Sifet Izbe (born Sifet Izbemehmedovic; 1995) is a Kresimirian politician, former professional footballer, and educator. He currently serves as the Junior Senator for District VI (Viskogorje), representing Northern Power.
A former striker for Lipovljana FC, Izbe entered politics following a career-ending injury and a subsequent tenure as a special needs educator. His election in 2022 was a major political upset; running alongside the senior Northern Power Senator Chwa Spas, Izbe defeated the legendary Blue Dawn veteran and former party leader Stoyan Vasilis, cementing Northern Power’s total control over the district.
Early Life and Football Career
Sifet Izbemehmedovic was born in 1995 in Kostajnica, a town in southern Viskogorje bordering Decelska. He displayed athletic talent from a young age, playing in the youth leagues of the mountain district.
Lipovljana FC
In 2013, at the age of 18, he signed a professional contract with Lipovljana FC (“The Mountain Wolves”), the district’s largest football club competing in the Republic League. A fast and physical winger, “Izbe” (as he became known on the match reports) quickly became a fan favorite. His working-class background and local roots resonated with the club’s supporters in the “Lower Valley” of Lipovljana.
Injury and Retirement
Izbe’s career was cut short in 2016. During a heated match against FC Sinj, he suffered a catastrophic knee ligament injury. Despite two seasons of rehabilitation and attempted comebacks, he was unable to regain match fitness. He was released by the club in 2018 at the age of 23, marking an abrupt end to his sporting dreams.
Post-Football Career
Following his retirement from professional sports, Izbe remained in Lipovljana. He retrained as a teacher, taking a position at a special needs school in the city’s suburbs. He also founded the “Iron Will” youth academy, a non-profit sports program designed to provide after-school activities for children in the impoverished mining communities of the district.
His transition to politics began when the Northern Power municipal government, influenced by Senator Chwa Spas, allocated significant grants to his academy as part of a “Health and Youth” initiative. Impressed by the party’s commitment to social investment, Izbe became a vocal supporter of Spas’s agenda.
Political Career
The 2022 Election
In the run-up to the 2022 election, Northern Power sought a candidate capable of unseating Stoyan Vasilis. Vasilis, though aging, remained a formidable figure with deep ties to the district’s farmers.
Chwa Spas recruited Izbe to run for the second seat. The strategy was to pair Spas’s intellectual socialism with Izbe’s local celebrity and youth appeal. Izbe ran a high-energy campaign, visiting every town in the district. He contrasted his own background as a teacher and athlete with Vasilis’s decades in the “Sinj Bubble.”
The result was a landslide for Northern Power.
- Chwa Spas topped the poll with 34.2%.
- Sifet Izbe secured the second seat with 28.9%, pushing Stoyan Vasilis into third place (25.1%) and ending the former Blue Dawn leader’s thirty-year career.
In the Assembly
Since taking office, Izbe has focused on youth policy and disability rights. He is a member of the Committee for Sport and Culture, where he has clashed with the Council for Education over funding for school sports facilities. He is considered a rising star of the party’s populist wing.