Yugoslav national soccer team / world championships

Yugoslavia
Краљевина Југославија / Социјалистичка федеративна република Југославија

World Cup record goalscorer:	Dražan Jerković (4)
World Cup record players:	Dragoslav Šekularac and Ivica Šurjak (9)
Rank :	no longer placed
Balance sheet
33 World Cup games 14 wins 7 draws 12 defeats 55:42 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Kingdom of Yugoslavia 2-1 Brazil Montevideo ( URU ); June 14, 1930
Last World Cup game SFR Yugoslavia 0-0 aet; 2: 3 i. E. Argentina Florence ( ITA ); June 30, 1990
Highest World Cup victory SFR Yugoslavia 9: 0 Zaire Gelsenkirchen ( FRG ); June 18, 1974
Biggest World Cup defeat Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1: 6 Uruguay Montevideo ( URU ); July 27, 1930
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	8 ( first : 1930 )
Best results	Semi-finals 1930 , fourth place 1962
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 2018 )

The article contains a detailed account of the Yugoslav national soccer team , which competed in soccer world championships from 1930 to 1990 for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . She took part in world championships eight times. The best placement is fourth place in the first participation in 1930 and 1962. In 1990 Yugoslavia took part for the last time with players from all the republics. After the Yugoslav wars and the independence of most of the republics, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting only of Serbia and Montenegro, participated again in 1998 and then in 2006 as Serbia and Montenegro . FIFA attributed the successes of the Yugoslav team to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, then to Serbia and Montenegro and now to Serbia , which participated for the first time in 2010.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	Semifinals	Uruguay	Fourth	Boško Simonović	no game for 3rd place
1934	Italy	not qualified				In qualifying at the Switzerland and Romania failed
1938	France	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Poland
1950	Brazil	Preliminary round	Switzerland , Mexico , Brazil	5.	Milorad Arsenijevic
1954	Switzerland	Quarter finals	Germany	7th	Aleksandar Tirnanić
1958	Sweden	Quarter finals	Germany	5.	Aleksandar Tirnanić
1962	Chile	3rd place match	Chile	Fourth	Ljubomir Lovrić	Failed in the semi-finals against Czechoslovakia . Dražan Jerković scores as many goals as Garrincha, who was drawn as top scorer
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualification of France failed
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Belgium failed
1974	Germany	Intermediate round	Germany , Poland , Sweden	7th	Miljan Miljanić	The 9: 0 in the preliminary round against Zaire was the highest World Cup victory until June 15, 1982
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain failed
1982	Spain	Preliminary round	Northern Ireland , Spain , Honduras	16.	Miljan Miljanić
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of France and Bulgaria failed
1990	Italy	Quarter finals	Argentina	5.	Ivica Osim	Out on penalties

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not participated because not admitted or no longer existed: 7 × (33%; 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
• Unqualified: 6 × (29%; 1934, 1938, 1966, 1970, 1978 and 1986)
• Sports qualification: 7 times (33% or 54% of the attempts)
• Participated without qualification: 1 × (5%; 1930)
  • Preliminary round: 2 × (10%; 1950, 1982)
  • 2nd final round of the best 8 teams (only 1974 and 1978): 1 × (5%; 1974)
  • Quarter-finals: 3 times (14%; 1954, 1958, 1990)
  • Semi-finals: 2 × (10%; 1930 and 1962)
    • Match for 3rd place: 1 × (5%, 1962)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

The Yugoslav team at the 1930 World Cup

Scene from the first World Cup game against Brazil with goalkeepers Milovan Jakšić , Dragoslav Mihajlović and Theóphilo

.

Yugoslavia was one of only four European teams to take part in the first World Cup. While Belgium, France and Romania undertook the three-week cruise from Europe to Uruguay on the Conte Verde , the Yugoslavs traveled to South America on the MS Florida . Since there were disputes between Serbian and Croatian officials in the Yugoslav association some time before the tournament because the headquarters of the association had been relocated from Zagreb to Belgrade , the regional association of Zagreb, which was against participating in the World Cup, refused the championship to interrupt or postpone the World Cup. The associations of Split, Sarajevo and Subotica joined this refusal shortly afterwards. Therefore, only Serbian players and three players who played in France were nominated for the first World Cup tournament.

On July 14, 1930, they met Brazil for the first time in their first World Cup game and won 2-1. The game against the other group opponents Bolivia was also won, this time 4-0, making the Yugoslavs the only European team to have reached the semi-finals. In this, however, they lost after a 1-0 lead against the hosts Uruguay with 1: 6. The game for third place against the USA did not take place; Yugoslavia is ranked fourth in the FIFA rankings. On the way back, the Yugoslavs stopped in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro and played friendly games against vice-world champions Argentina (1: 3) and Brazil (1: 4).

1934 in Italy

The Yugoslavs also wanted to take part in the first World Cup in Europe. In the qualification they had to play against Switzerland and Romania , each team having to play once at home and once away. In the first World Cup qualifier on September 24, 1933 in Belgrade they only managed a 2-2 win against Switzerland and after a 1-2 draw in Romania, the Yugoslavs were eliminated, while the Swiss and Romanians went to the World Cup.

1938 in France

Even four years later, the Yugoslavs could not qualify. In the qualification they failed to Poland . After a 4-0 defeat in the first leg in Warsaw , the first win in a World Cup qualifier was achieved in the second leg with a 1-0 win, but this was not enough.

1950 in Brazil

For the first World Cup after the Second World War , the Yugoslavs could then first athletic qualify . In the first round, Israel was eliminated with two wins. In the second round, a playoff against France was needed, as the first two games each ended 1: 1. With 3: 2 after extra time, the Yugoslavs prevailed in Florence . There were still nine players in the World Cup who had won the Olympic silver medal in London two years earlier . In Brazil, they met Switzerland, Mexico and hosts Brazil in one of the two groups of four . While they won against Switzerland 3-0 and Mexico 4-1, they lost to Brazil 0-2. Since only the group winners reached the final round of the best four teams, the Yugoslavs were eliminated as second in the group.

1954 in Switzerland

In qualifying for the World Cup in Switzerland, the Yugoslavs prevailed with four 1-0 victories against Greece and again Israel. In Switzerland, however, they were not one of the seeded teams and therefore had to compete in their group against the two seeded teams France and Brazil. A 1-0 victory was achieved against France. Against Brazil it was 1: 1 after 90 minutes and the mode demanded an extra time in the group stage if there was a draw. In this no goals were scored and since the goals scored were irrelevant, the lot had to decide who would win the group and Yugoslavia was group winners. As this they met in the quarter-finals on the German team , which had only reached the quarter-finals as second in the group against the Turks . The Yugoslavs were considered favorites, but fell behind after nine minutes with an own goal by Ivica Horvat and were unable to complete their attacking efforts successfully. In the 85th minute, Helmut Rahn was able to use a counterattack and make it 2-0 for the German team, which meant that Yugoslavia was eliminated.

1958 in Sweden

In qualifying for the World Cup in Sweden, the Yugoslavs prevailed with two home wins and two draws in the away games against Romania and again Greece. In Sweden they met the Scots in the first group game and achieved a 1-1 draw. A 3-2 win against France was then achieved, which Todor Veselinović secured in the 88th minute. In the last group game, a 3: 3 against Paraguay was enough to reach the quarter-finals as second in the group. Like four years before, they met the German team that had won their group as defending champions, and again it was Helmut Rahn who sealed the Yugoslavs' elimination with the 1-0 winner.

1962 in Chile

In qualifying for the World Cup in Chile, the Yugoslavs initially prevailed 2: 1 and 1: 1 against Poland and then had to play against the winners of the Asian group. With 5: 1 and 3: 1 South Korea was defeated and reached the third World Cup in South America. There were five players in the World Cup squad who had won the gold medal at the Olympic Games two years earlier and who, along with two other players, were also part of the squad of the 1960s Vice European Champion. In Chile, the Yugoslavs met European champions Soviet Union , against whom they had lost in the European Championship final two years earlier, in their first game , and have now also lost the World Cup game (0-2). In the second group game against former world champions Uruguay , however, a 3-1 win was achieved and they also won against World Cup newcomer Colombia , this time 5-0. The Yugoslavs were runners-up in the quarter-finals and met Germany again. This time, however, the victory succeeded and with the 1-0 the semi-finals were reached. Here the Yugoslavs met Czechoslovakia and largely dominated the game, but repeatedly failed to Viliam Schrojf , the best goalkeeper of the World Cup, and lost 3-1. In the small final for third place they met host Chile and lost 1-0. The Yugoslavs said goodbye to the World Cup for 12 years.

1966 in England

In qualifying for the World Cup in England, the Yugoslavs had to play against France, Norway and Luxembourg . After opening wins against Luxembourg and France, they lost 3-0 in Norway and the second leg in France. Since there was only one draw in the home game against Norway, they were only third in the group behind France, which qualified for the World Cup, and the Norwegians due to the worse goal difference.

1970 in Mexico

In the qualification for the first World Cup in Mexico were Belgium , Spain and Finland the opponents. The Yugoslavs, who had reached the European Championship final in 1968 , could only win the away game in Finland as well as the home games against Belgium and Finland, but lost in Belgium and Spain, so that in the end only second place behind Belgium jumped out, which is the first time qualified again since 1954.

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

Dražen Mužinić in the 1974 opening game against Brazil

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Germany, the opponents were again the Spaniards and Greece, against which both won their games while they played against each other. Since the goal difference was the same, there was a playoff in Frankfurt am Main . In front of over 60,000 spectators, mostly Yugoslav and Spanish guest workers , the Yugoslavs won 1-0 and qualified for the World Cup. Here they met Brazil in the opening game, which the defending champions played for the first time, and continued the series of goalless opening games. In the second game against World Cup newcomer Zaire , they achieved their highest World Cup victory until 1982 with a 9-0 win. Since the final group game against Scotland ended 1-1 and the Scots had also drawn against Brazil, the goals scored against Zaire were decisive for the group victory. With 9 goals, the Yugoslavs were group winners, while Brazil, who scored three goals against Zaire, finished second. The Scots were left behind with only two goals against Zaire and were eliminated without defeat.

In the second final round, which was held for the first time, the Yugoslavs met Germany again , which after a defeat against the GDR had only reached this round as second in the group and had not been able to live up to its role as favorites until then. Against the Yugoslavs, however, the German team improved and won 2-0. The Yugoslavs also lost the second game of this round against Poland , which had prevailed against Italy and Argentina in the first round . With the 1: 2 they were eliminated before the last group game against Sweden and also lost this 1: 2. So they said goodbye to the World Cup for eight years.

1978 in Argentina

In qualifying for the World Cup in Argentina, the Yugoslavs had to play against Spain and Romania and this time the Spaniards prevailed. Yugoslavia only finished third with just one win (6-4 in Romania).

1982 in Spain

In qualifying for the World Cup in Spain, the Yugoslavs had to compete for the first time in a group of five against Italy, Denmark , Greece and Luxembourg. With only one defeat and one draw, but six wins, the Yugoslavs took first place ahead of Italy and qualified with this for the World Cup.

In Spain they drew only one goalless draw in their first game against Northern Ireland and then lost 2-1 to hosts Spain. The final 1-0 win against World Cup newcomers Honduras was not enough to reach the second final round, as Spain surprisingly lost to Northern Ireland, making the Northern Irish group winners. Since Spain and Yugoslavia were equal on points and goal differences, but the Spaniards had scored one more goal, the Yugoslavs were eliminated as third in the group and had to wait another 8 years until the next World Cup participation.

1986 in Mexico

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico, France, Bulgaria , the GDR and Luxembourg were the opponents. With only three wins, two draws and three defeats, only fourth place in the group was taken and only Luxembourg, which lost all games, was left behind.

1990 in Italy

The qualification for the second World Cup in Italy went better . The Yugoslavs were group winners by four points ahead of Scotland, which also qualified, France, Norway and Cyprus . Even before the World Cup, there were problems between the various federal republics in Yugoslavia, which also appeared in league games between Serbian and Croatian clubs, and also had an impact on the national team. For example, the Zagreb captain Zvonimir Boban was excluded from the team after a kung fu kick against a police officer.

In Italy, the Yugoslavs met Germany in the opening game and lost 4-1. But since the two following games against Colombia (1-0) and the newcomer to the World Cup United Arab Emirates (4-1) were won, they made it into the second round as second in the group. Here they met Spain and prevailed 2-1 after extra time. Both goals scored Dragan Stojković , who was the last World Cup goalscorer for Yugoslavia. In the quarter-finals against defending champions Argentina , after 90 minutes without a goal, an extra time was necessary. Since neither team succeeded in this one, the penalty shoot-out had to decide. Because Dragan Stojković only hit the crossbar and Dragoljub Brnović and Faruk Hadžibegić failed to Sergio Goycochea , Argentina - in which only two shooters failed - won the penalty shoot-out 3-2. In the semifinals, Argentina also beat hosts Italy on penalties, but then failed to reach the penalty shoot-out again in the final against Germany and lost with a penalty in regular time. Yugoslavia said goodbye to the World Cup.

1994 in the United States

Yugoslavia had also registered for qualifying for the World Cup in the USA and was drawn into a group with Greece, Russia, Iceland, Hungary and Luxembourg. Due to the Yugoslav wars , however, UN sanctions were imposed on Yugoslavia and the team was suspended. Only to qualify for the World Cup in France was the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which now only consists of Serbia and Montenegro, admitted again and was able to qualify.

player

Ranking of the Yugoslav World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Dragoslav Šekularac and Ivica Šurjak - 9 appearances in 2 tournaments

03. Safet Sušić and Zlatko Vujović - 8 appearances in 2 tournaments

05. Vujadin Boškov , Tomislav Crnković and Branko Zebec - 7 appearances in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Yugoslav World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

01. Dražan Jerković - 4 goals

02. Dušan Bajević , Ivan Bek , Milan Galić , Dragan Stojković (including 1 goal for FR Yugoslavia) and Todor Veselinović - each with 3 goals

World Cup captains

• 1930: Milutin Ivković
• 1950: Rajko Mitić
• 1954: Rajko Mitić, Stjepan Bobek (against France)
• 1958: Branko Zebec
• 1962: Milan Galić , Muhamed Mujić (1st game)
• 1974: Dragan Džajić , Jovan Aćimović (game against Poland)
• 1982: Ivica Šurjak
• 1990: Zlatko Vujović

Players banned from World Championships

• 1962: Vladimir Popović was sent off in the group game against Uruguay. But he could be used in the other games.
• 1990: Refik Šabanadžović received the second yellow card and then the red card in the quarter-final match against Argentina . Srečko Katanec, who was sitting on the bench, was also given the red card for complaining . Since the Yugoslavs were eliminated, they had no further effect.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

There were three legionnaires in the squad as early as 1930, but one again only in 1974. In the last two participations, they were the core of the team.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1930 (3)	3 (in France)	Ivan Bek (3), Branislav Sekulić (2), Ljubiša Stefanović (3)
1950 (3)	0
1954 (3)	0
1958 (4)	0
1962 (6)	0
1974 (6)	1 (1 in France)	Ilija Petković (5)
1982 (3)	6 (1 in Belgium, 4 in France, 1 in Switzerland)	Ratko Svilar (0); Vahid Halilhodžić (2), Dragan Pantelić (3), Edhem Šljivo (3), Ivica Šurjak (3); Jurica Jerković (0)
1990 (5)	9 (4 in France, 2 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in Spain)	Dragoljub Brnović (5), Faruk Hadžibegić (5), Safet Sušić (5), Zlatko Vujović (5); Before that Jozić (5), Srečko Katanec (3); Tomislav Ivković (5); Mirsad Baljić (1); Zoran Vulić (4)

Games

The Yugoslavs have played 33 World Cup games so far. Of these, 14 won, 12 lost and 7 ended in a draw. Draw games had to be extended three times because a winner had to be determined, one was won by goals in extra time and one was lost on penalties. Once there was no decision, the draw was accepted and the decision about placement in the group fell by lot.

The Yugoslavs took part in the first game or the opening game twice: 1954 and 1974. The Yugoslavs had to play five times against the hosts: 1930 in the semi-finals, 1950 in the preliminary round, 1962 in the third place match, 1974 in the 2nd and 1982 in the 1. Final round. All games against the hosts were lost.

The Yugoslavs lost four times (1930, 1954, 1974 and 1990) to the eventual world champions and played three times (1958, 1974 and 1990) against the defending champions.

The Yugoslavs met newcomers to the World Cup five times: 1954 / Federal Republic of Germany (but successor to the German Empire), 1962 / Colombia , 1974 / Zaire, 1982 / Honduras and 1990 / United Arab Emirates .

Most frequent opponents: BR Germany - five times (the successors BR Yugoslavia and Serbia also met Germany once again) and Brazil - four times.

Most frequent last opponent: Germany - twice

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1	07/14/1930	2: 1	Brazil	*	Montevideo ( URU ), Estadio Gran Parque Central	World Championship 1930 - preliminary round	First international match against Brazil
2	07/17/1930	4-0	Bolivia	*	Montevideo ( URU ), Estadio Gran Parque Central	Preliminary round	First international match against Bolivia
3	07/27/1930	1: 6	Uruguay	A.	Montevideo ( URU ), Estadio Centenario	Semifinals
4th	06/25/1950	3-0	Switzerland	*	Belo Horizonte ( BRA ), Estádio Independência	World Championship 1950 - preliminary round
5	06/29/1950	4: 1	Mexico	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA ), Estádio dos Eucaliptos	Preliminary round	First international match against Mexico
6th	07/01/1950	0: 2	Brazil	A.	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA ), Estádio Municipal do Maracanã	Preliminary round
7th	06/16/1954	1-0	France	*	Lausanne ( SUI ), Stade Olympique de la Pontaise	Preliminary round
8th	06/19/1954	1: 1 a.d.	Brazil	*	Lausanne ( SUI ), Stade Olympique de la Pontaise	Preliminary round	Yugoslavia was determined as the winner by drawing lots.
9	06/27/1954	0: 2	FRG	*	Geneva ( SUI ), Stade des Charmilles	Quarter finals
10	06/08/1958	1: 1	Scotland	*	Västerås ( SWE ), Arosvallen	Preliminary round
11	06/11/1958	3: 2	France	*	Västerås ( SWE ), Arosvallen	Preliminary round	100th victory
12	06/15/1958	3: 3	Paraguay	*	Eskilstuna ( SWE ), Tunavallen	Preliminary round	First international match against Paraguay
13	06/19/1958	0: 1	FRG	*	Malmö ( SWE ), Malmö Stadium	Quarter finals
14th	05/31/1962	0: 2	USSR	*	Arica ( CHL ), Estadio Carlos Dittborn	Preliminary round	250th game of the Yugoslav team
15th	06/02/1962	3: 1	Uruguay	*	Arica ( CHL ), Estadio Carlos Dittborn	Preliminary round
16	06/07/1962	5-0	Colombia	*	Arica ( CHL ), Estadio Carlos Dittborn	Preliminary round	First international match against Colombia
17th	06/10/1962	1-0	FRG	*	Santiago de Chile ( CHL ), Estadio Nacional de Chile	Quarter finals
18th	06/13/1962	1: 3	Czechoslovakia	*	Viña del Mar ( CHL ), Estadio Sausalito	Semifinals
19th	06/16/1962	0: 1	Chile	A.	Santiago de Chile ( CHI ), Estadio Nacional de Chile	3rd place match	First international match against Chile
20th	06/13/1974	0-0	Brazil	*	Frankfurt am Main ( FRG ), Waldstadion	Opening game / 1. Final round
21st	06/18/1974	9-0	Zaire	*	Gelsenkirchen ( FRG ), Park Stadium	1. Final round	First international match against Zaire
22nd	06/22/1974	1: 1	Scotland	*	Frankfurt am Main ( FRG ), Waldstadion	1. Final round
23	06/26/1974	0: 2	FRG	A.	Düsseldorf ( FRG ), Rheinstadion	2nd final round
24	06/30/1974	1: 2	Poland	*	Frankfurt am Main ( FRG ), Waldstadion	2nd final round
25th	07/03/1974	1: 2	Sweden	*	Düsseldorf ( FRG ), Rheinstadion	2nd final round
26th	06/17/1982	0-0	Northern Ireland	*	Saragossa ( ESP ), Estadio de La Romareda	1. Final round
27	06/20/1982	1: 2	Spain	A.	Valencia ( ESP ), Estadio Luís Casanova	1. Final round
28	06/24/1982	1-0	Honduras	*	Saragossa ( ESP ), Estadio de La Romareda	1. Final round	First international match against Honduras
29	06/10/1990	1: 4	FRG	*	Milan ( ITA ), Stadio Giuseppe Meazza	Preliminary round
30th	06/14/1990	1-0	Colombia	*	Bologna ( ITA ), Stadio Renato Dall'Ara	Preliminary round
31	06/19/1990	4: 1	United Arab Emirates	*	Bologna ( ITA ), Stadio Renato Dall'Ara	Preliminary round	First international match against UAE
32	06/26/1990	2: 1 a.d.	Spain	*	Verona ( ITA ), Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi	Round of 16
33	06/30/1990	0: 0 n.v. 2: 3 i. E.	Argentina	*	Florence ( ITA ), Stadio Comunale	Quarter finals

Highest victories and defeats

The Yugoslavs achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Bolivia : preliminary round 1930 - 4-0 (only win against Bolivia)
•  Honduras : 1st final round 1982 - 1-0 (only game against Honduras)
•  Colombia : preliminary round 1962 - 5-0
•  Uruguay : preliminary round 1962 - 3-1
•  United Arab Emirates : preliminary round 1990 - 4-1 (only game against UAE)
•  Zaire : 1st final round 1974 - 9-0 (only game against Zaire and the DR Congo)

The Yugoslav team suffered their biggest defeats at World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  FRG : preliminary round 1990 - 1: 4
•  Chile : Game for 3rd place 1962 - 0: 1 (only game against Chile)
•  Spain : 1st final round 1982 - 1: 2 (further games lost 1: 2 and 0: 1)

Records

• The most common quarter-final pairing (3 ×) was Yugoslavia against Germany (1954–1962)
• The biggest victory in a tournament: 1974 Yugoslavia against Zaire 9-0 in the preliminary round
• On June 2, 1962 Dražan Jerković scored the 600th World Cup goal with the goal to 3-1 final score in the preliminary round match against Uruguay

Negative records

• The biggest defeat in a tournament: 1930 - Yugoslavia - Uruguay 1: 6 and USA - Argentina 1: 6, both in the semi-finals

See also

• Football World - Statistics - Yugoslavia on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"
• Yugoslav national soccer team / European championships

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Lost the last game on penalties .
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (there under Results for Serbia; PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ http://de.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=1/index.html
4. ↑ gea.de: "sinners sit on the bench"