The Serbia and Montenegro national football team () was a national football team that represented the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. It was controlled by the Football Association of Serbia and Montenegro. For 11 years, it was known as the FR Yugoslavia national football team () when the state was called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, until February 2003, when the name of the country was changed to Serbia and Montenegro. In 2006, Montenegro declared its separation from Serbia, with the result that the country's football team was renamed as the Serbia national football team on 28 June 2006 with the Montenegro national football team created to represent the renewed state of Montenegro.
Though politically it was not recognized as constituting a successor state to the former Yugoslavia, in regards to football, both FIFA and UEFA did consider Serbia and Montenegro to be the direct and sole successor to Yugoslavia and thus entitled to claim and use the history and records of the various Yugoslav national teams.
Although the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed on 28 April 1992, its teams were banned from all international sporting events, including association football, due to FIFA sanctions resulting from the Yugoslav Wars. Consequently, the national team did not play its first match as a new country until 23 December 1994, a 2âÂÂ0 friendly defeat to Brazil in Porto Alegre. This was the first ever team composed of Serbian and Montenegrin players exclusively, while Slobodan SantraÃÂ, a former Yugoslavia national team player, was named the team's first-ever manager. The next match was played only three days later, a 1âÂÂ0 loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires.
Due to the United Nations international sanctions, the team could not take part in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, nor the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying process.
On 31 March 1995, the team recorded its first official win in history, a 1âÂÂ0 friendly against Uruguay, simultaneously marking the team's first-ever home match, played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, and the first ever goal scored, courtesy of Savo Miloà ¡eviÃÂ. Slightly more than one year later, the team recorded its first-ever win in a FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament in its first match in such a tournament, a 3âÂÂ1 win over the Faroe Islands. Shortly after, the team also recorded its biggest win in history, once again against the Faroe Islands, 8âÂÂ1. FR Yugoslavia finished second in Group 6, just behind Spain, meaning it had to go through the play-off system in order to qualify. FR Yugoslavia was paired up with Hungary, and what was believed would be a tough matchup turned out to be an easy win for FR Yugoslavia, 7âÂÂ1 in Budapest and 5âÂÂ0 in Belgrade, for an aggregate score of 12âÂÂ1. This was enough to secure FR Yugoslavia's first-ever World Cup appearance as a new country.
The 1998 World Cup seeding had FR Yugoslavia ranked in the 21st position, but the Yugoslav national team went to France as one of the shadow favorites for the World Cup. The New York Times stated FR Yugoslavia could easily be a semi-finalist in that year's World Cup. The justification for such estimation was partially found in the names of the Yugoslav players, members of great European teams and proven footballers. Placed in Group F alongside Germany, the United States and Iran, Yugoslavia won their first match against Iran thanks to a free kick from Sinià ¡a MihajloviÃÂ, though in the next match against Germany, he scored an own goal amidst a 2âÂÂ0 lead; Oliver Bierhoff equalised with only about ten minutes to spare. Nonetheless, Yugoslavia won 1âÂÂ0 over the United States, placing themselves second in Group F behind Germany.
Finishing second, Yugoslavia was drawn with the Netherlands in the round of 16. Dennis Bergkamp put the Dutch in front in the 38th minute before conceding a header from Slobodan KomljenoviÃÂ. Predrag Mijatoviàcould have put Yugoslavia ahead after Vladimir Jugoviàwas fouled in the box, yet his shot hit the crossbar and the scoreline remained at 1âÂÂ1. Edgar Davids then beat Ivica Kralj from 20 yards out in the dying seconds, ending Yugoslavia's World Cup campaign.
The draw for the Euro 2000 qualifiers saw many eyebrows raised as first-seeded Yugoslavia was drawn in a group alongside Croatia, marking the first matches between the two teams after the breakup of Yugoslavia. The other teams in the group were the Republic of Ireland, Macedonia and Malta. When the qualifiers began, the coach was Milan à ½ivadinoviÃÂ, but in July 1999 he resigned and was replaced by Vujadin Boà ¡kov.
The team started with a 1âÂÂ0 win over Ireland in Belgrade, before beating Malta 3âÂÂ0 in Ta' Qali. The home fixture against the Maltese followed, but was moved to Thessaloniki, Greece, due to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The team nonetheless won 4âÂÂ1. The first, highly anticipated match against Croatia took place in Belgrade shortly after the bombing ended, and was interrupted due to a power outage at the beginning of the second half, resuming after 43 minutes and eventually finishing 0âÂÂ0. A 2âÂÂ1 defeat against Ireland in Dublin was followed by victories home and away against Macedonia (3âÂÂ1 and 4âÂÂ2 respectively), meaning Yugoslavia needed to win its final qualifier against Croatia in Zagreb, or to draw with Ireland failing to beat Macedonia in Skopje, in order to automatically qualify for Euro 2000. As it happened, Ireland conceded an injury-time equalizer, meaning Yugoslavia's 2âÂÂ2 draw with the Croatians was sufficient for automatic qualification.
The draw for the Euro 2000 final stages placed Yugoslavia in Group C alongside Spain, Norway and another former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia. The Slovenians took a surprise 3âÂÂ0 lead in the first match at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi, but three goals in six second-half minutes enabled Yugoslavia to secure a 3âÂÂ3 draw. The team then beat Norway 1âÂÂ0 in Liège thanks to an early Savo Miloà ¡eviàbackheel strike. The final group match, against Spain in Bruges, saw the Yugoslavs take the lead three times, before a Gaizka Mendieta penalty and an Alfonso strike in injury-time secured a dramatic 4âÂÂ3 win for the Spaniards and top spot in the group. Yugoslavia nonetheless finished second, level on points with Norway but ranked ahead due to their head-to-head victory in Liège. In each of the three matches, Yugoslavia had one player sent off: Sinià ¡a MihajloviÃÂ, Mateja Keà ¾man and Slavià ¡a Jokanoviàrespectively.
In the quarter-finals, Yugoslavia was once again paired with the Netherlands. However, unlike the last encounter, the co-hosts made easy work of Yugoslavia, winning 6âÂÂ1 in Rotterdam, with Patrick Kluivert scoring a hat-trick.
One of the few bright spots of Yugoslav team in the whole tournament was Savo Miloà ¡eviÃÂ, who finished as the joint top scorer of the tournament, alongside Patrick Kluivert. Both players scored five goals, although Miloà ¡eviàplayed one less match.
The 2002 World Cup qualifiers marked the first time Yugoslavia failed to qualify for a major tournament ever since its return to "big stage" football after the UN sanctions. The problems began with the major political turmoil in the country as well in the Yugoslav FA, which prompted new head coach Ilija Petkoviàto resign after only one match, a 2âÂÂ0 away victory against Luxembourg.
Milovan ÃÂoriàtook over the team, but under his leadership, the team managed only two draws, 1âÂÂ1 at home against Switzerland and 1âÂÂ1 away against Slovenia. In both matches, the opponents equalized in late stages of the match). Yugoslavia then lost 0âÂÂ1 at home to Russia, marking the nation's first home defeat in official matches. After ÃÂoriÃÂ's resignation, a three-man commission consisting of Dejan SaviÃÂeviÃÂ, Vujadin Boà ¡kov and Ivan ÃÂurkoviàtook over the coaching duties, until SaviÃÂeviàultimately took over on his own. The team managed to bounce back with a draw in Russia and a win in Switzerland, but failed to defeat Slovenia in the penultimate game, thus finishing their qualifying group in third position.
After SaviÃÂeviÃÂ's disastrous spell as head coach, the country went under a political transformation, and Ilija Petkoviàbecame Serbia and Montenegro's new coach. Initially, the team under his lead experienced dragging failure in the Euro 2004 qualifiers while competing for the first time as Serbia and Montenegro. Despite drawing both matches against group favourites and eventual group winners Italy, and winning both matches against group runners-up Wales, Serbia and Montenegro failed to qualify, mostly due to an embarrassing 2âÂÂ2 home draw and 2âÂÂ1 away loss to Azerbaijan.
However, Serbia and Montenegro qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Serbia and Montenegro began their 2006 World Cup campaign by finishing first with an undefeated record in their qualification group ahead of favourites Spain. The Serbia and Montenegro team also allowed only one goal in its ten matches, the best defensive record out all 51 teams participating in qualification. For the 2006 qualifiers, Serbia and Montenegro was drawn in a group with Spain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania and San Marino. Led once again by Ilija PetkoviÃÂ, Serbia and Montenegro played some impressive defensive football: the "Famous Four" defence consisting of Nemanja VidiÃÂ, Mladen KrstajiÃÂ, Goran GavranÃÂiàand Ivica DragutinoviÃÂ, with Dragoslav Jevriàas goalkeeper allowed only one goal in ten matches, finishing first in their group with a 6âÂÂ4âÂÂ0 record.
On 3 June 2006, following a referendum, Montenegro declared its independence from Serbia. As the World Cup was about to start, it was decided that the Serbia and Montenegro team that had qualified for the tournament would compete, with the split into separate teams representing the new countries of Montenegro and Serbia to take place once the team was eliminated from the tournament. Thus, the team played in the tournament representing a state that no longer existed. Only one Montenegrin-born player, goalkeeper Dragoslav JevriÃÂ, was in the squad.
In the group stage of the World Cup, Serbia and Montenegro lost their opening match to joint group favourites the Netherlands 1âÂÂ0, with Arjen Robben scoring the only goal of the match. They then lost their second match to Argentina 6âÂÂ0, the side's worst ever international result. With the team's two losses and with Netherlands and Argentina winning both their games, Serbia and Montenegro could no longer qualify for the knockout matches, and was playing for pride alone in their final group match against the Ivory Coast, who had also been mathematically eliminated. Despite having a 2âÂÂ0 lead for much of the first half, the Elephants managed to come back and win 3âÂÂ2, leaving Serbia and Montenegro with a disappointing 0âÂÂ0âÂÂ3 World Cup run to conclude its existence.
A week after Serbia and Montenegro's final match against the Ivory Coast, the Football Association of Montenegro applied for separate membership to UEFA. The Football Association of Serbia was granted Serbia and Montenegro's place in UEFA and FIFA, with the new Serbia national team playing its first match in August 2006 against the Czech Republic. The Montenegro national team played its first international following admittance to UEFA against Hungary in March 2007.
The following is a table of Yugoslavia's results in FIFA World Cups. Highest achievements, those in the inaugural 1930 and 1962 editions, are indicated in yellow highlight.
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place