Yugoslavia National Team XI at World Cups and Euros

Some Yugoslavia National Team line-ups.

Yugoslavia at the 1930 World Cup (semi-finalist) :

A team of very young players from 18 to 24 years of age that beats Brazil and Bolivia in the group stage before to be remoted by Uruguay in the semis of this very first World Cup held in Montevideo.

Yugoslavia 1930

Najdanovic played instead of Sekulic on the left wing in the game with Bolivia.

Yugoslavia at the 1950 World Cup (first round) :

In the same group as the hosting nation Brazil they could not qualify for the final pool.
That was the team of the duo Bobek-Mitic.

Presented as they lined against Brazil :

Yugoslavia 1950

In the two first games, Bobek was the inside left and Tomasevic the centre forward and Vukas the left winger. Ognjanov against Switzerland then P. Mihajlovic against Mexico were the players who were successively assigned to the right winger role in the two first matches.


Yugoslavia at the 1954 & 1958 World Cups: The adventure stops in the quarter-finals (both times against the West Germans).

Yugoslavia 1954

 Dvornik played instead of Bobek against Brazil in the group stage. Eliminated by West Germany by the score of 2-0.

Yugoslavia 1958

Between brackets, Beara and Sekularac who missed the quarter-finals against West Germany due to injury (0-1). Usually the inside right of the team, Veselinovic took the inside left position while Ognanovic, already 1 appearance in the group stage as centre forward instead of Milutinovic (in the third and last group stage match) became the inside right for this knockout match.

Yugoslavia at the Euro 1960 (runner-up) :

Yugoslavia 1960 (Final)

As they lined in the Final against the USSR. Jerkovic was a false right winger... and a true centre-forward. Galic could withdraw a bit behind him at times. They constituted the real front-two of the team. There was simply no right winger, and preparing attacks from this zone on the right of the field was the task of Sekularac, the free electron of the team, who could by the way bring the number anywhere on the front line, or of the right half Zanetic and even the right back Durkovic until the half-way line, mainly, concerning the latter (and in some occasions it could be Jerkovic too, or Matus if this one had exchanged positions with Sekularac). Kostic was a real #11, and if he could take his chance with his (precise) shoot, it was almost always from his left side. Into that configuration, Matus was before all at the junction between the defense and the attack.

If Vidinic, Miladinovic and Matus were the starters in the Final, that was not the case in the semi-finals against France, a match into which Yugoslavia lined as follow :

Yugoslavia 1960

 A match won by 5 goals to...4.

Yugoslavia at the 1962 World Cup in Chile (semi-finalist and 4th) : 

Winner of the West Germany in the q-f's (1-0), then eliminated in the semis by a more determined Czechosovakia. Ranked fourth (beaten by Chile, 1-0).

Yugoslavia 1962

-Much like a 3-2-1-4 (Sekularac being the 1).
-Kovacevic played in the q-f's against West Germany, Sijakovic in the s-f's against Czechoslovakia (his only match in the tournament) and Kovacevic was back in the team for the 3rd place match. None of them two was a specialist of the right winger position.
-Melic was a starter in the first match (0-2 loss against USSR) and captain. Then he reappeared in the third game of groups (Colombia, win) but without the armband. He did not pay in the knockout stages.

Yugoslavia at the Euro 1968 (runner-up) :

Winner of England in the semis (1-0) and beaten by Italy in the Final (0-2 in a replay after an initial 1-1 draw-game).

Yugoslavia 1968

Player 1/ Player 2 : played in the Semi-finals, played the Final. The other players played in the two games. Ivan Osim get injured before the Final.

The same XI was used in the two games of the Final with Italy.

Yugoslavia at the Euro 1976 (semi-finalist and fourth) :

Beaten by the eventual champion West Germany in the semi-finals (then by Holland in the 3rd place match).

Yugoslavia 1976

Yugoslavia at the 1990 World Cup in Italy (quarter-finalist) :

Eliminated by the title holder Argentina (0-0, 2-3 in a pso, with Stojkovic and Maradona missing their penalty-kick)

Yugoslavia 1990

Hadzibegic libero, Spasic stopper (on Caniggia mainly). Sabanadzovic was at the marking of Maradona, so his presence in this zone there where Maradona roamed most of the time. In the case of an Argentinian attack through the right, Prosinecki helped his defense into this zone. In attack the trio Susic (then Savicevic at the hour of play), Prosinecki, Stojkovic could obviously exchange their positions at times in order to try to surprise their opponents.

Yugoslavia at the Euro 2000 (quarter-finalist) :

Quarter-finalist of the Euro held in Holland and in Belgium. Swept-off by Holland in the quarter-finals that said on the score of 6-1. 3-3 with Slovenia, 1-0 win over Norway and a 3-4 loss to Spain in the groups. Maybe not a so great Euro here by Yugoslavia but Milosevic was the top scorer and thus have been browsed a bit of all the decades, and not only the sixties (and its three Euro tournaments + 2 World Cups if we count the '58 one).

The XI of the match with Holland.

Yugoslavia 2000

Jokanovic was suspended for this match and was replaced by Govedarica (what made that Jugovic, who had been replaced by Govedarica at the half-time in the match with Spain by the way, became more left hand midfielder than right hand as previously). 

Many players were used at the left back position : in the order, Nad, Dorovic, Dorovic replaced by J.Stankovic since the 12th minute against Spain) and finally like on the draw, against Holland, Saveljic, usually a centre back (like he was against Norway in the absence of Mihajlovic suspended) and who was replaced by J.Stankovic at the 56th minute of this quarter-final.