Asmir Begović

Asmir Begović is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. ¹ Born in Trebinje in 1987, he began his senior career at Portsmouth, established himself at Stoke City — where in 2013 he scored the longest goal in football history — and went on to play for Chelsea, Bournemouth and Everton. ¹ He represented Canada at youth level before switching to Bosnia and Herzegovina, whom he helped reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup, their first major tournament. ¹ The English article describes him as a Muslim who fasts during Ramadan; it names no school for him, so his data record leaves his faith as unknown. ¹²

Begović was born on 20 June 1987 in Trebinje, in what was then Yugoslavia, to Amir Begović — himself a goalkeeper for Leotar and Iskra Bugojno — and Ajnija, who comes from Stolac. ¹ The family fled the Bosnian War to Germany when Asmir was four, and he began organised football with FC Kirchhausen in Heilbronn; when he was ten the family moved again, to Edmonton in Canada. ¹ There he played school and academy football, earned a call-up to Canada's under-17 squad, and in 2003 won a contract with Portsmouth after a two-day trial. ¹

Passport and visa rules kept Begović in Portsmouth's youth team and out on loan — in Belgium with La Louvière, then at Macclesfield Town, Bournemouth, Yeovil Town and Ipswich Town — before he made his Premier League debut in May 2009. ¹ In February 2010 he signed for Stoke City for £3.25 million, took the number one jersey, played every league match of 2012–13 and won the club's Player of the Year award. ¹ On 2 November 2013, thirteen seconds into a match against Southampton, his long clearance from his own area bounced over Artur Boruc and in — a goal measured at 97.5 yards that entered the Guinness World Records as the longest goal scored in football. ¹

In July 2015 Begović joined Premier League champions Chelsea for £8 million, serving mainly as second choice and receiving a winners' medal for the 2016–17 title. ¹ He moved to Bournemouth in 2017 and played all 38 league games of his first season, but after losing his place in 2019 he was loaned to Qarabağ in Azerbaijan and to AC Milan, before spells with Everton, Queens Park Rangers, a return to Everton and, from July 2025, Leicester City. ¹

Begović was Canada's starting goalkeeper at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and twice accepted senior Canada call-ups without playing. ¹ In August 2009, after FIFA removed the age limit on switching allegiance, he chose the country of his birth, debuting for Bosnia and Herzegovina that October; from 2012 he was their first-choice goalkeeper, was voted Bosnian Footballer of the Year for 2012, and played every minute of their 2014 World Cup campaign in Brazil. ¹

The sources read for this record speak of Begović's religion only in general terms. The English article's early-life section describes the family he was born into as a Muslim family of Bosnian origin, and its personal-life section states that he is a Muslim and fasts during Ramadan, noting his 2025 interview with Everton's media about fasting as a professional footballer. ¹ The Arabic article says nothing about his religion, and Wikidata records Islam generically. ³² No source names a school or madhhab for him, and Bosnia's Hanafi tradition is a regional milieu rather than a personal attestation, so the data record leaves his faith as unknown.