finished in 12th place, just narrowly missing relegation.
In November 2016, after a poor start to the 2016âÂÂ17 season, Osim was sacked after almost two years as Al Kharaitiyat's manager.
On 31 December 2018, Osim once again came back to à ½eljezniÃÂar and signed a three-and-a-half-year contract after monthly speculations of him becoming the manager even earlier.
His first win in his third term as à ½eljezniÃÂar's manager came on 3 March 2019, in a 2âÂÂ1 home league win against Mladost Doboj Kakanj. In Osim's first Sarajevo derby after six years, à ½eljezniÃÂar suffered a 3âÂÂ0 home loss to fierce city rivals FK Sarajevo on 6 April 2019.
On 13 April, in a 1âÂÂ0 away league loss against Zrinjski Mostar, Osim made his 300th appearance as à ½eljezniÃÂar's manager and became the club's third manager with the most games. At the time, the first two were Milan Ribar with 367 games and his father Ivica Osim with 301 games. On 24 April, in his 302nd managerial appearance for à ½eljezniÃÂar, in which the club drew 0âÂÂ0 against à  iroki Brijeg on their home stadium Grbavica, Osim surpassed his father in managerial appearances for the club.
In the last game of the season, à ½eljezniÃÂar beat Tuzla City 3âÂÂ0 away on 25 May 2019, putting an end to a very turbulent season.
Osim's first win as à ½eljezniÃÂar's manager in the 2019âÂÂ20 season came on 27 July 2019, a 2âÂÂ0 away league win against Mladost Doboj Kakanj. à ½eljezniÃÂar won their first Sarajevo derby since Osim's second return in a 5âÂÂ2 home league win against Sarajevo on 31 August 2019.
He made a new Bosnian Premier League record with the club on 28 September 2019, after a 2âÂÂ2 away league draw against Tuzla City, in which à ½eljezniÃÂar ended the game unbeaten and continued their 11-game unbeaten run in the league since the beginning of the season, surpassing the one of city rival Sarajevo, which was a ten league game unbeaten run since the start of the 2006âÂÂ07 Bosnian Premier League season.
On 6 October 2019, Osim's team lost 3âÂÂ0 away in a league match against Borac Banja Luka, thus ending their 11-game unbeaten run in the league. On 30 November 2019, à ½eljezniÃÂar once again beat their rivals Sarajevo, this time in a 3âÂÂ1 away league win, with Osim being praised from à ½eljezniÃÂar fans for his tactical geniusness. In that game, he also earned a yellow card for arguing with referee Haris Kaljanac.
At the end of the season however, à ½eljezniÃÂar failed to win any trophy, with Osim's team finishing in 2nd place in the 2019âÂÂ20 league season, three points short of 1st placed Sarajevo, though after the season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 June 2020. He also guided the team to the semi-finals of the 2019âÂÂ20 Bosnian Cup, but did not get the chance to win the competition as it was abandoned due to the pandemic, with no winner being proclaimed.
à ½eljezniÃÂar started off the 2020âÂÂ21 season with a win against Veleà ¾ Mostar on 1 August 2020, with Osim's team scoring three goals in the first thirty minutes of the game and securing the win at home ground. That game also marked Osim's 200th win as à ½eljezniÃÂar manager. With three more league wins after the Veleà ¾ game, à ½eljezniÃÂar suffered its first loss under Osim in the new season on 21 August 2020, an unexpected 1âÂÂ0 home defeat against Mladost Doboj Kakanj.
In Osim's first European game with à ½eljezniÃÂar since his return, his team lost 3âÂÂ1 against Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in the 2020âÂÂ21 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round on 9 September 2020.
In the middle of an eight-game winless run in the 2020âÂÂ21 league season, which had culminated with a home draw against Mladost Doboj Kakanj, Osim was sacked by the club on 11 April 2021.
On 11 June 2022, Osim signed a one-year contract with Veleà ¾ Mostar, with an option to stay at the club even longer. On 15 July 2022, he took charge for the first time as Veleà ¾ manager for their Premier League match against Posuà ¡je, which ended in a 1âÂÂ1 draw.
On 28 July, Veleà ¾ unexpectedly got eliminated from the 2022âÂÂ23 UEFA Europa Conference League in the second qualifying round by Maltese club æamrun Spartans. On 5 August 2022, Osim won his first match as Veleà ¾ manager after a 3âÂÂ1 win over his former club à ½eljezniÃÂar.
Osim terminated his contract with Veleà ¾ by mutual consent on 29 November 2022.
Osim's father Ivica was a renowned player and manager. His mothers' name is Asima. He has two children and one grandchild. On 1 May 2022, Osim's father died in Graz, Austria, where he had mostly lived since 1994. He was buried in Sarajevo at the Bare Cemetery on 14 May, thirteen days after his death.
à ½eljezniÃÂar
JEF United Chiba
Individual