Serbia and Montenegro put in a disappointing showing at Germany 2006, where they registered three defeats in as many matches, despite having been the surprise package of the qualifiers.

Serbia and Montenegro beat off stiff competition in Group 7 from Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgium and were one of eight European teams to remain undefeated throughout the qualifying campaign, winning six of their ten fixtures and drawing the other four.

Serbia appeared on the international stage under the banner of Yugoslavia until 2003. The team made the semi-finals at the very first FIFA World Cup™ in 1930, taking the lead against eventual champions Uruguay but finishing on the wrong end of a 6-1 defeat. Since then, they have appeared at six further finals. At France 1998, led by star player Pedrag Mijatovic, they only went down 2-1 to Netherlands in the Round of 16.

Having separated from Montenegro in June 2006, Serbia are nevertheless still rich in attacking talent with the likes of Dejan Stankovic, Marko Pantelic and Nikola Zigic. However, the real jewel in the crown is the defensive line - one of the best in Europe, featuring Milan Stepanov and Nenad Kovacevic. They put up the continent's meanest performance in their ten Germany 2006 qualifying fixtures with just one goal condeded, Spain's effort in the 1-1 draw in Madrid.

Having put in a good performance in a very tough UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying group which featured Portugal, Poland, Finland and Belgium, Serbia are looking forward to trying to qualify for South Africa 2010 under new coach Radomir Antic. Antic was appointed following the sacking of Miroslav Djukic who oversaw a poor performance by the Serbian U-23 side at the Beijing Olympics.