Serbia at the FIFA World Cup

Participation of Serbia's national football team in the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Serbia's results at the FIFA World Cup, including as their predecessor teams Yugoslavia (1920–1992) and Serbia and Montenegro (1996–2006; the country was renamed from "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" in 2003). FIFA recognises Serbia as the official successor of the Yugoslav teams, and thus inherits all the records of Yugoslavia.

Including their predecessors' records, Serbia have qualified for thirteen FIFA World Cup finals tournaments, last failing to do so in 2014.

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
as  Yugoslavia
Uruguay 1930 Fourth place 4th 3 2 0 1 7 7 Invited
Italy 1934 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 3 4
France 1938 2 1 0 1 1 4
Brazil 1950 Group stage 5th 3 2 0 1 7 3 5 3 2 0 16 6
Switzerland 1954 Quarter-finals 7th 3 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 0 0 4 0
Sweden 1958 Quarter-finals 5th 4 1 2 1 7 7 4 2 2 0 7 2
Chile 1962 Fourth place 4th 6 3 0 3 10 7 4 3 1 0 11 4
England 1966 Did not qualify 6 3 1 2 10 8
Mexico 1970 6 3 1 2 19 7
West Germany 1974 Second group stage 7th 6 1 2 3 12 7 5 3 2 0 8 4
Argentina 1978 Did not qualify 4 1 0 3 6 8
Spain 1982 Group stage 16th 3 1 1 1 2 2 8 6 1 1 22 7
Mexico 1986 Did not qualify 8 3 2 3 7 8
Italy 1990 Quarter-finals 5th 5 3 1 1 8 6 8 6 2 0 16 6
as  FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro
United States 1994 Suspended[note 1] 0 0 0 0 0 0
France 1998 Round of 16 10th 4 2 1 1 5 4 12 9 2 1 41 8
South Korea Japan 2002 Did not qualify 10 5 4 1 22 8
Germany 2006 Group stage 32nd 3 0 0 3 2 10 10 6 4 0 16 1
as  Serbia
South Africa 2010 Group stage 23rd 3 1 0 2 2 3 10 7 1 2 22 8
Brazil 2014 Did not qualify 10 4 2 4 18 11
Russia 2018 Group stage 23rd 3 1 0 2 2 4 10 6 3 1 20 10
Qatar 2022 Group stage 29th 3 0 1 2 5 8 8 6 2 0 18 9
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined Future event
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total Fourth place 13/22 49 18 9 22 71 71 136 81 33 22 287 123
Serbia's World Cup record
First match Kingdom of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 2–1 Brazil 
(14 July 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay)
Biggest Win  Yugoslavia 9–0 Zaire 
(7 June 1974; Gelsenkirchen, West Germany)
Biggest Defeat  Argentina 6-0 Serbia and Montenegro 
(16 June 2006; Gelsenkirchen, Germany)
Best Result Fourth place in 1930 and 1962
Worst Result Group stage in 1950, 1982, 2006, 2010, 2018, and 2022

By match

World Cup Round Opponent Score Result Serbia scorers
000within  Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1930)
1930 Group stage  Brazil 2–1 W Tirnanić, Bek
 Bolivia 4–0 W Bek (2), Marjanović, Vujadinović
Semi-final  Uruguay 1–6 L Vujadinović
000within  SFR Yugoslavia (1950–1990)
1950 Group stage   Switzerland 3–0 W Mitić, Tomašević, Ognjanov
 Mexico 4–1 W Bobek, Ž. Čajkovski (2), Tomašević
 Brazil 0–2 L
1954 Group stage  France 1–0 W Milutinović
 Brazil 1–1 D Zebec
Quarter-final  West Germany 0–2 L
1958 Group stage  Scotland 1–1 D Petaković
 France 3–2 W Petaković, Veselinović (2)
 Paraguay 3–3 D Ognjanović, Veselinović, Rajkov
Quarter-final  West Germany 0–1 L
1962 Group stage  Soviet Union 0–2 L
 Uruguay 3–1 W Skoblar, Galić, Jerković
 Colombia 5–0 W Galić (2), Jerković (2), Melić
Quarter-final  West Germany 1–0 W Radaković
Semi-final  Czechoslovakia 1–3 L Jerković
Third place match  Chile 0–1 L
1974 Group stage  Brazil 0–0 D
 Zaire 9–0 W Bajević (3), Džajić, Šurjak, Katalinski, Bogićević, Oblak, Petković
 Scotland 1–1 D Karasi
Second round  West Germany 0–2 L
 Poland 1–2 L Karasi
 Sweden 1–2 L Šurjak
1982 Group stage  Northern Ireland 0–0 D
 Spain 1–2 L Gudelj
 Honduras 1–0 W Petrović
1990 Group stage  West Germany 1–4 L Jozić
 Colombia 1–0 W Jozić
 United Arab Emirates 4–1 W Sušić, Pančev (2), Prosinečki
Round of 16  Spain 2–1 W Stojković (2)
Quarter-final  Argentina 0–0 D
000within  Serbia and Montenegro (1998–2006; 1998 as FR Yugoslavia)
1998 Group stage  Iran 1–0 W Mihajlović
 Germany 2–2 D Mijatović, Stojković
 United States 1–0 W Komljenović
Round of 16  Netherlands 1–2 L Komljenović
2006 Group stage  Netherlands 0–1 L
 Argentina 0–6 L
 Ivory Coast 2–3 L Žigić, Ilić
000  Serbia (born 2010)
2010 Group stage  Ghana 0–1 L
 Germany 1–0 W Jovanović
 Australia 1–2 L Pantelić
2018 Group stage  Costa Rica 1–0 W Kolarov
  Switzerland 1–2 L A. Mitrović
 Brazil 0–2 L
2022 Group stage  Brazil 0–2 L
 Cameroon 3–3 D Pavlović, S. Milinković-Savić, A. Mitrović
  Switzerland 2–3 L A. Mitrović, Vlahović

Record players

Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Dragoslav Šekularac 9 1958 and 1962
Ivica Šurjak 9 1974 and 1982
Dragan Stojković 9 1990 and 1998
Dejan Stanković 9 1998, 2006 and 2010
5 Safet Sušić 8 1982 and 1990
Zlatko Vujović 8 1982 and 1990
7 Vujadin Boškov 7 1954 and 1958
8 Rajko Mitić 6 1950 and 1954
Branko Stanković 6 1950 and 1954
Miloš Milutinović 6 1954 and 1958
Vladica Popović 6 1958 and 1962
Vladimir Durković 6 1962
Milan Galić 6 1962
Milutin Šoškić 6 1962
Jovan Aćimović 6 1974
Vladimir Stojković 6 2010 and 2018
Aleksandar Mitrović 6 2018 and 2022
Dušan Tadić 6 2018 and 2022
Nikola Milenković 6 2018 and 2022
Sergej Milinković-Savić 6 2018 and 2022

Top goalscorers

Dražan Jerković's four goals at the 1962 FIFA World Cup were enough to secure him the shared Golden Boot Award and make him the top scorer at World Cups for the SFR Yugoslavia and its successor associations.

Rank Player Goals World Cups
1 Dražan Jerković 4 1962
2 Ivan Bek 3 1930
Todor Veselinović 3 1958
Milan Galić 3 1962
Dušan Bajević 3 1974
Dragan Stojković 3 1990 (2) and 1998
Aleksandar Mitrović 3 2018 and 2022 (2)
8 Đorđe Vujadinović 2 1930
Željko Čajkovski 2 1950
Kosta Tomašević 2 1950
Aleksandar Petaković 2 1958
Stanislav Karasi 2 1974
Ivica Šurjak 2 1974
Davor Jozić 2 1990
Darko Pančev 2 1990
Slobodan Komljenović 2 1998

Squads

Yugoslavia squads
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Kingdom of Yugoslavia squad1930 FIFA World Cup fourth place
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1950 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1954 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1958 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1962 FIFA World Cup – fourth place
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1974 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1982 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Yugoslavia squad1990 FIFA World Cup
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Serbia–Montenegro squads
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FR Yugoslavia squad1998 FIFA World Cup
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Serbia and Montenegro squad2006 FIFA World Cup
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia squads
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Serbia squad2010 FIFA World Cup
Serbia
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Serbia squad2018 FIFA World Cup
Serbia
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Serbia squad2022 FIFA World Cup
Serbia

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Draw for 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers was made on 8 December 1991, however due to break-up of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and consequent military conflict, which broke in early 1991, FSJ ceased to exist as football organization of the SFR Yugoslavia. Organization that remained based in Belgrade, Serbia, was excluded from taking part as FSJ or its successor due to UN sanctions.[1]

References

  1. ^ "History of the FIFA World Cup Preliminary Competition (by year)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
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1 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). 2 Have been member of multiple confederations. 3 Team and national federation no longer exist.