former coach Vahid Halilhodzic given a standing ovation during the screening of a documentary on his life

The emblematic former Losc coach of Bosnian origin received acclaim during a screening where relatives, supporters and former players were gathered.

Vahid Halilodzic gets up from his seat, in tears. To loud applause from the audience, he greets the audience who have just attended the screening of the documentary dedicated to him. Nearly three hundred people gathered for this special session organized by the Lille town hall. The mayor of the city Martine Aubry, Friends, Losc supporters, former players, young people from the club are standing and chanting the name of the former Mastiff coach. The film which retraces his life is moving, it paints the portrait of a man who was above all a player.
We are in the 1970s, in Bosnia, at the time belonging to the former Yugoslavia. Vahid, aged around twenty, then a striker, piled up goals and successes, already with character. This is evidenced by the statements of his teammates who recount a memorable anger at half-time of a match.

The film then traces his progression, notably his arrival at FC Nantes before a much sadder passage. At the beginning of the 1990s, the war tore apart the former Yugoslavia, cities were destroyed, buildings burned, notably the city of Mostar where he lived. Vahid Halilhodzic recounts this day when he almost died, while he vilifies armed men, they threaten him and around twenty rifles are pointed at him. The player retreats, sees himself die, before being able to leave safely. A trauma that still haunts him today.

The documentary entitled “Vahid, my truth” signed Sabahudin Topalbecirevic then recounts these years as a coach, notably at the head of LOSC from 1998 to 2002. He recovers the club which is languishing at the bottom of the Ligue 2 table and will raise it to League 1 at the end of the season 1999-2000 The successes don’t stop there. “Coach Wahid” lifts this same team to third place in the Ligue 1 championship in June 2021. The club will manage to qualify for the prestigious Champions League that summer by dominating Parma in the play-offs.

“It’s the best memory of my career at Losc” explains the former coach
Addressing the public, he burst into tears: “I lived with you for some extraordinary years. It wasn’t easy every day, but you recognized the work of the players I coached. Extraordinary players with little means who made such sacrifices, extraordinary things I am proud of that and of the attachment I have with Lille, I am still thanked today. The destiny of Losc changed at that moment! “
Olivier Létang, current president of Losc, turns to the coach and says: “You were a great man of this great club” by giving him a statuette bearing the image of the Mastiff, the symbol of the club. Martine Aubry in turn greets the coach: “it’s not just anyone, we have it in our heart, it’s an affectionate attachment” evoking “someone whole, which is increasingly rare.”

He also taught us to be generous, to know how to welcome the things that happen to us, whether they are good or bad.

Grégory Wimbée, former Losc goalkeeper

Present in the room, former players are full of praise for the Bosnian technician.
Thus Grégory Wimbée, former goalkeeper, explains “It’s a lot of shared joys, a lot of suffering and demands too, but which have brought us to heights, what we thought was impossible! Furthermore, he also taught us to be generous, to know how to welcome the things that happen to us, whether they are good or bad.”
Dagui Bakari, former striker speaks “a lot of emotions, I had never seen him cry like that, we knew he was a sensitive person, but he does not have a heart of stone as some may think. A sincere, hardworking man with a lot of discipline.”
Vahid Halilhodzic leaves the room, still in tears, to the final applause of an audience who will never forget him.