From closed fields in Appleton to the world’s biggest stage, Esmir Bajraktarević—nicknamed the “Milwaukee Messi”—has made the FIFA World Cup 2026 with Bosnia & Herzegovina, following years of local support and a high-stakes choice to represent his parents’ hom
APPLETON, Wis. — On the soccer fields under the Stars and Stripes at the USA Youth Soccer Complex, dreams are supposed to grow the same way the kids run—fast, loud, and without hesitation.
For Esmir Bajraktarević. the path to the FIFA World Cup 2026 started long before he was 21 years old and wearing his future on his sleeve. It began with a boy pushed off fields years earlier—when the coach of now-Wisconsin United FC. Shant Mesdjian. had to keep a younger player from playing because the fields were closed.
That player was Bajraktarević. Now, he’s playing professionally for the Dutch club PSV and representing his parents’ home nation of Bosnia & Herzegovina at the World Cup. In doing so, he’s also helping put Wisconsin soccer on the map.
Liam Wasco still remembers meeting him for the first time. the kind of meeting that doesn’t feel historic in the moment—until you look back and realize it was. Wasco said their fathers met earlier through a men’s recreational soccer league in northeast Wisconsin. Soon after, their sons’ teams faced each other.
“We were in our team talk, and my dad came in and said, ‘There’s this really good Bosnian kid.’ And at the time, you’re just like, ‘Oh, it’s probably just like, I mean, a good player but nothing, no one that special,’” Wasco said.
Then the match started.
“And we played against him — he killed our whole team. He dribbled past everyone. We still won that game — I’ll still brag about that — but he was by far better than everyone.”
That night, Wasco said their fathers talked, then the four of them ate dinner together at a local Red Robin. Soon, Wasco and Bajraktarević became inseparable.
“Genuinely, we hung out every day. My house, his house. Like, I guess we were at the time each other’s only friends, like that close, it felt like we were family,” Wasco said.
They played together for a few years in Appleton before both families decided they needed more competition. At the time, they thought the best way to get it was to move to the Milwaukee area.
Kevin Wasco, who played soccer at Marquette University, was part of the routine. Wasco said his father would drive the boys 90 minutes south on a good day to practice three times a week with SC Waukesha. The club is now SC Wave, run by the same team behind the Milwaukee Wave.
SC Wave Wave Team President Shan Amini was their coach. Amini said the club didn’t build Bajraktarević from scratch.
“[Esmir’s] also one of those kids where as much as I’d like to say, the club created him. We didn’t,” Amini said. “His work ethic, he always had a ball at his feet. He wanted to win.”
Weekend after weekend, Bajraktarević scored dazzling goals and used skill moves to leave families and even older players watching in disbelief. Amini said he encouraged Bajraktarević to play with creativity instead of bottling his talent into a strict system.
“His goal was to not get in his way and get him to where he wanted to be,” Amini said.
For a while, it was still Wisconsin dreams—until the next turn of the road brought national attention. Soon, word spread about an exciting prospect in Wisconsin and drew the attention of the New England Revolution.
The Major League Soccer club had recently developed a player pathways program. Its front office staff scanned the country for national team-level youth talent. bringing those players to New England. where they would live in team-provided housing and focus on the game year-round—an approach described as similar to youth academies European clubs have championed for decades.
Curt Onalfo, sporting director for the Revolution, signed Bajraktarević to the team’s youth academy in August 2021, when he was 16 years old.
“It was immediate. Like, we knew how talented he was, and that’s why we recruited him,” Onalfo said.
The Revolution moved quickly. The team signed Bajraktarević to its second team in a matter of weeks, then to the first team within a year. From there, his rise continued, including a transfer to PSV.
But the biggest decision wasn’t only about club football. Around the same time, in 2024, Bajraktarević took a major risk regarding his international allegiance. He had already represented the United States internationally in lower-level competitions. but he officially switched his allegiance to Bosnia & Herzegovina—his parents’ home country.
Wasco said the choice wasn’t surprising to the people who knew him.
“I think from a young age, he always knew he wanted to play for Bosnia, which I think was the right decision too,” Wasco said.
For some in his orbit, it sounded like the kind of dream a kid says once and forgets. For Amini, it sounded like something deeper—shaped by war and memory.
Amini said Bajraktarević’s parents were in a war-torn country when they came of age in Bosnia. Osman, Bajraktarević’s older brother, recorded video of Esmir dribbling in the family’s backyard when he was just 5 years old, wearing the jersey of Bosnian striker Edin Džeko.
Amini said, “His parents were in a war-torn country when his parents were coming of age in Bosnia. They were going through the war.”
In other words, the risk wasn’t only about opportunity on the pitch—it was about choosing a home that came with history.
Bosnia didn’t waste time once the switch was made. While Bajraktarević may not have earned playing time with the U.S. right away, he quickly found his way to Bosnia’s starting 11. Still, there was pressure baked into the moment. Amini said Bosnia & Herzegovina had only played in one previous World Cup.
Then, on March 31, Bosnia had to beat Italy to clinch its second appearance. The team—still led by Džeko—took the three-time World Cup winners to penalty kicks.
When the moment came, Bajraktarević had the kind of opportunity most kids can only imagine. If he scored, he would send Bosnia to the World Cup.
On that night, the details became the headlines. “It’s Appleton, Wis., native Esmir Bajraktarević. The Milwaukee MessI. The New England Revolution Homegrown player. turned 21 two-and-a-half weeks ago. can send Bosnia & Herzegovina to the World Cup. ” said FOX Sports Play-By-Play Announcer John Strong. “And he does!”.
Bajraktarević drilled a low-driven shot past Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is widely considered one of the best in the world. Flares lit the stands as Bajraktarević ran toward the fans, his jersey in hand, to celebrate.
Back in the U.S., it was a specific kind of chaos for the people who had followed him earliest. Onalfo said he was watching the Revolution’s academy play when his phone blew up.
“Ironically, I was watching our academy play, and all of a sudden, my phone blew up,” Onalfo said, laughing. “And I had all these messages coming.”
Amini said he was smiling for five straight days.
“I was beyond happy for him. I was smiling for five straight days,” Amini said. “I was so excited — because, again, I know the chance that he took. I know that if he missed it, they’re not in the World Cup. I know what he’s given up to do what he’s doing. For him to get to be his home country’s hero. and for his parents and for his family and all their relatives. I was… you couldn’t even imagine how happy I was.”.
Now the story has moved onto a different stage. Each time Bajraktarević touches the ball, people in Wisconsin say it feels like a reminder that their soccer players can reach the top.
Amini said he just hopes Bajraktarević shows what he’s capable of doing. And with a nickname like the “Milwaukee Messi,” the idea is that maybe the world won’t need a reminder after all.
Wasco said the nickname grew from a simple conversation when Bajraktarević went to New England.
“From what I’ve heard, when he went to New England, they said he dribbled like Messi,” Wasco said. “And they asked where he was from — so, he said Appleton, but no one really knows where Appleton is if you’re not from Wisconsin. So, they just said Milwaukee, so Milwaukee Messi stuck.”
The source of this story was interviews with Bajraktarević’s friend and coaches.
When the field lights come on in Appleton, or anywhere else he played on the way up, the hope in the stands doesn’t sound complicated. It sounds like what Amini has been saying all along.
“I just hope that he shows what he’s capable of doing,” Amini said.
Esmir Bajraktarević Milwaukee Messi Wisconsin soccer FIFA World Cup 2026 Bosnia and Herzegovina PSV New England Revolution SC Wave Appleton Wisconsin Liam Wasco Shan Amini Curt Onalfo