FIFA until 1995 in part due to the Bosnian War. He made his official debut for them in a September 1996 FIFA World Cup qualification match away against Greece and has earned a total of 2 caps, scoring no goals. His second and final international was a month later against Croatia. Managerial career Early career From 1 July 1998 to 30 June 2003, Baždarević worked as Sochaux assistant manager to Jean Fernandez and Guy Lacombe before taking over as manager of reserve sides at the club. Istres Baždarević's first job as a manager was at Istres. He guided the club to its biggest success – entering the French Ligue 1 in 2004, which secured him a best Ligue 2 Manager of the Year award. Étoile On 16 July 2005, Baždarević took over Tunisian side Étoile du Sahel. He reached the 2005 CAF Champions League final with the club. Baždarević was fired by Etoile on 12 April 2006, after a 1–0 home defeat to USM Monastir in their final league game which cost them the Tunisian championship. Al-Wakrah Baždarević was employed as manager of Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah in 2006. Grenoble In December 2007, Baždarević became the manager of French side Grenoble where he arrived on recommendation of his mentor, Ivica Osim, who knew Grenoble's Japanese owners from working with them in J.League with JEF United Chiba. He rejected offers from top league clubs Le Mans and Nice to take over Grenoble. At the end of the 2007–08 Ligue 2 season, Grenoble, led by Baždarević, gained promotion to the Ligue 1, for the first time in their history. Under Baždarević, the club reached the French Cup semi-finals during the 2008–09 season. In September 2010, he left Grenoble due to financial reasons. Sochaux On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as manager of Sochaux, for which he played as a player. He was sacked on 6 March 2012, due to poor results after only 8 months in charge. After Sochaux, he had interest to manage clubs from Serbia and Belgium. Bosnia and Herzegovina On 13 December 2014, Baždarević was named head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, beating Milovan Rajevac for the position. Among other candidates were Vahid Halilhodžić, Igor Štimac, and Felix Magath. He replaced Safet Sušić, who was sacked by N/FSBiH due to a run of poor results in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying having only taken