Haris Medunjanin announces his retirement

Former Philadelphia Union midfielder Haris Medunjanin won’t quite make it to age 40 as an active pro.

The 39-year-old, who spent three seasons in Chester from 2017-2019, has announced that he will call time on his professional career with the conclusion of CD Castellon’s season.

“I can’t say enough positive words about Haris,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said Friday when asked about Haris at a press conference. “(He’s) one of those guys that you talk about the culture shift and our improvement and growth as a club where I say we’re not perfect by any stretch but was a guy that was a big part of us becoming you know, a perennial pet playoff team, a team that was competing for things and he’s such a great human being and a winner.”

The Bosnian and Herzegovina international made 109 appearances in all competitions for the Union after being brought in from Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and quickly became one of the stars of a team that improved year over year during his time. He went on to play for FC Cincinnati from 2020-2022 and at PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands before making his final stop with his current club in the Spanish third division.

Medunjanin began his career at AZ Aklmaar in the Netherlands in 2004 and made more than 550 appearances playing for 10 different teams. He had 6 goals and 19 assists in all competitions for the Union. Among the more memorable moments during his stint in Chester were the time he talked a referee out of giving a DC United player a red card, blew a gasket to earn the only red card of his career in Atlanta and introduced himself to the Union fanbase with a rocketed goal from distance at RFK.