Serbia national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  Serbia's national football team carries a history fractured by wars, political upheaval, and the collapse of an entire country. In 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, and its football team was immediately banned from all international competition under United Nations sanctions. A team that had qualified for the European Championship could not play a single competitive match for over two years. When it finally did, in December 1994, the opponents were Brazil in Porto Alegre, and the result was a 2-0 defeat. What follows is the story of a team that has navigated more name changes and political ruptures than almost any other in world football, all while producing players who could hold their own against the best on the planet. How did a squad born amid international isolation manage to reach a World Cup round of 16 and a European Championship quarter-final within a decade? And why, despite all that talent, has the team so often fallen short at the decisive moment?

• 2. The Yugoslav Roots

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  Jovan Ružić was the first Serb to pull on the shirt of the national team in its international debut, a 7-0 drubbing by Czechoslovakia at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp. Serbian footballers were central to what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, a country that would later become Yugoslavia. The Football Federation was founded in Zagreb in 1919 under the name Jugoslavenski nogometni savez.

  In 1921, a Belgrade XI representing what organisers called the "Serbian representatives" hosted France at SK Jugoslavija Stadium, with Prince Regent Aleksandar I and FIFA President Jules Rimet watching the visitors win 3-0. By 1930, a de facto Serbian team led by coach Bosko Simonovic, composed largely of players from BSK, SK Jugoslavija and BASK, reached the World Cup semi-finals before losing 6-1 to hosts Uruguay.

  Serbian footballers remained a fixture in the Yugoslav national side through the socialist era. The reconstituted Yugoslavia finished fourth at the 1962 World Cup and reached the UEFA European Championship finals in 1960 and 1968. Players such as Rajko Mitić, Dragan Džajić, and Velibor Vasović were among the names who gave Serbian football a strong identity within the broader Yugoslav project. The last game played by SFR Yugoslavia was on the 25th of March 1992, a 2-0 loss to the Netherlands, after which the federation fractured along with the country itself.

• 3. Sanctions and Silence

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  On the 27th of April 1992 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia came into existence, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro. Within weeks, the new state's teams were banned from all international sporting events as United Nations sanctions took hold. For the football team, this meant missing a European Championship they had already qualified for, then being barred from the 1994 World Cup and Euro 1996 qualifiers.

  Slobodan Santrač, a former Yugoslav national team player, was named the team's first manager. The squad that gathered in Porto Alegre in December 1994 was the first ever composed exclusively of Serbian and Montenegrin players. Three days after the Brazil loss, the team travelled to Buenos Aires and lost 1-0 to Argentina. Two defeats in three days, against two of the strongest teams in the world, was the unglamorous beginning of a new football nation.

  As FR Yugoslavia joined FIFA and UEFA in 1994, the path to competition opened gradually. When the 1998 World Cup qualifiers came around, the team was placed in a group with Euro 1996 runners-up Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia, the Faroe Islands and Malta. Yugoslavia finished second behind Spain, then won their playoff against Hungary 12-1 on aggregate. The generation that had sat idle during the sanctions years finally had a World Cup to play in.

• 4. 98 and 2000: Brief Glory

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  At the 1998 World Cup in France, Yugoslavia was drawn into Group F alongside Germany, the United States and Iran. Defender Siniša Mihajlović scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Iran. The game against Germany nearly ended in a famous victory; Yugoslavia led 2-0 before a Michael Tarnat free kick deflected off Mihajlović and into the goal, and Oliver Bierhoff equalised at 2-2 in the 80th minute. A Slobodan Komljenović goal in the fourth minute against the United States sealed a 1-0 win and second place in the group.

  In the round of 16 against the Netherlands, a missed penalty from Predrag Mijatović, after Vladimir Jugović had been fouled, proved decisive. With the scores level at 1-1, Edgar Davids scored from 20 metres in the final seconds to eliminate Yugoslavia. It was a painful exit, but a genuine tournament run after years of absence.

  Euro 2000 brought an even more dramatic campaign. The qualifier against Croatia, played for the first time since Yugoslavia's breakup, was interrupted by a power outage and ended 0-0. Yugoslavia eventually secured qualification through a 2-2 draw in Zagreb after the Republic of Ireland conceded a late equaliser in Skopje. At the tournament itself, Yugoslavia came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 with Slovenia in six second-half minutes. Savo Milošević's backheel strike beat Norway 1-0. In the quarter-finals, co-hosts the Netherlands won 6-1 in Rotterdam, Patrick Kluivert scoring a hat-trick. Despite the heavy defeat, Milošević finished as the joint top scorer of the tournament with five goals, level with Kluivert, having played one fewer game.

• 5. A Country Renamed, A Team Adrift

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  Between February 2003 and June 2006, the national team competed under the name Serbia and Montenegro following the countries' constitutional change. The transition brought immediate turbulence on the pitch. In the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, Dejan Savičević was appointed coach in July 2002, then resigned after a 2-1 loss to Azerbaijan in June 2003. Ilija Petković returned to replace him. Despite drawing both games with eventual group winners Italy and beating runners-up Wales home and away, Serbia and Montenegro failed to qualify, undone by a loss to Azerbaijan and a 3-0 defeat in Finland.

  The 2006 World Cup qualification was a different story. Serbia and Montenegro went unbeaten through their group, finishing first ahead of Spain, and conceded only one goal across all ten qualifying matches. It was the best defensive record among all 51 participating teams. Then, on the 3rd of June 2006, three days before the tournament began, Montenegro voted for independence.

  It was decided that the already-qualified Serbia and Montenegro side would compete in the tournament before the two countries separated their footballing structures. The team lost their opener to the Netherlands 1-0 through an Arjen Robben goal, then suffered a 6-0 defeat to Argentina, described as the worst result in the team's history. A 3-2 loss to Ivory Coast completed a winless campaign. The Montenegro-Serbia split became official once the team was eliminated, and the Serbia national football team formally came into existence.

• 6. Independent Serbia: World Cups and Near Misses

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  Javier Clemente became Serbia's first foreign coach, appointed for the Euro 2008 campaign after the split from Montenegro. The team's first match as a fully independent nation was a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic. Despite a strong start in qualifying, inconsistency in the final rounds left Serbia third in Group A, three points behind Portugal. Clemente was sacked.

  Radomir Antić's appointment transformed the team's fortunes. Serbia's 2010 World Cup qualifying group included 1998 winners France, and the team qualified automatically, sealing their place with a 5-0 home win over Romania. Captain Dejan Stanković became notable in South Africa as the only player to appear in a World Cup representing three different national team names, a consequence entirely of geopolitical change rather than any change in his own nationality.

  At the 2010 tournament, Serbia produced what FIFA's official YouTube channel described as "the most famous day in Serbia's footballing history" by defeating Germany 1-0 through a Milan Jovanović goal. They had also lost to Ghana 1-0 after a red card and a handball penalty converted by Asamoah Gyan in the final minutes. Needing only a draw against Australia to advance, they lost 2-1, with Tim Cahill and Brett Holman scoring in the second half. At the 2018 World Cup, Aleksandar Kolarov's free kick beat Costa Rica before losses to Switzerland and Brazil ended Serbia's campaign. Switzerland's winner arrived in the 90th minute via Xherdan Shaqiri, after a confrontation involving multiple Serbian players and Granit Xhaka.

• 7. Euro 2024: A Long Wait Ends

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  Serbia had not reached a major European Championship as an independent nation before the 2024 tournament. The qualification campaign began promisingly with 2-0 wins over Lithuania and Montenegro in March 2023. A notable moment came in October when Aleksandar Mitrović scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win over Lithuania in Kaunas.

  UEFA sanctioned the Serbian association for crowd behaviour, and for chants directed at Montenegrins, forcing Serbia to play a home match against Hungary behind closed doors. They lost that match 1-2. Two further losses to Hungary in Budapest and a final draw with Bulgaria in a 2-2 result still left Serbia second in Group G with 14 points, enough to qualify for their first European Championship as an independent nation and their first major European tournament in 24 years.

  At the tournament in Germany, Serbia were drawn into Group C with England, Slovenia and Denmark. A 1-0 defeat to England was followed by a 1-1 draw with Slovenia, Luka Jović scoring a last-minute equaliser. Against Denmark in the final group game, a 0-0 draw ended their campaign. Dragan Stojković, who had guided the team to that qualification landmark after taking charge in 2021, remained in post after the tournament with the stated aim of reaching the 2026 World Cup. His overall record of 55 matches in charge resulted in 26 wins, 14 draws and 15 losses.