Born in Sarajevo, Bahtić started playing football for hometown club Željezničar's youth team. At the time he was supposed to leave the youth squad, he was considered not to be a quality for Željezničar's first team. He left the club and played in amateur side FK Vraca in Sarajevo. He also played one season for Bosna Sarajevo before he was called to re-join FK Željezničar in 1978. He played almost 250 league games for the club until 1989. He also scored more than 60 league goals, despite he was not actually a striker. He usually played as a right winger. During the 1985–86 and 1986–87 seasons he played for Greek side Aris Thessaloniki.[1]