Many will have never heard the refrain “I am from Bosnia, take me to America” until the Bosnian national team upset Italy in a playoff final in March. It put the small Balkan nation through to the World Cup for just the second time since the country gained its independence in 1992.

Thousands of fans at the match in Zenica belted out the song, just as they did when the national team were feted at a square in the capital, Sarajevo, a few hours later. 

But had you spent time in Bosnia over the past decade and a half, chances are good that the tune will have been oddly familiar. The song, originally titled “USA,” was actually released by the Bosnian band Dubioza Kollektiv some 15 years ago. And it actually had nothing whatsoever to do with football.

‘Typical Balkan experience’

“It’s from our album Wild Wild East from 2011,” band member Vedran Mujagic, who plays bass, told DW of the song, now known as “I am from Bosnia, take me to America.”

“It’s about a typical experience of someone from the Balkans, going abroad in a search of a better life — in this case, in search of the “American dream.”

“But then, faced with the reality of immigrant life, life in the diaspora, he kind of realizes that it’s not all perfect (there) and he decides there is no place like the motherland and he goes back.”

The band had been playing the song at concerts for years when, to their astonishment, it turned up when Bosnia played Wales in the two-legged World Cup playoff semifinal that booked them a date with Italy.

“Of course we’re watching that game. And then we saw a big, big banner that supporters rolled out during the game, and it read, “I’m from Bosnia, take me to America,” Mujagic recalled.

“And in that moment, it seemed almost like science fiction because we needed to beat Wales — which of course we did.”

By the Italy match, the song was long-since established as the “Dragons’” unofficial hymn.

The icing on the cake came after that match, when some of the players stormed Bosnia coach Sergei Barbarez‘ press conference singing the song.

Updated World Cup version

“Ten days later we decided to actually do a supporter’s version with changed lyrics and to address some of these football, subculture feelings and emotions that surrounded qualification for the World Cup,” Mujagic said.

Interestingly, while the original version was completely in English, much of the new version is sung in Bosnian. The lyrics play on local stereotypes, and urge on the national team, while bemoaning what is still a sore point among fans old enough to remember the 2014 World Cup.

“And that (goal) against Nigeria, wasn’t offside,” they sing.

It wasn’t. Video footage shows that Edin Dzeko was clearly onside when he scored, but there was still no VAR (video assistant referee) at the time, and after the goal was called back momentum shifted, and Bosnia lost the match. They also failed to make it out of their group. 

And while the new version being mostly in Bosnian may seem like a barrier to international success, it’s simply taken off. Mujagic thinks he knows why.

Striking a chord

“I guess it has to do with the music video we shot for it, which features the band members playing football in a neighborhood courtyard with neighbors grilling (meat) and having, like, this regular Balkan fun,” he said.

The video, shot on a mobile phone, seems to have struck a particular chord in South America.

“A lot of people recognized that this looks like some of their neighborhoods, like a favela in Brazil or this looks like Chile because it is the same thing,” he added.

There’s also something slightly subversive about the low-budget production.

“It is like a response to this hyper-stylized aesthetic that FIFA music promotional videos have,” Mujagic explained, adding that it struck a chord with those frustrated by the modern, money-driven game.

The diaspora experience in reverse

As for the newfound success of the national team, the majority of whom weren’t actually born in Bosnia, Mujagic gives all the credit to coach Barbarez and sporting director Emir Spahic.

“Spahic and Barbarez did an excellent job by recruiting and creating a team out of all these kids that grew up in the diaspora. They’re the ones whose parents went seeking the ‘American Dream’ or were refugees during the war,” he said.

“It’s like they (the children) have different experiences, and they experience even this song in a completely different manner,” he added.

There’s little doubt that when Bosnia-Herzegovina kick off their World Cup campaign against co-hosts Canada in Toronto on Friday, this song will be ringing through the stands.

Edited by: Matt Pearson

Maida Besirevic of DW’s Bosnian service contributed to this report.