Twenty-three American-born players will be available to take the pitch when the U.S. faces Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in its World Cup Round of 32 knockout match, including Esmir Bajraktarević.
But Bajraktarević won’t be wearing the United States’ white and red striped kit. Instead, he’ll be sporting Bosnia-Herzegovina’s blue and yellow.
He is one of nine Americans representing a different country at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, USA Today reported.
Bajraktarević played a key role in Bosnia making its second-ever World Cup appearance and could help extend his parents’ home country’s historic run Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Bajraktarević was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his parents settled after the genocide in Bosnia, which took the lives of four of Bajraktarević's uncles and grandfather, according to The Athletic.
An estimated 100,000 people were killed in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995, and 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in the Bajraktarevićs’ hometown of Srebrenica, according to the United States Holocaust Museum.
“My parents lost a good amount of family members,” Bajraktarević told The Blazing Musket in 2024. “It’s very tragic. It is something that I’ll never forget, obviously. Srebrenica is something that I’ll never forget. It’s a part of me and who I am. It’s in my blood. It’s something that is a big part of me.”
Esmir Bajraktarević’s journey from Wisconsin to the World Cup
In Wisconsin, both of Bajraktarević’s parents often worked 12-hour shifts to provide for their family, according to The Blazing Musket.
“It was difficult starting a new life and everything, so we didn’t have a lot of money growing up,” he said. “It was obviously hard at first, just seeing them struggle and everything. I’m so thankful for everything they’ve given me, especially from what they came from.”
Bajraktarević grew up in a soccer loving family and began playing at a young age. At 13, he played for his first club team, Milwaukee’s SC Wave. His family couldn’t afford it, but a friend’s family “basically paid for me throughout my whole club career.”
After three years with SC Wave, Bajraktarević joined the New England Revolution’s academy and moved to Massachusetts in 2021.
“I told my parents this is something I have to do, I have to make the sacrifice,” Bajraktarević told The Athletic.
He debuted for the MLS team in 2022 and scored his first goal the following season in a Leagues Cup match. He was the first player in the Revolution academy’s residency program to be on the first team’s roster, per the Revolution. He played there until transferring to PSV in the Dutch Eredivisie in January 2025.
Bajraktarević caught the attention of the U.S. national team and was called up to the January 2024 camp, where he “really impressed” then-head coach Gregg Berhalter and his staff, according to The Athletic.
Seven months after that camp, in July 2024, Bosnia’s national team reached out, and Bajraktarević filed a successful request with FIFA to switch from the U.S. to Bosnia.
“There wasn’t any doubt because I always knew it was gonna be Bosnia at the end of the day,” Bajraktarević told The Athletic. “It was definitely an exciting moment for me.”
In March, Bajraktarević scored the decisive penalty in Bosnia’s World Cup qualifying playoff match against Italy, punching Bosnia’s ticket to the World Cup and ending Italy’s hopes of going.
On Wednesday, Bajraktarević could end another country’s World Cup dreams. This time, it could be his home country.
Bajraktarević has yet to score in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but he played in all three of Bosnia’s group stage matches, starting in two of them. He played all 90 minutes of Bosnia’s 3-1 win over Qatar.
The Round of 32 match between the U.S. and Bosnia-Herzegovina starts Wednesday at 6 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on Fox and Telemundo.