Dragons depart for USA: Mission World Cup 2026 begins, Barbarez takes 27 players

(Patria) – The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team departed early this morning from Sarajevo International Airport for the United States of America, where they will compete in their second World Cup in history.

Sergej Barbarez's selected players first flew to Frankfurt, from where they will continue their journey to St. Louis. Before the start of the World Cup, the Dragons have a friendly match against Panama on Saturday, the final test before their appearance at the biggest global football event.

Despite the early departure, the mood among the national team players was excellent. The expedition was seen off at Sarajevo airport by goalkeeper Osman Hadžikić, who dropped off the travel list for the USA at the last moment due to injury.

Several fans took the opportunity to take photos with the national team players and wish them luck ahead of their historic World Cup appearance.

After the match against Panama, the Bosnian team will move to Toronto, where they will complete final preparations for the group stage matches of the World Cup.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will play in Group B alongside Canada, Switzerland and Qatar. The Dragons play their first match against hosts Canada in Toronto, followed by matches against Switzerland on June 18 in Inglewood and Qatar on June 24 in Seattle.

The BiH national team began preparations for the World Cup about ten days ago, and in the current part of the preparatory cycle, they played a friendly match against North Macedonia at the Koševo stadium, which ended goalless (0:0).

This will be Bosnia and Herzegovina's second appearance at the World Cup after their debut in 2014 in Brazil, when the Dragons failed to advance past the group stage.

Coach Sergej Barbarez has taken 27 footballers to the USA, led by captain Edin Džeko, Ermedin Demirović, Sead Kolašinac and Nikola Vasilj.