Amina Musa for Sportal: How Džanan Won Me Over with a Five-Hour Call and the Line: "I'm Going to Marry You!" /VIDEO/

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He quickly found her phone number, but was met with a slight wariness on the other end. Amina harbored mild prejudices against the world of professional sports and life in the spotlight.

However, the very first call broke down all protective walls. A conversation that lasted an uninterrupted five hours made time simply stand still. Džanan didn't win her over with fame or athletic achievements, but with complete spontaneity, warmth, and wit. Through that one long conversation, Amina's doubts vanished, and both realized it was the beginning of something special.

She explained her initial prejudices:

"Generally, about guys who are famous, successful, and at least seem to think they're better than others, who think they can have anything, any girl they look at. However, when I saw how down-to-earth he was, that he talked least about sports and successes, but was genuinely fun as a person, I immediately liked him. He has a great sense of humor, it's very important to me that he can make me laugh, and he's truly pleasant to talk to. He's wonderful. Everyone loves him at first sight."

She also recalled the sentence that won her over and made her laugh to tears:

Sometimes, the most beautiful moments in life are written precisely when all plans completely fall apart. Amina set off for Madrid, for only her third or fourth meeting with Džanan, unaware that this trip would lead to a life-changing decision. Fate, however, decided to test her patience – her connecting flight escaped her, leaving her stranded at Istanbul airport for hours. While she was enduring the stress of a day-long journey, Džanan was experiencing his own drama. He knew she had to arrive that day, because everything in Madrid was already prepared for the moment he had long planned – the engagement.

"During our first meeting, I was unexpectedly shy. I didn't talk much, and I didn't expect to be like that because I'm usually a chatterbox. When he picked me up at the hotel, on our first date, the first thing I noticed about him was how tall he was, how handsome, how good he smelled. He was really dressed up. He took me out to dinner, and I was genuinely nervous."

Their first date took place in Belgrade, and Džanan already knew then that he had found the love of his life.

The day Džanan proposed didn't start promisingly, but it turned into a true fairy tale.

Amina has two older sisters who immediately saw she was in love by her behavior, but the meeting between Džanan and Amina's mother is still recounted in their family to this day:

"It didn't feel like my mom and Džanan were just meeting; he simply clicked with her right away. She already knew everything about him, she had watched all his interviews, and she even knew what she would ask him when he arrived. She was thrilled. And she still is, constantly calling me and asking, 'How's my son-in-law, where's my son-in-law? Where did he tell you, daughter?'"

Unlike the stressful night and obstacle-filled engagement, their wedding day was the most beautiful of their lives. Everything went perfectly and without a single hitch, in an atmosphere of pure joy and relaxation.

Džanan and Amina were exceptionally cheerful and smiling, radiating that good energy to everyone present. While the celebration was in full swing, for Amina there was only one crucial moment she longed for – she only wanted to see that genuine delight and sparkle in Džanan's eyes when he first saw her in her wedding dress. When that look happened, the picture was complete: a stress-free day transformed into a celebration of love they would remember forever.

"To everyone's great surprise, I was the easiest bride in the world because the only thing that mattered to me was his reaction. I wanted him to be enchanted, to see that delight on him. And I succeeded. The cake didn't even have to be there, but I wanted him to be thrilled, and I got that. After that, nothing else mattered to me."

Beautiful and successful, Amina was crowned Miss at just 18, and today she is an accomplished, educated woman – a graduate journalist by profession.

"I was extremely young when I became Miss Bosnia and Herzegovina, so from this perspective, I would probably be more nervous now because I know all the things that can go wrong. Back then, I just thought I'd be on TV and that was it, but now my awareness of it is different. I was 17 then, and what does a person know at that age? And as for journalism, it's easier when you're not in the spotlight. When you're the one asking the questions. I really love journalism and the dynamism that job brings."

When asked what she would ask Džanan if she had the chance to interview him, she smiled:

"He entered the basketball world very young, at just 11 years old, so I would ask him, from this distance, having gone through so much and knowing so much, what advice he would give to his younger self."

Although it seemed that after a perfect wedding they were ready for a peaceful and relaxed honeymoon, life had another unplanned challenge in store for them. Soon after the wedding, Džanan had to undergo surgery. Due to this unplanned procedure and recovery process, their departure and new beginning together in Dubai – where he continued his career after Madrid – had to be moved up slightly. Nevertheless, with Amina's support and a smooth recovery, these small obstacles only strengthened their team even more before they embarked on a new sunny chapter in Dubai.

"He had various therapies to do in the Emirates, and I was fine, that initial period wasn't stressful for me at all. It probably would have been if I were alone, but with him backing me up. He truly treated me like a princess, even though he had a ton of obligations there, and I had none. I saw that he really cared about me loving life there with him, not just getting used to it."

Regarding how Džanan handles defeat, Amina said:

"He doesn't accept it at all! Or rather, it's not that he doesn't accept it, but if they lose a game, he won't even talk about it. He just says, 'OK, I lost this one, I'll win the next!' He truly has a winning mentality. I try to pick up those things from him because he really has a great character."

She also answered the question of what kind of fan she is:

"I think I'm a good one, but you'll have to ask him. As his wife, I take everything personally. I watch everything, scrutinize it. I watch if someone intentionally hit him, if he perhaps fell... While he sees it all as sport, that it has to be that way. So when the game ends, I always ask him: 'Why did someone do this to you? How?' And he replies: 'Well, you don't even feel it on the court, it's adrenaline and that's it.' I worry from the sidelines, just like his parents."

Musa accepts criticism if it's constructive and well-intentioned:

"I don't criticize him because he's not one for criticism. He strives to always be the best he can be. But from those whose opinion he values, from his coaches, he accepts criticism."

When the war broke out in the Middle East and the urgent evacuation of the club from Dubai began, Džanan and Amina were already far from the chaos. Due to his national team obligations, they had returned to Sarajevo earlier, so the dramatic moments of leaving the city did not find them on the spot.

"He was supposed to play for the national team then, and I think he left that very day, and I had traveled to Sarajevo the day before so I wouldn't be alone in Dubai. If I had stayed, I would certainly have been scared because reading the media gave us the impression that it was really bad. But we were in contact with friends who stayed there, and they heard drones, but nothing near us was hit. Fortunately, we avoided that."

However, the news that followed delighted him like few things before. The knowledge that the team would play the rest of the season in his hometown of Sarajevo brought him immense happiness and pride – because there was no better feeling than playing in his city, in front of his audience, with his home closer than ever.

The last time Amina saw Džanan emotional was at a Dino Merlin concert when he sang a song by the late Halid Bešlić.

"He seemed quite cold to me, but he's actually quite emotional. Especially when it comes to family, me, children, parents… The last time I saw him emotional was at a Dino Merlin concert, when he cried to Halid's song. He told me: 'I'm so sorry you didn't get a chance to meet him. How much you would have loved him.' And I'm quite emotional too, just like him. I'm sensitive about family, about him. And then some things he ignores annoy me. Some unfair situations that he didn't deserve. I heard people saying he faked an injury, which is completely untrue. We were together in Munich, I knew how much pain he was in, how he was struggling with it, how I was struggling with it, after all, because we were bound to each other. And then I read that he made something up. That didn't sit well with me, but over time I started to understand that everyone at the top will always be a target. In a way, that's natural."

Just as such stories are "natural" to her, so were her prejudices about athletes' wives:

When asked how much Džanan has changed since being married to him, she smiled:

"We practically got to know each other in marriage. But for example, his parents often tell me that he is much gentler now, that he cares a lot about me, that he is sensitive towards me. In that regard, he has changed; he started thinking as a couple. Now he wants to know what his wife thinks about a certain topic, so he calls me and we talk. They say he wasn't like that before."

And do Džanan and Amina ever argue?

Life in Dubai brought her a completely new rhythm, although she still finds days when Džanan is traveling more difficult. Her daily peace and energy are restored by Pilates, which has become her favorite routine. Although she is an introvert by nature and prefers an intimate, quieter circle of people, Džanan insisted from the very beginning that she open up and connect with the girlfriends and wives of his teammates.

Although it was initially outside her comfort zone, his encouragement proved to be a bullseye. Today, she loves being in that company – she has made new friends, fills her days with laughter and shared coffees, so Džanan's absence is now much easier to bear with the support of her new friends.

"We are constantly in touch even when he travels because he knew it would be hard for me to be alone since I had a fulfilling life in Tuzla. He constantly tried to fill my time, so he would call me from his trips: 'Did you check this and that? Did you do this and that now? Did you check where you could train? Aha, did you go to training, how was it? Do you want to go again, do you want to try yoga now?' Since I'm quite introverted, he pushed me to socialize: 'Come on, go, the girls (Džanan's teammates' partners, editor's note) are really great, come on, try it, see.' And then when I saw that they were really great, that we shared similar interests, that they were pleasant, I had a wonderful time with them. We have the same topics of conversation and similar interests. But it was a bit difficult for me to make friends with everyone because I'm the type who has childhood friends and doesn't change them. But now I'm really great with them, especially with Kenan Kamenjaš's wife.

When you listen to Amina, you get the impression you're listening to a modern Cinderella story."

Although they have only been married for a year, their shared journey has already faced serious tests. In just twelve months, they have gone through two severe Džanan injuries, periods of recovery, and uncertainties that few young couples experience at the very beginning. However, instead of shaking them, these challenges only brought them closer and strengthened them. Through worry, sleepless nights, and mutual support, they showed they are an impenetrable team, proving that their love is strong enough to withstand all obstacles and emerge from every battle even more connected.

"He really tries not to let me see that he's in pain, but whenever we're sitting, and he grabs his knee, I know what time it is. And now that he's better, I constantly ask him if he's okay, if he can run, if it hurts when he runs? Some kind of trauma remains because you worry about the one you love. I can't stand hospitals, blood, which is a paradox because I finished medical school, so he tries to keep me from going in with him to watch them drain fluid from his knee… He doesn't want to expose me to stress. My number one fear is the fear of injuries, so even when I watch a game, I'm more focused on him not getting injured than on the result."

A few years ago, Džanan suffered a blow to his larynx during a game, which required surgery, and his life was in danger.

Džanan crowned his first year in Dubai with great success and the ABA League championship title, but his ambitions don't stop there – now it's time for a new, even bigger step and an assault on the very top of the EuroLeague. Amina and he are currently living their best days and realizing dreams they once only imagined. However, their biggest and most beautiful plans are yet to come, and both secretly hope that their greatest unfulfilled wishes will soon turn into the most beautiful reality.

"Honestly, the title wasn't as much on my mind as the fact that he played while injured. He had the trophy on his mind, and I had him. That's probably the natural course of events. When they won, the first thing I asked him was: 'Are you okay? Is everything alright?' He said: 'Everything's fine, let's celebrate and then we'll go to rehab.'"

Finally:

"I would like us to remain as harmonious as we are, to continue at this pace. To never lose respect for each other, care for each other. It's nice to see someone care about you more than you care about yourself. To be healthy and, of course, children… But children are not planned. I wish that in five years we will have a bigger family than we have now," Amina Musa concluded her conversation with Sportal.

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