World Cup

Bajraktarević, whose professional career began with the Revolution, is now a starter for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Esmir Bajraktarević sparked a frenzy when he scored the game-winner in a shootout against Italy in March to send Bosnia and Herzegovina to their second-ever World Cup. It was another crowning moment for the 21-year-old, whose meteoric rise began with the New England Revolution.

Bajraktarević, whose parents moved to the United States after the Bosnian war, left Wisconsin in August 2021 to join the Revolution’s residential academy program. He immediately started training with Revolution II, earning a Homegrown contract in less than a year. His first-team debut came in a U.S. Open Cup game in May 2022. By 2024, he was a full-time starter.

At the end of that season, he was sold to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in a deal worth up to $6 million. It was a major achievement for the Revolution, which values the development of young players.

“When we meet with certain players that we’re bringing into our academy or if we’re looking at a player that we’re trying to sign, it is a proof of concept,” sporting director Curt Onalfo told Boston.com. “Also, agents end up bringing you more players because of that. So there’s definitely a lot to that. Proof of concept is important.”

Bajraktarević’s talent was obvious from the start.

Rob Becerra, the Revolution’s director of youth development, remembers watching film from an indoor facility. While he professes that it wasn’t the highest-quality tape, the play was. It only took 15 minutes during an in-person trial for Onalfo and Becerra to confirm that they needed to bring Bajraktarević to New England.

“He’s always had a propensity to take players on, a brashness to his game,” Becerra explained.

Soon, Bajraktarević was turning heads while collecting wins.

Onalfo recalled a 2023 game when the then-18-year-old scored the first hat-trick in Revs II history to record a 4-3 comeback victory over Philadelphia Union II. Becerra reflected on the postseason win against Union II, when he moved Bajraktarević to the right, leading to two goals in 20 minutes.

“I talked to the team and said, isolate him,” Becerra said. “When we play him the ball, don’t go immediately and overlap him. Don’t give him immediate support. Leave him alone. Let him do his thing. Let him go 1v1.

“I look like a great coach. I did nothing except move him to the other side and say, guys, stay out of his way, let him do his thing.”

His success in these situations earned him the nickname “Milwaukee Messi.”

He completed a nutmeg in his first Major League Soccer start, and did the same move with his first touch in his only appearance for the U.S. Men’s National Team before he decided to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the birthplace of his parents.

Moments like these, the game-winning penalty against Italy, and Bajraktarević starting in a World Cup game that also featured fellow Revs alum Tajon Buchanan, fill the Revolution with pride.

“What’s really neat about someone like Esmir is that pride is not singular,” Becerra said. “It’s not only the academy. It’s not only the second team. It’s not only the first team. It’s all of us.”

While Bajraktarević’s story is unique, the Revs have several talented players currently rising through their pro pathway. The most recent window saw six first and second-team players get called into youth national teams.

“It’s a sign that we’re getting better in that space and we just have to keep pushing,” Onalfo said.

This wasn’t always the case, as the Revolution Academy was ranked as one of the weakest in MLS when Onalfo arrived in 2019. Changes, including more time on the training grounds and increased resources, have seen the academy improve to second in U.S. Soccer Collective’s 2025 report.

Becerra noted that establishing a culture of growth and respect has contributed to the turnaround. This starts off the field, as academy players are taught to sweep the bus and make their beds while on the road. Phones and jewelry aren’t allowed at training, which always ends with a handshake or knuckles.

“Our job is to teach you how to be a pro. Our job is to teach you how to be a better human,” Becerra said.

The academy is a valued part of the organization. Onalfo, as sporting director, is typically involved in recruitment, which isn’t the norm around the league. The first team’s head coach will sometimes take part as well.

“I think really what sells us is the people,” Onalfo said. “We have really good people involved in every aspect, whether it’s a tutor that’s helping with schooling or the partnership that we have with the Center of Excellence, or it’s just the quality of the people that are spending a lot of time with these young people.”

Bajraktarević’s story – an underappreciated talent who quickly rises through the ranks to be sold overseas – is so unprecedented that it might not be replicated any time soon, but the Revolution are confident that they will continue to develop high-end talent.

“There’s not going to be another Esmir that walks down the hall in a year or two years,” Becerra said. “And that’s the beautiful thing about Esmir. You get the special ones like that, and you have to embrace that the player is special. We were lucky to be a part of his pathway.

“But we will produce more professional soccer players. We will produce players that are playing a significant role for our second team, our first team, and some players who have a chance to go overseas.”

One of those players could be 18-year-old Peyton Miller, a Connecticut native who was part of Revolution’s residential academy program, just like Bajraktarević. He has excelled at every stage of the pro pathway and is already drawing European interest.

Time will tell what happens, but being part of the journeys of Bajraktarević, Miller, and others is a source of joy for the Revolution.

“When I watched Peyton play his first game with the second team, he scored, and I cried,” Becerra said. “You’re not supposed to cry as a man and everything else, but I cried because I was like, look at this kid. We had this kid when he was 14. Now he’s 15 years old, and he’s scoring goals. I get emotional about these things.

“I love my job, man.”