Slobodan Santrač era (1994–1998)

Although the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed on 28 April 1992, its teams were banned from all international sporting events, including association football.^[3] Consequently, the national team did not play its first match as a new country until 23 December 1994, a 2–0 friendly defeat to Brazil in Porto Alegre. This was the first ever team composed of Serbian and Montenegrin players exclusively, while Slobodan Santrač, a former Yugoslavia national team player, was named the team's first ever manager. The next match was played only three days later, a 1–0 loss to Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Due to the United Nations international sanctions, the team could not take part in the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, nor the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying process.^[4]

On 31 March 1995, the team recorded its first official win in history, a 1–0 friendly against Uruguay, simultaneously marking the team's first ever home match, played at Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, and the first ever goal scored, courtesy of Savo Milošević. Slightly more than one year later, the team recorded its first ever win in a FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament in its first match in such a tournament, a 3–1 win over the Faroe Islands. Shortly after, the team also recorded its biggest win in history, once again against the Faroe Islands, 8–1. Yugoslavia finished second in Group 6, just behind Spain, meaning it had to go through the play-off system in order to qualify. Yugoslavia was paired up with Hungary, and what was believed would be a tough matchup turned out to be an easy win for Yugoslavia, 7–1 in Budapest and 5–0 in Belgrade, for an aggregate score of 12–1. This was enough to secure Yugoslavia its first ever World Cup appearance as a new country.

The 1998 World Cup seeding had Yugoslavia ranked in the 21st position, but the Yugoslav national team went to France as one of the shadow favourites for the World Cup. The New York Times stated Yugoslavia could easily be a semi-finalist in that year's World Cup.^[6] The justification for such an estimation was partially found in the names of the Yugoslav players, members of great European teams and proven footballers. The draw put the team in Group F alongside Germany, the United States and Iran. Yugoslavia won its first match 1–0 against Iran thanks to a goal from defender Siniša Mihajlović. The next match was a draw for Yugoslavia; after leading Germany 2–0, last game's hero, Mihajlović, scored an unlucky own goal following a German free-kick, and Oliver Bierhoff equalised at 2–2 with only about ten minutes to the match. Nonetheless, Yugoslavia responded in the next match against the United States and won 1–0 due to an early goal in Nantes. Yugoslavia finished second in Group F, for despite finishing level on points with Germany, Germany finished first via a superior goal difference.

Finishing second, Yugoslavia was drawn with the Netherlands in the round of 16. Yugoslavia entered in the match with a sole attacker, but its defensive tactics proved unsuccessful as Dennis Bergkamp put the Netherlands in front in the 38th minute. Immediately following the start of the second half, Yugoslavia pressured the Dutch, who inevitably conceded a header from Slobodan Komljenović. However, the turning point of this match was a penalty awarded to Yugoslavia after Vladimir Jugović was fouled in the penalty area. Predrag Mijatović's shot dazzled Edwin van der Sar, but not the crossbar, and the scoreline remained level at 1–1. In the late seconds of the match, Edgar Davids took a shot from 20 metres out which beat goalkeeper Ivica Kralj, to the disbelief of the Yugoslav players and fans. This marked the end of Yugoslavia's run in the World Cup.

Euro 2000

The draw for the Euro 2000 qualifiers saw many eyebrows raised as first-seeded Yugoslavia was drawn in a group alongside Croatia, marking the first matches between the two teams after the breakup of Yugoslavia. The other teams in the group were the Republic of Ireland, Macedonia and Malta. When the qualifiers began, the coach was Milan Živadinović, but in July 1999 he resigned and was replaced by Vujadin Boškov.

The team started with a 1–0 win over Ireland in Belgrade, before beating Malta 3–0 in Ta' Qali. The home fixture against the Maltese followed, but was moved to Thessaloniki, Greece, due to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The team nonetheless won 4–1. The first, highly anticipated match against Croatia took place in Belgrade shortly after the bombing ended, and was interrupted due to a power outage at the beginning of the second half, resuming after 43 minutes^[7] and eventually finishing 0–0. A 2–1 defeat against Ireland in Dublin was followed by victories home and away against Macedonia (3–1 and 4–2 respectively), meaning Yugoslavia needed to win its final qualifier against Croatia in Zagreb, or to draw with Ireland failing to beat Macedonia in Skopje, in order to automatically qualify for Euro 2000. As it happened, Ireland conceded an injury-time equalizer, meaning Yugoslavia's 2–2 draw with the Croatians was sufficient for automatic qualification.

The draw for the Euro 2000 final stages placed Yugoslavia in Group C alongside Spain, Norway and another former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia. The Slovenians took a surprise 3–0 lead in the first match at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi, but three goals in six second-half minutes enabled Yugoslavia to secure a 3–3 draw. The team then beat Norway 1–0 in Liège thanks to an early Savo Milošević backheel strike. The final group match, against Spain in Bruges, saw the Yugoslavs take the lead three times, before a Gaizka Mendieta penalty and an Alfonso strike in injury-time secured a dramatic 4–3 win for the Spaniards and top spot in the group. Yugoslavia nonetheless finished second, level on points with Norway but ranked ahead due to their head-to-head victory in Liège. In each of the three matches, Yugoslavia had one player sent off: Siniša Mihajlović, Mateja Kežman and Slaviša Jokanović respectively.

In the quarter-finals, Yugoslavia was once again paired with the Netherlands. However, unlike the last encounter, the co-hosts made easy work of Yugoslavia, winning 6–1 in Rotterdam, with Patrick Kluivert scoring a hat-trick.

One of the few bright spots of Yugoslav team in the whole tournament was Savo Milošević, who finished as the joint top scorer of the tournament, alongside Patrick Kluivert. Both players scored five goals, although Milošević played one less match.^[8]

Failure to qualify for 2002 World Cup

The 2002 World Cup qualifiers marked the first time Yugoslavia failed to qualify for a major tournament ever since its return to "big stage" football after the UN sanctions. The problems began with the major political turmoil in the country as well in the Yugoslav FA, which prompted new head coach Ilija Petković to resign after only one match, a 2–0 away victory against Luxembourg.

Milovan Đorić took over the team, but under his leadership, the team managed only two draws, 1–1 at home against Switzerland and 1–1 away against Slovenia. In both matches, the opponents equalized in late stages of the match). Yugoslavia then lost 0–1 at home to Russia, marking the nation's first home defeat in official matches. After Đorić's resignation, a three-man commission consisting of Dejan Savićević, Vujadin Boškov and Ivan Ćurković took over the coaching duties, until Savićević ultimately took over on his own. The team managed to bounce back with a draw in Russia and a win in Switzerland, but failed to defeat Slovenia in the penultimate game, thus finishing their qualifying group in third position.

Kit supplier

Kit supplier	Period
Adidas	1994–2001
Lotto	2002–2006

FR Yugoslavia

1996 home

1998 WC home

1998 WC away

Euro 2000 home

2002 home

2002 away

Serbia and Montenegro

2004 Home

2004 Away

2006 WC Home

2006 WC Away