1919 is the year of foundation of the Serbia national football team. The squad made its debut in the World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay (under Yugoslavia name) after a tiresome trip across the world. During that championship Serbia competed in Group B alongside Brazil and Bolivia. The team managed to obtain 4 points after brilliant performance of the team’s goalkeeper Milovan Jakšić. Serbia managed to beat Brazil and top the group.
In the 1990s the squad performed under Yugoslavia name and in 1997 came the first official win over Uruguay in a friendly match held in Serbia after long suspension caused by sporting ban applied to Yugoslavia clubs and national team. Shortly after that Yugoslavia managed to claim their first modern qualification for the World Cup in France, where they proved to be strong enough to pass the group stage.
Serbia was in one qualifying group for Euro-2000 with Croatia, Ireland, Macedonia and Malta. Despite the war harassing the country the national team qualified for the European Championship.
In 2002 and 2004 campaigns Serbia met little success. On the road to the World Cup 2006 Serbia and Montenegro surpassed Spain and conceded only once in ten games, which was a remarkable success. At that time Ilija Petkovich headed the team.
In 2010 Serbia qualified for the World Cup from the first line in the group, leaving France and Romania behind.
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