Ex-Poker Pro Barbarez to Face Team USA at World Cup

Former professional poker player to face the US national team at the World Cup

In the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, the national teams of the USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina will play. The European team is coached by Sergej Barbarez, who regularly took part in professional poker tournaments and reached final tables at the World Series.

Barbarez's recorded tournament results span 13 years. He achieved his most notable success in 2017, when he finished eighth in the $1500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in Las Vegas and took fifth place in the €2200 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-Max at WSOP Europe in Rozvadov. He earned $21,172 for the first result and $24,385 for the second.

Barbarez scored his career-best cash in 2022 at the ARIA Poker Classic festival in Vegas. There, the future coach took second place in a $600 Omaha tournament and won $28,299. In addition, Sergej Barbarez cashed at the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour. His total poker tournament earnings exceed $150,000.

During his football career, Sergej Barbarez played for Hamburg, Dortmund's Borussia, and Bayer, and also made 47 appearances for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. In 2024, he took charge of his country's national team and led it to the World Cup for the first time since 2014. Notably, this is the first coaching job of Barbarez's career.

In a group with Canada, Switzerland, and Qatar, the Bosnians finished third and advanced to the playoffs. The match against the US national team will take place on July 1 and will kick off at 23:00 Moscow time. The Americans are coached by Mauricio Pochettino, who previously worked at Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain, and Chelsea.