Former Bundesliga Star Sergej Barbarez Brings Poker Experience to Bosnia's World Cup Campaign

When Bosnia and Herzegovina take the field at the World Cup, attention will also be on coach Sergej Barbarez, a club legend in Germany and a highly unusual national-team manager. Bosnia are set to play in only their second World Cup finals, and Barbarez is trying to guide them to a historic result.

Barbarez was once a charismatic striker who starred for years in the Bundesliga, won the scoring title and became one of Hamburg's most beloved players. After retiring in 2008, he did not move straight into coaching, broadcasting or administration. Instead, he turned to competitive poker, building a serious second career alongside football.

He played tournaments across Europe and the United States, including the World Series of Poker. His results were not symbolic. In 2015, he finished 19th out of 1,293 entrants in a Las Vegas WSOP event and won about $6,400. In 2017, he placed fifth in a WSOP Europe event in the Czech Republic and earned nearly 30,000 euros, ahead of well-known professionals including former world champion Chris Ferguson. According to live tournament records, his official winnings exceed $100,000.

Barbarez has said that what drew him to poker was the psychology, not the cards themselves, the ability to read fear, confidence, pressure and hesitation in an opponent. Those same qualities, he believes, helped him as a footballer and now as a coach. Around him, he is described as calm, composed and hard to read, much like an experienced poker player. Now he faces the biggest challenge of his coaching career, leading Bosnia on football's biggest stage.