. The first national team was in the kingdom that existed between the two world wars. The Football Federation of what was then the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded in
Zagreb in 1919 under the name
Jugoslavenski nogometni savez (and admitted into
FIFA), and the national team played its first international game at the Summer Olympics in
Antwerp in 1920. The opponent was Czechoslovakia, and the historic starting eleven that represented Kingdom of SCS on its debut were:
Dragutin Vrđuka,
Vjekoslav Župančić,
Jaroslav Šifer,
Stanko Tavčar,
Slavin Cindrić,
Rudolf Rupec,
Dragutin Vragović,
Artur Dubravčić,
Emil Perška,
Ivan Granec, and
Jovan Ružić. They lost by a huge margin 0–7, but nonetheless got their names in the history books.
1930 World Cup In 1929, the country was renamed to Yugoslavia and the football association became
Fudbalski savez Jugoslavije and ordered to move its headquarters from Zagreb to
Belgrade. The national team participated at the
1930 FIFA World Cup, finishing in fourth place. In its first ever World Cup match in
Montevideo's
Parque Central, Yugoslavia managed a famous 2–1 win versus mighty Brazil, with the following starting eleven representing the country:
Milovan Jakšić,
Branislav Sekulić,
Aleksandar Tirnanić,
Milutin Ivković,
Ivica Bek,
Momčilo Đokić,
Blagoje Marjanović,
Milorad Arsenijević,
Đorđe Vujadinović,
Dragoslav Mihajlović, and
Ljubiša Stefanović. The team was the youngest squad at the inaugural World Cup at an average age of just under 22 years old, and became quite popular among the Uruguayan public, who dubbed them "Los Ichachos". The national team consisted of players based in Serbian football clubs, while the Zagreb Subassociation forbid players from Croatian clubs, some of whom were regulars in the national team until then, to play in the World Cup due to the relocation of football association's headquarters from Zagreb to Belgrade.
Post-World War II period The federation and football overall was disrupted by
World War II. After the war, a socialist federation was formed and the football federation reconstituted. It was one of the founding members of the
UEFA in 1954.
Silver Medal at 1948 Summer Olympics Yugoslavia began their
football campaign by defeating
Luxembourg 6–1, with five different players scoring the goals. In the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, they would take out
Turkey and Great Britain by the same score of 3–1. In the final though, they would lose to
Sweden.
Silver Medal at 1952 Summer Olympics Having a team with many players from the 1948 generation, Yugoslavia was a formidable side at the
1952 Summer Olympics and finished as runners-up behind the famous "
Golden Team" representing
Hungary. Against the USSR, Yugoslavia was 5–1 up with 15 minutes of their first round match to go. The Yugoslavs, understandably, put their feet up.
Arthur Ellis, the match referee, recorded what happened next in his book,
The Final Whistle (London, 1963): "The USSR forced the most honourable draw ever recorded! [Vsevolod]
Bobrov, their captain, scored a magnificent hat-trick. After the USSR had reduced the lead to 5–2, he, almost single-handed, took the score to 5–5, scoring his third in the last minute. For once, use of the word sensational was justified." Although Bobrov's early goal in their replay presaged a miraculous recovery, Yugoslavia recovered sufficiently to put out their opponents easily in the second half.
Later decades In 1976, Yugoslavia organized the
European Championship played in Belgrade and Zagreb. The national team participated in eight
World Cups and four
Euros, won the Olympic football tournament in 1960 at the
Summer Games (they also finished second three times and third once), and developed a reputation for skillful and attacking football, leading them to be dubbed "the Brazilians of Europe".
Dragan Džajić holds the record for the most national team caps at 85, between 1964 and 1979. The best scorer is
Stjepan Bobek with 38 goals, between 1946 and 1956.
Dissolution and UN embargo With the end of the Cold War, democratic principles were introduced to the country which brought about the end of Titoist rule. In the subsequent atmosphere, national tensions were heightened. At the
Yugoslavia-Netherlands friendly in preparation for the 1990 World Cup, the Croatian crowd in Zagreb jeered the Yugoslav team and anthem and waved Dutch flags (owing to its resemblance to the Croatian tricolour). With the
dissolution of Yugoslavia, the team split up and the remaining team of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was banned from competing at
Euro 92. The decision was made on 31 May 1992, just 10 days before the competition commenced. They had finished top of their qualifying group, but were unable to play in the competition due to
United Nations Security Council Resolution 757. Their place was taken by
Denmark, who went on to win the competition. After the
breakup of Yugoslavia, the FRY consisted of Montenegro and Serbia. In 1992, Yugoslavia had also been drawn as the second seed in
Group 5 of the European Zone in the qualifying tournament for the
1994 World Cup. FRY was barred from competing, rendering the group unusually weak. In 1994, when the boycott was lifted, the union of Serbia and Montenegro competed under the name "Yugoslavia", as the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia national football team. The Serbia and Montenegro national team continued under Yugoslavia's naming until 2003 when the country and team were renamed
Serbia and Montenegro. The
Serbia national football team inherited Yugoslavia's spot within FIFA and UEFA and is considered by both organizations as the only successor of Yugoslavia (and of Serbia and Montenegro). ==Youth teams==