by Reid Murray
Andrei Jahic runs down the wing during a Nashville SC Academy game against the Philadelphia Union (photo courtesy of Andrei Jahic).
Before 16-year-old former Nashville SC Academy right back Andrei Jahic earned playing time with Croatian powerhouse GNK Dinamo Zagreb and the Bosnia and Herzegovina youth national team, he was sitting on the bench of a U11 travel soccer team in Kentucky.
Jahic couldn’t stand being on the bench, so he took up a work ethic that would eventually get him to the most prestigious club in his mother’s home country.
“He took that summer between I think U11 and U12, and just decided, ‘I’m going to train all summer so I can be a starter because I don’t want to sit on the bench,’” Jahic’s mother, Biljana Kondic, said. “So, he watched YouTube videos and kept training, and the next season he came to soccer and the coach was like, ‘Oh, what happened to him?’”
Soon after, Kondic began sending emails to MLS academies across the country — many of which went unanswered — trying to get her son a tryout. Finally, Jahic got his shot when the Nashville SC Academy held open tryouts in 2020.
When Nashville released details about its tryout, Kondic relayed the information to the families of Jahic’s teammates at Bowling Green Elite FC, and helped organize the team’s transportation to Tennessee.
While the tryout was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jahic was at the top of the coaches’ list at the time of the outbreak, meaning he earned a spot in Nashville’s first ever class of academy players. Right away, he noticed the level of competition and dedication required to succeed in an MLS academy.
“It’s a lot,” Jahic said. “You come in, and everybody’s just competing to be the best, and it’s hard to get a position there since everybody’s talented and everybody’s working to achieve their goal.”
While playing in Nashville was challenging, Jahic said the access he and his teammates got to professional players was one of the most impactful aspects of the academy.
“We’ll have morning training, we’ll see what they’re doing and see what they’re eating,” Jahic said. “You always can just pick up on what they’re doing and put it into your daily routine.”
Jahic said Dan Lovitz and Taylor Washington are his biggest role models on the first team, admiring their physical stamina and ability to have fun but focus when necessary. Jahic also mentioned the importance of having former players coaching in the Nashville SC Academy.
Jahic said academy director Kevin Flannagan, U17 lead coach Alan O’Connor and former U13 lead coach and current first team assistant coach Kosuke Kimura, who have combined for over 35 years as collegiate and professional soccer players, also helped him on his path to the next level.
“They all have a really good impact on me, just teaching me the ways of being a professional, the personality off the field and on the field, working hard,” Jahic said. “They were always there to engrave that into my mind, just to be a good person and always strive to be a better person every day.”
Andrei Jahic high-fives a Nashville SC teammate during a substitution (photo courtesy of Andrei Jahic).
After being in the Nashville program for just over a year, Jahic got an unexpected opportunity to showcase his talent to international eyes. In the summer of 2021, Jahic was invited to a camp with European coaches in Louisville, Kentucky.
Kondic wasn’t expecting much to come from the camp, but after an impressive four days, Bosnian scouts noticed Jahic. The following December, he received a phone call inviting him to train with the Bosnian national team.
While Jahic was born in the United States, his Croatian mother and Bosnian father give him citizenship in all three countries, making him eligible to represent any of the three in international soccer.
Jahic took his opportunity with the Bosnian national team and participated in an identification camp in January of 2022. The following summer, he was invited back to play for two matches with the Bosnia and Herzegovina U17 team.
“I had a little nervousness in me,” Jahic said. “But I just had to get there and show them what I had since, I mean, nobody really looks at America. I just had to show them what we have here.”
While getting involved with the Bosnia and Herzegovina national program, Jahic caught the attention of Croatian clubs, and was able to get a tryout with HNK Hajduk Split, and soon after, Dinamo Zagreb.
Jahic trained with Dinamo for two weeks, and as he was set to leave and explore other Croatian clubs, he was offered a chance to train in Zagreb for one more week.
After staying for the additional week and playing in some friendlies, the coaches were sure they wanted him on board, even though it would pose logistical challenges to fit him into the squad.
“They literally said they had a full team and they didn’t expect to take a kid,” Kondic said. “They said, ‘It would have been easier to say he’s not as good and send him home, but he just played off, and we can’t send him home.’”
Since joining the Dinamo academy, Jahic has continued playing in friendlies, but he is not allowed to play in officially sanctioned matches until transfer papers are approved.
Kondic said Jahic will play with Dinamo this spring, but will wait until the summer to sign an official contract.
“He will be part of the team but I don’t think we want to sign a contract until we see that the coaches are happy with him, and he likes it, that it’s a match,” Kondic said.
While it may take some time for the transfer to become official, Jahic has been satisfied with his time in Zagreb so far.
“I feel like I get the system they play pretty well, especially as a fullback getting up and getting forward,” Jahic said. “That’s what they emphasize over there, and I feel like the kids over there treat me really well. I feel like I fit in.”
As the first Nashville SC Academy product to move to a top-flight European club, Jahic revealed what it takes to advance in the soccer world as an American.
“You’ve got to have a little bit of connections, some luck, but most of it is just hard work,” Jahic said. “You can’t be messing around in training, you always have to be the one that the coaches can tell you’re working harder than the others.”
NOTE: This story was updated at 12:14 PM CT. The original version says “he is not allowed to play in officially sanctioned matches until he signs a contract” and includes the quote “I’m leaving the decision up to him.” The updated version says “he is not allowed to play in officially sanctioned matches until transfer papers are approved,” and has the quote removed.
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