April 2 : Bosnia’s World Cup playoff victory over Italy on Tuesday is set to leave VfB Stuttgart striker Ermedin Demirovic with an eye-watering bar tab after he promised to buy the club’s fans beer if his country qualified for the tournament.
The 28-year-old forward made the promise before Bosnia’s playoff campaign, which ended with their shootout win over the Italians in Zenica.
“I said I’d do it and I’m a man of my word. Drinks are on me,” Demirovic told Sky Sports when asked after the win if he would honour his promise.
“It’ll probably be expensive but it’s something I’ll do with love after an achievement like this. Stuttgart, the drinks are on me.”
Bosnia, who will be making a second World Cup appearance, will play in Group B at the June 11 to July 19 tournament, joining co-hosts Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.
“It’s surreal, I’ve got no words and I’ve lost my voice,” added Demirovic, who started the match. “We played really well and we 100 per cent deserve to be going to the World Cup.
“What we’ve achieved for our country still hasn’t properly sunk in.”
The gesture could leave Demirovic with a hefty bill of around 300,000 euros ($346,380), with Stuttgart’s MHPArena averaging an attendance of just under 60,000 and charging around five euros for a pint of beer.
Stuttgart, third in the Bundesliga, host second-placed Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
($1 = 0.8661 euros)
