Yugoslavia national under-20 football team

Yugoslavia Under-20

Association	Football Association of Yugoslavia
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
FIFA code	YUG
First colours Second colours
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 1979 )
Best result	Winners: 1987

The Yugoslavia national under-20 football team (Serbo-Croatian : Omladinska reprezentacija Jugoslavije) represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the FIFA World Youth Championship and various friendly youth tournaments in the period between the mid-1970s and the country's dissolution in the early 1990s. It was a feeder team to the Yugoslavia national under-21 football team (which was itself formed following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976). However, since FIFA employs the Under-20 format for the World Youth Championship ever since its inception in 1977, the Under-20 selection was only occasionally formed to compete specifically at the tournament, in addition to a handful of other less official friendly tournaments which employ the same age format.

The team which would compete at the World Championship essentially consisted of players who had earlier participated in the UEFA Junior Tournament, which was the European Under-18 championship (held annually from 1957 to 1984 and then bi-annually from 1986 to 1992) and which doubled as the European qualifying tournament for the World Championship.

History

Yugoslavia Under-20 had appeared at two World Youth Championships throughout their existence. Their first appearance came at the 1979 tournament, where they were knocked out in the group stage after two defeats (0–2 against Poland and 0–1 against Argentina) and one win (5–0 against Indonesia). ^[1] Their second appearance in the 1987 tournament was much more successful, as they won the competition, remarkably defeating each of the three other semi-finalists and eliminating the defending champions Brazil during the course of the tournament, with Robert Prosinečki winning the Golden Ball award for Best Player of the tournament. ^{[2] [3]}

In their two appearances Yugoslavia set a FIFA World Youth Championship scoring record which still stands today, scoring an average of 3.66 goals per game, finishing with 22 goals for and 9 against. ^[2] The team, coached by Mirko Jozić, had included a number of players who later appeared at FIFA World Cups, such as Zvonimir Boban, Davor Šuker, Robert Jarni, Igor Štimac, Branko Brnović and Predrag Mijatović. ^[2]

The last European U-18 tournament (and therefore the last U-20 World Cup qualifiers) in which Yugoslavia participated before the country dissolved was the 1992 European Under-18 Championship, and the Under-18's last competitive game was played on 17 October 1991 against Czechoslovakia national under-18 football team. ^[4]

FIFA attributes all Yugoslav national team's records to the present-day Serbia national football team and as such the Yugoslavia Under-20 results and records are officially inherited by Serbia. ^[5] Only Croatia and Serbia under-20 teams have managed to qualify for the World Youth Championship since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and are thus the only under-20 ex-Yugoslav teams to have fielded teams for competitive matches at that age level since 1992.^{[ citation needed ]}

Tournament records

FIFA World Youth Championship Record

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1977	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1979	First round	3	1	0	2	5	3
1981	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1983	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1985	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1987	Champions	6	5	1	0	17	6
1989	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1991	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
1993	did not qualify	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	2/9	9	6	1	2	22	9

*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Players

The following players were members of Yugoslavia Under-20 squads at the FIFA U-20 World Cup as well as various national squads at FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Player	Position	Youth World Cup	World Cup(s)	Refs
Tomislav Ivković	Goalkeeper	1979	1990 (YUG)	[6]
Ivan Pudar	Goalkeeper	1979	1982 (YUG)	[7] [8]
Zvonko Živković	Forward	1979	1982 (YUG)	[8] [9]
Ivan Gudelj	Forward	1979	1982 (YUG)	[10]
Dragoje Leković	Goalkeeper	1987	1990 (YUG), 1998 (FRY)	[11] [12]
Branko Brnović	Defender	1987	1998 (FRY)	[13]
Robert Jarni	Defender	1987	1990 (YUG), 1998 (CRO), 2002 (CRO)	[14]
Igor Štimac	Defender	1987	1998 (CRO)	[15]
Zvonimir Boban	Midfielder	1987	1998 (CRO)	[16]
Robert Prosinečki	Midfielder	1987	1990 (YUG), 1998 (CRO), 2002 (CRO)	[17]
Predrag Mijatović	Forward	1987	1998 (FRY)	[18]
Davor Šuker	Forward	1987	1990 (YUG), 1998 (CRO), 2002 (CRO)	[19]

Letters in brackets denote national teams players represented at World Cups:

• YUG – Yugoslavia
• CRO – Croatia
• FRY – Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Scorers

The following players scored goals for the Yugoslavia Under-20 team at Youth World Cups. The team's overall top scorer was Davor Šuker, who scored 6 goals for Yugoslavia at the 1987 U-20 World Cup, ^[19] and went on to become top scorer at the 1998 FIFA World Cup eleven years later, where he represented Croatia and also scored 6 goals. ^[20]

Rank	Player	Goals	Tournament	Refs
1	Davor Šuker	6	1987	[19]
2	Zvonimir Boban	3	1987	[16]
	Predrag Mijatović	3	1987	[18]
4	Nedeljko Milosavljević	2	1979	[21]
	Haris Smajić	2	1979	[22]
	Igor Štimac	2	1987	[15]
7	Branko Brnović	1	1987	[13]
	Marko Mlinarić	1	1979	[23]
	Robert Prosinečki	1	1987	[17]
	Ranko Zirojević	1	1987	[24]

Full squads

• 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squad
• 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship squad

See also

• Serbia national under-20 football team
• Yugoslavia national under-21 football team
• Yugoslavia national under-20 football team
• Yugoslavia national under-19 football team
• Yugoslavia national under-16 football team
• Yugoslavia national under-12 football team
• Yugoslavia national football team

Teams from successor states

Following the country's dissolution in 1992, the team was succeeded by Under-20 teams of the newly formed ex-Yugoslav states' national teams:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team (1993–present)
• Croatia national football team (1990–present)
• Macedonia national football team (1993–present)
• Slovenia national football team (1992–present)
• FR Yugoslavia national football team (1993–2003) - renamed Serbia and Montenegro national football team and competed under that name 2003–2006 when it was dissolved and succeeded by:
  • Serbia national football team (2006–present)
  • Montenegro national football team (2006–present)

References

1. "1970 FIFA U-20 World Cup Fixtures and Results". FIFA . Archived from the original on August 20, 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
2. "Chile 1987: Yugoslavian fireworks". FIFA . Archived from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
3. "FIFA.com - 1990 Robert PROSINECKI (YUG)". FIFA . Archived from the original on December 8, 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
4. "European U-18 Championship 1992". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation . 1 February 2004. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
5. "Serbia on FIFA.com". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
6. "FIFA Player Statistics: Tomislav IVKOVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
7. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ivan PUDAR". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
8. "1982 FIFA World Cup Spain - Yugoslavia squad". FIFA . Archived from the original on November 4, 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
9. "FIFA Player Statistics: Zvonko ZIVKOVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
10. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ivan GUDELJ". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
11. "FIFA Player Statistics: Dragoje LEKOVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
12. "1998 FIFA World Cup France - Yugoslavia squad". FIFA . Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
13. "FIFA Player Statistics: Branko BRNOVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
14. "FIFA Player Statistics: Robert JARNI". FIFA . Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
15. "FIFA Player Statistics: Igor STIMAC". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
16. "FIFA Player Statistics: Zvonimir BOBAN". FIFA . Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
17. "FIFA Player Statistics: Robert PROSINECKI". FIFA . Archived from the original on October 22, 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
18. "FIFA Player Statistics: Predrag MIJATOVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
19. "FIFA Player Statistics: Davor SUKER". FIFA . Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
20. "1998 FIFA World Cup France - Awards". FIFA . Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
21. "FIFA Player Statistics: Nedeljko MILOSAVLJEVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
22. "FIFA Player Statistics: Haris SMAJIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
23. "FIFA Player Statistics: Marko MLINARIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
24. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ranko ZIROJEVIC". FIFA . Archived from the original on September 22, 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.

External links

• Article about the 1987 Yugoslav generation at FIFA.com