Serbia national football team

he Serbia national football team (Serbian: Фудбалска репрезентација Србије / Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije) represents Serbia in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Serbia. Both FIFA and UEFA consider the Serbia national team the direct descendant of the Serbia and Montenegro national football team and the SFR Yugoslavia national football team.

History

Heritage from Yugoslavia

Serbian national team was previously known as the Yugoslavia national football team from 15 January 1992 until 4 February 2003, and then as the Serbia and Montenegro national football team until 3 June 2006 when Serbia declared independence as the successor state to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. It was officially renamed the Serbia national football team on 28 June 2006, while the Montenegro national football team was created to represent the new state of Montenegro.

Serbia vs. Belgium at Marakana, 7 October 2006

Between 1921 and 1992, the team did not exist as we know it today, since Serbia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1943) and later on, of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1991). The Serbia national team existed from 1919 to 1921, but ceased to exist following the creation of the first Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

However, the Football Association of Serbia is a FIFA member since 1921 and a UEFA member since its creation in 1954. The Serbia national team is recognized, thanks to a mutual consent between both FIFA and UEFA, as the direct descendant of the Yugoslavia national team. Hence, the new national team formed in 1992 inherited of the full status, results, and achievements from Yugoslavia, which was not the case for any other country resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia. Consequently, it did not have to apply to obtain a FIFA and UEFA status.

A similar situation happened following Montenegro's decision to secede following a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Once more, Serbia inherited of the Serbia and Montenegro full status, and did not have to apply for a FIFA and UEFA status, while Montenegro was obligated to do so.

The beginnings and the 1998 FIFA World Cup

Although the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed on 28 April 1992, its teams were banned from all international sporting events, including the national football team. Consequently, the national team did not play its first game as a new country before 23 December 1994, a friendly match played in Porto Alegre and in which Brazil won by the mark of 2 – 0. This was the first ever team composed of Serbian and Montenegrin players exclusively, while Slobodan Santrač, a former Yugoslavia national team player, was named the team's first ever manager. The next game was played only three days later, this time in Buenos Aires, resulting in 1 – 0 loss to Argentina. Despite two losses in two games, the team was honoured to play its first two games ever against such football powerhouses.

Also 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 1991, the team recorded its first official win in history, a 1 – 0 friendly against Uruguay, simultaneously marking the team's first ever home game, played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, and the first ever goal scored, courtesy of Savo Milošević. Slightly more than one year later, the team recorded its first ever win in a FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament in its first game in such a tournament, a 3 – 1 win over the Faroe Islands. Shortly after, the team also recorded its biggest win in history, once again against the Faroe Islands, 8 – 1. Yugoslavia finished second in Group 6, just behind Spain, meaning it had to go through the play-off system in order to qualify. Yugoslavia was paired up with Hungary, and what was believed would be a tough matchup turned out to be an easy win for Yugoslavia, 7 – 1 in Budapest and 5 – 0 in Belgrade, for an aggregate score of 12 – 1. This was enough to secure Yugoslavia its first ever FIFA World Cup appearance as a new country.

The 1998 FIFA World Cup seeding had Yugoslavia ranked in 21st position, but the Yugoslav national football team went to France as one of the shadow favorites for the World Cup. The justification for such an estimation was partially found in the names of the Yugoslav players, members of great European teams and proven footballers. The draw put the team in Group F alongside Germany, the United States, and Iran. Yugoslavia won its first game 1 – 0 against Iran thanks to a goal from defender Siniša Mihajlović. The next game was a heartbreaker for Yugoslavia. After leading Germany 2 – 0, last game's hero, Mihajlović, scored an unlucky own goal following a German freekick, and Oliver Bierhoff equalised at 2 – 2 with only about ten minutes to the match. Nonetheless, Yugoslavia responded in the next game against the United States and won 1 – 0 due to an early goal in Nantes. Yugoslavia made easy work of Group 6, but despite an excellent record, the game against Germany would prove costly as Germany won the group thanks to a better goal difference.

Due to their second position, Yugoslavia saw itself face the Netherlands in the Round of 16. Yugoslavia entered in the match with a sole attacker, but its defensive tactics proved unsuccessful as Dennis Bergkamp put the Netherlands in front in the 38th minute. Immediately following the start of the second half, Yugoslavia pressured the Dutch, who inevitably conceded a header from Slobodan Komljenović. However, the turning point of this match was be a penalty awarded to Yugoslavia after Vladimir Jugović was fouled in the penalty area. Predrag Mijatović's shot dazzled Edwin van der Sar, but not the crossbar, and the scoreline remained the same at 1 – 1. Such an event demoralized the Yugoslavs, as the Dutch took the initiative. In the late seconds of the game, as everybody was preparing for extra time, Edgar Davids shot towards the Yugoslav net from a distance of 20 meters and beat goalkeeper Ivica Kralj, to the pure disbelief of the Yugoslav players and fans. This marked the end of Yugoslavia's run in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, since there was not much time left to do anything.

Unlucky events forced Yugoslavia out of the tournament, but the team definitely demonstrated its great ability and proved it had a spot among the world's best teams. This was also reflected in the FIFA World Rankings following the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which Yugoslavia was constantly ranked in the Top 10 for a long period of time.

Euro 2000

The draw for Euro 2000 qualifiers saw many eyebrows raised as first-seeded Yugoslavia was drawn in a group with Croatia, thus marking the first games between the two teams after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Other teams in the group were Republic of Ireland, Macedonia, and Malta. The coach of the national team first was Milan Živadinović, while Vujadin Boskov took over after his resignation.

Due to the NATO bombing of the country that started on 24 March 1999, Yugoslavia played its home fixture against Malta in Thessaloniki, Greece, winning 4 – 1.

The two highly anticipated games versus Croatia both ended in draws. First game in Belgrade ended with a scoreline 0 – 0 (the game was interrupted due to power outage at the beginning of the second half and resumed after 43 minutes^[2]), while the other (which was the last fixture of the qualifying stage) ended 2 – 2 in Zagreb. The latter result however amounted to victory as was enough for Yugoslavia to secure a direct qualifying berth and knock Croatia out of European championship.

The draw for the Finals placed Yugoslavia in group C along with Spain, Norway, and Slovenia. The first game against Slovenia saw yet another former Yugoslav republic take a surprising 3 – 0 lead at Stade du Pays de Charleroi, but Yugoslavia managed to equalise by scoring three goals in only six minutes in mid-second half. The team's only victory in the tournament came in the second game versus Norway in Liège, thanks to an early Savo Milošević backheel strike. Final group game in Bruges was another high-scoring, but ultimately heartbreaking for Yugoslavia, as Spain won 4 – 3 with two late goals, despite the Yugoslavs taking the lead three times,the game has received 15min extension and immediately finished after spain get the 4th goal thus, received many plaudits and critics. Yugoslavia ended the group in second place, as Norway failed to defeat Slovenia in Arnhem. In each of the three games, Yugoslavia had one player sent off (Siniša Mihajlović, Mateja Kežman, and Slaviša Jokanović, respectively).

In the quarter-finals, Yugoslavia was once again paired with Netherlands. Unlike the last time, the co-hosts made easy work of Yugoslavia, winning 6 – 1 in Rotterdam with Patrick Kluivert scoring a hat trick.

One of the few bright spots of Yugoslav team in the whole tournament was Savo Milošević, who was crowned the joint top scorer of the tournament, alongside Patrick Kluivert. Both players scored five goals, although Milošević played one game fewer.

2002 FIFA World Cup

The 2002 qualifiers marked the first time that Yugoslavia failed to reach a major tournament ever since its return to the big stage after the UN sanctions. The problems started with the major political turmoil in the country as well in the Yugoslav FA, which prompted the new coach Ilija Petković to resign only after one game (2 – 0 away victory against Luxembourg).

Milovan Đorić took over the team, but under his leadership, the team managed only two draws (1 – 1 at home vs. Switzerland and also 1 – 1 away in Slovenia, in both games the opponents managed to equalise in late stages of the game) and a 0 – 1 home loss to Russia (which marked the team's first, and to this date only home defeat in official matches). After Đorić's resignation, a three-man commission, consisting of Dejan Savićević, Vujadin Boškov, and Ivan Ćurković, took over the coaching duties, until Savićević ultimately 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 ended the qualifiers in third position.

Euro 2004

Another failure came in the Euro 2004 qualifiers while competing for the first time as Serbia and Montenegro. Despite drawing both games against group favorites and eventual group winners Italy and winning both games against runner-ups Wales, Serbia and Montenegro failed to qualify, mostly due to embarrassing 2 – 2 home draw and 2 – 1 away loss to Azerbaijan.

2006 FIFA 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 the 10 matches, the best defensive record out all 51 teams participating in qualification.

In the group stage, Serbia and Montenegro lost their opening game to joint group favourite, the Netherlands. The final score was 1 – 0 after Arjen Robben scored the only goal of the game. They also lost their second game to Argentina 6 – 0, the country'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 game against Côte d'Ivoire. Despite having a 2 – 0 lead for much of the first half, the Elephants managed to come back and win 3 – 2, leaving Serbia and Montenegro with a disappointing 0 – 0 – 3 World Cup run.

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 Petković as coach, Serbia and Montenegro played some impressive defensive football — the "Famous Four" defense, consisting of Nemanja Vidić, Mladen Krstajić, Goran Gavrančić, and Ivica Dragutinović, with Dragoslav Jevrić as goalkeeper, allowed only one goal in ten games, finishing first with a 6 – 4 – 0 record, ahead of Spain.

Main article: 2006 World Cup squads (Serbia and Montenegro)

However, after the injury of Mirko Vučinić before the start of the tournament in Germany, coach Petković caused massive controversy when he picked his own son Dušan as replacement. Dušan eventually decided to withdraw himself from the World Cup squad due to immense media pressure. All this events have greatly deteriorated the atmosphere in the team. Drawn in the "group of death" with Argentina, Netherlands, and debutants Côte d'Ivoire, for the first time in its history, the Serbian and Montenegrin national team lost all three group stage games and finished in dead last — 32nd place.

After yet another defeat to Netherlands in the opening game (1–0), coach Petković fell victim of the media criticism of his too defensive-orientated play and used more offensive tactics in the second match against Argentina. This proved to be a huge mistake, as Serbia and Montenegro recorded its biggest ever defeat in the World cup history — 6–0. In a meaningless game for both teams, Cote d'Ivoire defeated Serbia and Montenegro 3–2, despite Serbia and Montenegro taking a two-goal lead.

2010 FIFA World Cup

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Serbia hosting France in Belgrade's Marakana, September 9, 2009

Team v • d • e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Serbia	10	7	1	2	22	8	+14	22
France	10	6	3	1	18	9	+9	21
Austria	10	4	2	4	14	15	−1	14
Lithuania	10	4	0	6	10	11	−1	12
Romania	10	3	3	4	12	18	−6	12
Faroe Islands	10	1	1	8	5	20	−15	4

Austria	–	3 – 1	3 – 1	2 – 1	2 – 1	1 – 3
Faroe Islands	1 – 1	–	0 – 1	2 – 1	0 – 1	0 – 2
France	3 – 1	5 – 0	–	1 – 0	1 – 1	2 – 1
Lithuania	2 – 0	1 – 0	0 – 1	–	0 – 1	2 – 1
Romania	1 – 1	3 – 1	2 – 2	0 – 3	–	2 – 3
Serbia	1 – 0	2 – 0	1 – 1	3 – 0	5 – 0	–

Serbia finished first in its first ever qualifying campaign as an independent nation, winning their group ahead of favorites France.^[3] They sealed their place in 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa with a 5 – 0 win against Romania on 11 October 2009.^[4]

Goalscorers during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Milan Jovanović – 5 goals
Nikola Žigić – 3 goals
Branislav Ivanović – 3 goals
Miloš Krasić – 2 goals
Nenad Milijaš – 2 goals
Marko Pantelić – 1 goal
Zdravko Kuzmanović – 1 goal
Zoran Tošić – 1 goal
Ivan Obradović – 1 goal
Neven Subotić – 1 goal

2010 FIFA World Cup

On 4 December, Serbia was drawn into group D. The Beli Orlovi will be playing their first match against Ghana on 13 June 2010, followed by Germany on 18 June 2010, and in the last group match will face Australia on 23 June 2010.

Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Germany 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Australia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Serbia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ghana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tournament records

World Cup record

• As Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1930–1938) and SFR Yugoslavia (1950–1990)

Year	Round	Position	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
1930	Fourth Place	4	3	2	0	1	7	7
1934	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Round 1	5	3	2	0	1	7	3
1954	Quarterfinals	7	3	1	1	1	2	3
1958	Quarterfinals	5	4	1	2	1	7	7
1962	Fourth Place	4	6	3	0	3	10	7
1966	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Round 2	7	6	1	2	3	10	6
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Group stage	16	3	1	1	1	2	2
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Quarter-finals	5	5	3	1	1	8	6
Total	8/14	-	33	14	7	12	53	41

• As FR Yugoslavia (1994–2002), Serbia and Montenegro (2006) and Serbia (2010-0)

Year	Round	Position	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
1994	Suspended*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Round of 16	9	4	2	1	1	5	4
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Group stage	32	3	0	0	3	2	10
2010	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	3/5	-	7	2	1	4	7	14

* In 1994, the team was banned because of international sanctions imposed due to Yugoslav wars.

European Championship record

• As SFR Yugoslavia (1960–1992)

Year	Round	Position	Matches	Wins	Drows	Losses	GF	GA
1960	Final	2	2	1	0	1	1	2
1964	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Final	2	3	1	1	1	2	3
1972	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Fourth place	4	2	0	0	2	4	7
1980	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Round 1	8	3	0	0	3	2	10
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Qualified*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	4/9	-	10	2	1	7	9	22

* Qualified, but not allowed to participate because of international sanctions during Yugoslav wars. Denmark, which finished second to Yugoslavia in the qualifying group, entered instead, and went on to win the tournament.

• As FR Yugoslavia (1996–2000), Serbia and Montenegro (2004) and Serbia (2008)

Year	Round	Position	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
1996	Suspended*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Quarter-finals	7	4	1	1	2	8	13
2004	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2012	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/3	-	4	1	1	2	8	13

* In 1996, the team was not allowed to compete because of international sanctions.

Recent results

Main article: Serbia national football team results

Date	City	Opponent	Results	Scorers	Type of game
March 28, 2009	Bucharest, Romania	Romania	3:2 (2:0)	Jovanović (18') Stoica (44') (o.g.) Marica (50') Ivanović (59') Stoica (74')	WC quali.
June 6, 2009	Belgrade, Serbia	Austria	1:0 (1:0)	Milijaš (7')	WC quali.
June 10, 2009	Tórshavn, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	2:0 (1:0)	Jovanović (44') Subotić (69')	WC quali.
August 12, 2009	Tshwane, South Africa	South Africa	3:1 (1:0)	Tošić (56') Lazović (69') Tošić (77') Mphela (77')	Friendly
September 9, 2009	Belgrade, Serbia	France	1:1 (1:1)	Milijaš (12') Henry (36')	WC quali.
October 10, 2009	Belgrade, Serbia	Romania	5:0 (1:0)	Žigić (37') Pantelić (50') Kuzmanović (78') Jovanović (87', 90+3')	WC quali.
October 14, 2009	Kaunas, Lithuania	Lithuania	1:2 (0:1)	Kalonas (20') Tošić (60') Stankevičius (68')	WC quali.
November 14, 2009	Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	1:0 (1:0)	Lazović	Friendly
November 18, 2009	London, England	South Korea	1:0 (1:0)	Žigić (7')	Friendly
March 6, 2010	Algiers, Algeria	Algeria	3:0 (1:0)	Pantelić (16') Kuzmanović (55') Tošić (65')	Friendly
April 7, 2010	Osaka, Japan	Japan	3:0 (2:0)	Mrđa (15', 23') Tomić (60')	Friendly
May 29, 2010	Klagenfurt, Austria	New Zealand	0:1 (0:1)	Smeltz (22')	Friendly

Head coaches

Last update 23 May 2010

Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost
Radomir Antić	2008 –	20	15	1	5
Miroslav Đukić	2007–2008	5	0	2	3
Javier Clemente	2006–2007	16	7	7	2
Ilija Petković	2003–2006	30	11	10	9
Dejan Savićević	2001–2003	17	4	3	10
Vujadin Boškov Ivan Ćurković Dejan Savićević	2001	8	4	2	2
Milovan Đorić	2001	3	0	2	1
Ilija Petković	2000–2001	4	2	1	1
Vujadin Boškov	1999–2000	15	6	5	4
Milan Živadinović	1998–1999	6	3	2	1
Slobodan Santrač	1994–1998	43	26	10	7

• For the period before 1992 see: Yugoslavia national football team#Head coaches

Squad

Current squad

The squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

#	Name	DOB	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	Vladimir Stojković	29 July 1983 (1983-07-29) (age 26)	Wigan Athletic	31	0	v Czech Republic, 16 August 2006
12	Bojan Isailović	25 March 1980 (1980-03-25) (age 30)	Zagłębie Lubin	3	0	v Poland, 14 December 2009
23	Anđelko Đuričić	21 November 1980 (1980-11-21) (age 29)	União Leiria	1	0	v New Zealand, 29 May 2010
Defenders
2	Antonio Rukavina	26 January 1984 (1984-01-26) (age 26)	TSV 1860 München	20	0	v Finland, 2 June 2007
3	Aleksandar Kolarov	10 November 1985 (1985-11-10) (age 24)	Lazio	11	0	v Russia, 28 May 2008
5	Nemanja Vidić	21 October 1981 (1981-10-21) (age 28)	Manchester United	45	2	v Italy, 12 October 2002
6	Branislav Ivanović	22 February 1984 (1984-02-22) (age 26)	Chelsea	29	4	v Italy, 8 June 2005
13	Aleksandar Luković	23 October 1982 (1982-10-23) (age 27)	Udinese	19	0	v Poland, 15 March 2005
16	Ivan Obradović	25 July 1988 (1988-07-25) (age 21)	Real Zaragoza	11	1	v Faroe Islands, 6 September 2008
20	Neven Subotić	10 December 1988 (1988-12-10) (age 21)	Borussia Dortmund	11	1	v Romania, 28 March 2009
Midfielders
4	Gojko Kačar	26 January 1987 (1987-01-26) (age 23)	Hertha BSC	16	0	v Kazakhstan, 24 November 2007
7	Zoran Tošić	28 April 1987 (1987-04-28) (age 23)	Manchester United	19	4	v Finland, 8 September 2007
10	Dejan Stanković	11 September 1978 (1978-09-11) (age 31)	Internazionale	86	13	v South Korea, 22 April 1998
11	Nenad Milijaš	30 April 1983 (1983-04-30) (age 27)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	16	3	v Faroe Islands, 6 September 2008
14	Milan Jovanović	18 April 1981 (1981-04-18) (age 29)	Liverpool	24	9	v Finland, 2 June 2007
17	Miloš Krasić	1 November 1984 (1984-11-01) (age 25)	CSKA Moscow	29	2	v Norway, 15 November 2006
18	Miloš Ninković	25 December 1984 (1984-12-25) (age 25)	Dynamo Kyiv	8	0	v Sweden, 1 April 2009
19	Radosav Petrović	8 March 1989 (1989-03-08) (age 21)	Partizan	7	0	v South Africa, 12 August 2009
22	Zdravko Kuzmanović	22 September 1987 (1987-09-22) (age 22)	Stuttgart	26	4	v Finland, 2 June 2007
Strikers
8	Danko Lazović	17 May 1983 (1983-05-17) (age 27)	Zenit St. Petersburg	35	10	v Brasil, 27 March 2002
9	Marko Pantelić	15 September 1978 (1978-09-15) (age 31)	Ajax	30	5	v Poland, 16 November 2003
15	Nikola Žigić	25 September 1980 (1980-09-25) (age 29)	Birmingham City	43	16	v Norway, 31 March 2004
21	Dragan Mrđa	23 January 1984 (1984-01-23) (age 26)	Vojvodina	4	2	v Bulgaria, 19 November 2008

Starting team

4–4–2 Formation

Stojković

Ivanović

Luković

Vidić

Obradovic

Krasić

Stanković (c)

Milijaš

Jovanović

Žigić

Pantelić

Recent call-ups

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut	Most recent call-up
Defenders
Ivica Dragutinović (injured)	13 November 1975 (1975-11-13) (age 34)	Sevilla	49 (0)	v Greece, 13 December 2000	v Algeria, 3 March 2010
Midfielders
Boško Janković (injured)	1 March 1984 (1984-03-01) (age 26)	Genoa	25 (5)	v Norway, 15 November 2006	v Algeria, 3 March 2010

Statistics (only since 1992)

Most appearances

#	Name	National team career	Caps	Goals
1	Savo Milošević	1994–2008	102	37
2	Dejan Stanković	1998 –	86	13
3	Dragan Stojković	1983–2001	84	15
4	Predrag Mijatović	1989–2003	73	28
5	Slaviša Jokanović	1991–2002	64	10
5	Siniša Mihajlović	1991–2003	63	9
7	Mladen Krstajić	1999–2008	59	2
7	Zoran Mirković	1995–2003	59	0
9	Darko Kovačević	1994–2004	58	10
10	Dejan Savićević	1986–1999	56	19

Statistics do not include Serbian players who have played for the SFR Yugoslavia national team exclusively.

As of 10 October 2009.^[5]

• Players in bold are still active/available for selection.

Leading goalscorers

#	Name	National team career	Goals	Caps	Average
1	Savo Milošević	1994–2008	37	102	0.36
2	Predrag Mijatović	1989–2003	28	73	0.38
3	Dejan Savićević	1986–2003	19	56	0.34
4	Mateja Kežman	2000–2006	17	49	0.35
5	Nikola Žigić	2004 –	16	42	0.38
6	Dragan Stojković	1983–2001	15	84	0.18
7	Dejan Stanković	1998 –	13	86	0.15
8	Danko Lazović	2002 –	10	34	0.29
9	Slaviša Jokanović	1991–2002	10	64	0.16
10	Darko Kovačević	1994–2004	10	59	0.17

Statistics do not include Serbian players who have played for the SFR Yugoslavia national team exclusively. Last updated: Serbia-Romania 5-0, October 10, 2009.

Team image

Nickname

Serbian team

Ever since the first game ever played by Yugoslavia's new team, on 23 December 1994, a 2 – 0 loss to Brazil, the team wore the name of Plavi (cir. Плави), literally translating to the Blues, much like France's famous nickname of Les Bleus. This was notably due to the fact the team wore blue jerseys, which they inherited from the former Yugoslavia national football team.

The trend continued even when the team switched names to Serbia and Montenegro, as flags, anthem, and kits remained virtually the same. However, as Montenegro declared independence from State Union on 3 June 2006, on the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006, the newly formed Serbia national team needed a new nickname, as red replaced blue as the team's primary colour.

Hence, on 16 August 2006, as Serbia played its first international match in history (vs the Czech Republic), B92, a broadcaster with national coverage throughout Serbia, proposed the name of Бели Орлови (White Eagles).^{[citation needed]} The name referred to the white double-headed eagle found on the coat of arms of Serbia.

Jerseys and Colour

Home gear in Red-Blue-White tricolour (Serbian tricolour).

• 2008–present
  • 2010 FIFA World Cup: Nike
  • UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying: Nike

• 2006
  • 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification: Lotto

Recognized players

International recognized players.

• Nemanja Vidić (Premier League 2006-) Centre Back
  • Barclays Player of the Season (08-09)
  • Part of PFA Team of the Year (2007, 2008 and 2009)
  • Manchester United Fans & Players "Player of the Year" 2008-2009
  • FIFPro World XI Award 2009
  • Premier League Player of the Month - January 2009

• Siniša Mihajlović (Serie A 1992-2006) Left Back / Left Midfielder
  • ranked #2^[6] #8^[7], #10^[8] of Best free-kickers in history.
  • ranked #30^[9] of Best scorers in defense

• Savo Milošević (La Liga)
  • UEFA Euro 2000 Golden Boot

• Predrag Mijatović
  • Ballon d'Or 1997 - 2nd place

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=srb/index.html
2. ^ http://www.arhiva.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/1999-08/19/13984.html
3. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/10/sports/sports-soccer-world-serbia.html
4. ^ "Jovanovic brace seals rout". ESPN. 2009-10-11. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=236551&cc=5739. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
5. ^ Alpuin, Luis Fernando Passo; Mamrud, Roberto; Miladinovic, Misha (20 February 2009). "Yugoslavia (Serbia (and Montenegro)) - Record International Players". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/joeg-recintlp.html. Retrieved 06 June 2009.
6. ^ [http://soccerlens.com/top-ten-free-kick-specialists-of-all-time/20493 Soccerlens: Top Ten Free Kick Specialists Of All Time]
7. ^ Independendent: The Ten Best Free-Kick Specialists, Number 8
8. ^ THE LIST: The top 10 free-kick kings in history
9. ^ http://www.svenskafans.com/europa/artikel.asp?id=338227

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