Yugoslavia national under-20 football team

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.

Yugoslavia Under-20
AssociationFootball Association of Yugoslavia
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
FIFA codeYUG
First colours
Second colours
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances2 (first in 1979)
Best resultWinners: 1987

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]

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

However, only Croatia and Serbia Under-20 teams had 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. In addition, 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]

Tournament records
FIFA World Youth Championship Record
Year Round GP W D* L GS GA
1977Did not qualify––––––
1979First round310253
1981Did not qualify––––––
1983Did not qualify––––––
1985Did not qualify––––––
1987Champions6510176
1989Did not qualify––––––
1991Did not qualify––––––
1993Did not qualify––––––
Total2/99612229
*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

See also

References
  1. "1970 FIFA U-20 World Cup Fixtures and Results". FIFA. 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. 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. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  6. "FIFA Player Statistics: Tomislav IVKOVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  7. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ivan PUDAR". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  8. "1982 FIFA World Cup Spain - Yugoslavia squad". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  9. "FIFA Player Statistics: Zvonko ZIVKOVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  10. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ivan GUDELJ". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  11. "FIFA Player Statistics: Dragoje LEKOVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  12. "1998 FIFA World Cup France - Yugoslavia squad". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  13. "FIFA Player Statistics: Branko BRNOVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  14. "FIFA Player Statistics: Robert JARNI". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  15. "FIFA Player Statistics: Igor STIMAC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  16. "FIFA Player Statistics: Zvonimir BOBAN". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  17. "FIFA Player Statistics: Robert PROSINECKI". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  18. "FIFA Player Statistics: Predrag MIJATOVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  19. "FIFA Player Statistics: Davor SUKER". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  20. "1998 FIFA World Cup France - Awards". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  21. "FIFA Player Statistics: Nedeljko MILOSAVLJEVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  22. "FIFA Player Statistics: Haris SMAJIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  23. "FIFA Player Statistics: Marko MLINARIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  24. "FIFA Player Statistics: Ranko ZIROJEVIC". FIFA. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
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