1
Asmir Begovic joined Everton in July 2021 following four years that started and finished on England’s south coast and featured stop-offs in Milan and Azerbaijan.
The goalkeeper made his Everton debut in a League Cup victory at Huddersfield Town one month after arriving and in his opening Goodison Park campaign played seven matches across the competitions.
Begovic, a Bosnia and Herzegovina international who represented his country at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, played 51 times for Championship Bournemouth in the season before transferring to Everton.
He originally moved to Vitality Stadium in 2017, joining from Chelsea straight after gaining a Premier League winner’s medal as part of manager Antonio Conte’s champion Stamford Bridge squad.
Begovic was on the pitch for every minute of Bournemouth’s top-flight campaign in his first season, the Cherries finishing 12th under Eddie Howe, and played 24 times in the competition as his side ended the following campaign in 14th.
He moved on loan to Qarabag in Azerbaijan early in 2019/20 and played enough games to earn a league title medal as the club won its seventh straight domestic championship.
Begovic had been with Qarabag four months when seven-times European champions AC Milan offered a temporary deal.
His time in Italy was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced football to shut down during 2019/20.
Begovic played twice before Serie A’s suspension but after time in England during lockdown returned to spend the remainder of the delayed campaign at the San Siro.
He was undisputed number one in his final campaign with Bournemouth, one of five clubs where Begovic played on loan as he found his feet in English football after joining Portsmouth in 2003.
Begovic’s family moved to Germany when the player was four, fleeing war in Bosnia, and relocated to Canada six years later.
He emerged from Canada’s regional and national football structures, securing a successful trial with Portsmouth and signing at Fratton Park in 2003 when he was 16.
Begovic went on loan to Belgian team La Louviere two years later and in the following 2006/07 campaign made his Football League debut during a similar stay with Macclesfield Town.
He had two separate spells with Yeovil Town in League One either side of the end of 2007/08.
A Premier League debut for Portsmouth followed in May 2009 and nine top-flight appearances the next season sandwiched one month on loan in the Championship with Ipswich Town.
Begovic transferred to Stoke City in February 2010 and by the opening months of the following season was inserted as first-choice keeper at the Premier League club.
He was named Stoke player of the season for 2012/13 and in five-and-a-half years in the Potteries kept 50 clean sheets in 173 appearances.
In his penultimate Stoke season, Begovic’s punt from 91.9 metres after 13 seconds of a game against Southampton flew beyond opposite number Artur Boruc and earned the scorer a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the ‘longest goal scored in a competitive football match’.
Begovic was signed by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2015 and kept 10 clean sheets in 33 games across the competitions for the London team.
He represented Canada at Under-20 level – including in the 2007 Under-20 World Cup – but in 2009 opted to pledge allegiance to birth country Bosnia.
The player, capped 63 times, was instrumental in his country’s successful 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign and started and finished all three matches – against Argentina, Nigeria and Iran – at the South American tournament.
Contracted until: June 2022 (option for a further year)
