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The Yugoslav Football Federation was founded on April 13, 1919 and the national side played their first international on Febuary 28, 1920 against Czechoslovakia in the Olympic Games at Antwerp. Yugoslavia have been twice semi-finalists in the World Cup - 1930 in Uruguay when they lost 6-1 to the hosts, and in Chile in 1962 where they were beaten 3-1 by Czechoslovakia.
Yugoslavia have also competed in two European Championship finals. The first in 1960 in France where they lost 2-1 to the USSR and in 1968 in Italy, going down 2-0 against the Italians. Yugoslav football has always produced star players like record cap holder (85) Dragan Dzajic, a striker for Red Star Belgrade (1961-75) and then Bastia (1975-77), or Josip Skoblar, fourth top scorer in the 1962 World Cup, the highest scorer in the history of the French first division. He scored 44 times in 1971 for Marseille.
After the breakup of the old Yugoslavia, the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia returned to the international scene on December 23, 1994 in a match against Brazil at Poirto Alegre. They lost 2-0.
The Yugoslav squad can boast several world class foreign based players such as Predrag Mijatovic (Real Madrid), Dejan Savicevic (AC Milan) and Dragan Stojkovic (Nagoya). Coach Slobodan Santrac remains the top scorer in the history of the Yugoslav first division thanks to his 238 goals.
The league is dominated by two clubs, Partizan Belgrade and especially Red Star Belgrade. Red Star won the European Champion Cup in 1991, beating Marseille in a penalty shoot-out. Since 1968 when they reached the finals of the then European Nations Cup, Yugoslavia has had no success to mention. But with striker Predrag Mijatovic - 14 goals during qualifying - Yugoslavia are hoping that in France '98 they will show they are a more talented side than given credit for.
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9th appearance in World Cup finals