There have been a lot of football (soccer) connections in the poker world throughout the years.
From Neymar, Ronaldo, and Gianluigi Buffon being PokerStars ambassadors to Gerard Piqué and Arturo Vidal both making top-five finishes in the same €25,000 EPT Barcelona High Roller to Teddy Sheringham making an EPT Main Event final table to Max Kruse winning a WSOP bracelet… world-class footballers have taken their competitive spirit to the poker felt. In fact, Neymar finished second in the PokerStars $1,050 Sunday High Roller this past weekend.
But now, there’s a new poker connection coming to this summer’s FIFA World Cup, and it’s not exactly on the pitch either. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s manager Sergej Barbarez, a former Bundesliga star, will be leading his country to the World Cup after they upset Italy in the World Cup qualifying playoff final.
Sergej Barbarez’s poker career
Barbarez was not playing just for fun; he was out there competing for real titles. His first recorded cash on his Card Player profile was a third-place finish in a $300 2010 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza event, navigating the 343-entry field for a $9,682 score.
Barbarez seemed to get his best results in the great game of Pot Limit Omaha. He flirted with a bracelet at the 2015 World Series of Poker, finishing 19th out of 1,293 runners in the $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event for just under $7,000. The next year, he came in 21st out of 580 players in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Six Max event for $11,500.
Barbarez got even closer on two occasions at the World Series of Poker in 2017, finishing eighth in the 870-entry $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $21,172 before making the final table in the WSOP Europe €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight Max event, finishing fifth for $24,385, the same event Allen Kessler finished second in.
His last major cash came in an €1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha event at WPT Barcelona in 2019, where he finished third for roughly $20,000.
All in all, he has $143,628 in recorded career live tournament earnings across 26 cashes. His last known cash came in May 2022 in a €330 Pot-Limit Omaha event in Rozvadov on the Eureka Poker Tour, where he finished fifth for $2,928.
Needless to say, he (probably) won’t be attending the 2026 World Series of Poker, as he’ll be guiding Bosnia and Herzegovina into battle at the World Cup. They have been placed in Group B alongside Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland.
Sergej Barbarez’s football career
Sergej Barbarez, now 54 years old, was a proper football legend for Hamburger SV, contributing 76 goals and 48 assists in 216 matches for the club from 2000 to 2006. In fact, during his first season with the club, he was the Bundesliga’s joint-top goalscorer, when he and Schalke’s Ebbe Sand both scored 22 league goals.
Barbarez started his career in his native Bosnia with local club FK Velež Mostar, where he joined as a youth player in 1984 and rose to the first team, where he played from 1989 to 1991.
After briefly serving in the Yugoslav People’s Army in Zagreb, Croatia, he visited his uncle in Germany, who managed to get him a surprise trial with Hannover 96, who were playing in the 2. Bundesliga at the time. Manager Michael Lorkowski was so impressed that he ended up signing Barbarez to a professional contract straight away. He, along with his high school sweetheart Ana, fled the escalating war taking place in Bosnia to move in permanently with his uncle in Germany.
After scoring a pair of goals in 19 games, he left the club for Union Berlin, who were competing in the German third division. Barbarez stayed with the club for three seasons, playing in Germany’s third and fourth divisions, scoring 48 goals in 92 games in all competitions. In a bit of a shock transfer, he was sold to Hansa Rostock, the reigning sixth-place finishers in the Bundesliga, for 640,000 Deutsche Marks – the equivalent of around €530,000 today.
Despite a rather bleak first season with Rostock, Barbarez banged off 11 goals in his second Bundesliga season to earn a transfer to Borussia Dortmund. Though his Dortmund career was rather unimpressive, he was still their top transfer in 2001, leaving for Hamburger in 2000 for €1.8M. It was there that he’d become a club legend.
Out of seemingly nowhere, Barbarez went from three goals with Dortmund the season before to a league-leading 22 goals, sharing the golden boot with Ebbe Sand. While Hamburg competed in the Champions League group stage during his first season, he would never get back to the Champions League, despite Hamburg constantly flirting with qualification. Though he was constantly in talks with Premier League clubs, including Tottenham, he would stay with Hamburg until 2006, before finishing his career with two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen.
With Hansa Rostock, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger, and Bayer Leverkusen, he scored a total of 96 Bundesliga goals, which ranks 65th all-time and second amongst all Bosnians, only behind Vedad Ibisevic (127 goals).
From 2001 to 2003, Barbarez was the Bosnian Footballer of the Year, though during his time at Hamburger, it was really a two-horse race between Barbarez and Bayern Munich’s Hasan Salihamidžić, who ended up winning the award four times.
On the international stage, Barbarez made his debut with Bosnia in 1998 while with Borussia Dortmund and competed in the setup until 2006. He earned 47 caps, scoring 17 goals, which ranks fifth all-time amongst Bosnian internationals. Unfortunately, Barbarez and Bosnia never qualified for a European Championship or a World Cup during his time as a player.
Just three years after retiring as a player, Barbarez earned his UEFA Pro license in January 2011, with his mind set on managing the national team. Though he sat on both the Bosnia and Hamburg boards, he wouldn’t find a managerial position until 2024, when Bosnia shockingly brought him on for World Cup Qualifying, despite not having any experience whatsoever.
Bosnia’s federation president, Vico Željković, justified the hire by stating: “We believe that the harmony he can bring to the team, his energy, and his authority will be essential assets in getting the national team back on track.”
The results were immediate, and Bosnia were a 77th-minute Michael Gregoritsch goal away from topping their World Cup Qualifying group, finishing second behind Austria and ahead of Romania, Cyprus, and San Marino. Bosnia ended up defeating both Wales and Italy, each on penalties, to earn their second-ever World Cup berth and their first since 2014.
