Salihamidži lived in Jablanica, about thirty miles east of Mostar on the road to Sarajevo. Most people seem to agree that, although a decent footballer as a child, he was nothing out of the ordinary. What set him apart was his will to succeed, his desire for self-improvement. Every morning, the young Hasan would get up at 6 a.m. and run for ninety minutes before school. After classes, he practised the piano, and then caught a bus into Mostar to train with Velež, which at the time was the only top-flight club in the city, supported by Croats and Bosniaks alike. In 1991, he even took the prize
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