The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina traces its roots to 1920, when the direct predecessor of today's governing body was founded as the Sarajevo football sub-association within Yugoslavia. Football itself had arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina even earlier, reaching Sarajevo in 1903 and Mostar in 1905 during the period of Austro-Hungarian rule, making it one of the earlier adopters of the game in the region.
For much of the 20th century, Bosnian players competed under the Yugoslav national team rather than an independent flag. Figures such as Safet Sušić, Ivica Osim, Vahid Halilhodžić, and Josip Katalinski built their international reputations representing SFR Yugoslavia, yet remain central to Bosnian football identity. The association was re-founded as an independent body in 1992, following the country's declaration of independence.
The post-independence era was marked by a long process of institutional unification. Ethnic divisions had split domestic football into separate leagues, and it was not until 1997–98 that Bosniak and Bosnian Croat clubs played in a unified competition, with Bosnian Serb clubs joining in 2002. The consolidated Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina has run continuously from the 2002–03 season.
Governance struggles defined much of the 2000s, culminating in a FIFA and UEFA suspension in April 2011 over the association's failure to operate under a single president. A normalisation committee led by the legendary Ivica Osim oversaw a resolution, and by December 2012 Elvedin Begić was elected as the first single president in the association's history. Today the national team competes under UEFA, striving to build on its first-ever FIFA World Cup appearance at Brazil 2014.