The
Yugoslavia national football team represented the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1943) and the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1946–1992) in
association football. It enjoyed a modicum of success in international competition. In 1992, during the
Yugoslav wars, the team was suspended from international competition as part of a
United Nations sanction. In 1994, when the boycott was lifted, it was succeeded by the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia football team.
History
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
Jugoslovenski 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:
Vrđuka,
Župančić,
Šifer,
Tavčar,
Cindrić,
Rupec,
Vragović,
Dubravčić,
Perška,
Granec, and
Ružić. They lost by a huge margin 0-7, but nonetheless got their names in the history books.
In 1929, the country was renamed to Yugoslavia and the football association became
Fudbalski Savez Jugoslavije and moved its headquarters to
Belgrade. The national team participated in the
1930 FIFA World Cup and finished in fourth place. In its first ever World Cup match in
Montevideo's
Parque Central, Yugoslavia managed a famous...
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