‘The best day of our country’s life’: GTHA’s Bosnia and Herzegovina diaspora elated after beating Italy to earn World Cup spot

The GTHA’s Bosnian and Herzegovinian community is overjoyed after their men’s national team beat Italy on Tuesday to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

The southeastern European nation is now set to take on Canada on June 12 for the first of six World Cup matches at Toronto Stadium.

“I’m on top of my car right now, screaming and crying in the pouring rain,” Emina Kapo, general director of the Bosnian Canadian Association, told CP24 shortly after her team upset the Italian squad.

“This is the best day of our country’s life. … I knew we were going to win the entire time.”

Kapo said this win is especially meaningful as her team’s 40-year-old striker Edin Džeko, affectionately known as The Bosnian Diamond, has been waiting for this moment for 20 years.

Kapo added that people from Bosnia and Herzegovina have a strong affinity for Italy, as that country’s soccer team took part in a humanitarian game in their country back in 1996.

With a population of just over 3 million people, Bosnia and Herzegovina was previously a part of Yugoslavia. It is located on the Balkan Peninsula and gained its independence in 1992.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a vibrant diaspora primarily in the western GTHA, mostly in south and central Etobicoke as well as Oakville and Hamilton and in Kitchener, London, and Windsor.

Kapo said fans of the national team, which is affectionately known as Zmajevi, which means “The Dragons” and is also referred to as Zlatni Ljiljani or “The Golden Lilies,” would surely be celebrating on Saturday during a 20-team soccer tournament in London.

Kapo said she also expects tons of people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including from Europe and across North America, will be making their way to Toronto for the World Cup to cheer on their team.

“This is something Canada has never seen before,” she assured.