Serbia returns to the EURO tournament, ever since their last appearance in 2000. 4 European Championships have passed since they made it to one last. Their qualifications were made possible thanks to a 2-2 draw at home to Bulgaria on Matchday 10.
Serbia possesses an array of impressive squads. From the likes of Dušan Vlahovic from Juventus, Fenerbahçe’s Dušan Tadic, and AC Milan forward Luka Jovic. Serbia will have high expectations of making a strong impression at the tournament.
Despite their tricky group of England, Slovenia, and Denmark, their coach Dragan Stojkovic will be hoping his boys step up. Thereby grinding out the crucial results needed to qualify. Their First game which is against England will be their first big test of the tournament.
However, Serbia will yearn for shocker. Either in the form of a win for them or a draw for them. Nevertheless, if they lose they’ll still have more room to make it up to themselves.
Who is Serbia’s Coach
Dragan Stojkovic was once a captain of Yugoslavia during his playing days. He started his coaching journey in Asia. Stojkovic took the job to coach a Japanese side Nagoya Grampus. He managed the club between 2008 and 2013. Afterwards, he moved to a Chinese team Guangzhou R&F, and coached them between 2015 and 2020.
Dragan Stojkovic came back in 2021 and took the Serbia role. Wherein he led them to the 2022 World Cup. However, they struggled, as they ended up in the last position in their group.
An easy qualification meant the expectations were high for progression to the knockout phase of the EURO 2024 tournament.
Serbia Euro 2024 Squad
Dragan Stojkovic spoke about the generation of stars they possess
“We had a quality generation of players. We then managed to qualify for the European Championship, which, in itself, is the most important thing. The goal for each national team is to participate in the final tournament.”
He continued saying “Obviously, they had to wait for me to take Serbia to the European Championship again after so many years. I’m joking, but the fact is that at that time, I was the captain of the national team and the leader of the team on the pitch.
“Now, after more than two decades, I have the task and the privilege of leading the Serbian national team to the European Championship as a coach, and I am glad. It is a great pleasure for me that I participated in the European Championship as a player, and now again as a national team coach. It is indeed a great achievement”
Squad
Goalkeeper
Predrag Rajkovic (Mallorca) Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino) Dorde Petrovic (Chelsea)
Defenders
Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina) Strahinja Pavlovic (Red Bull Salzburg) Filip Mladenovic (Panathinaikos) Miloš Veljkovic (Werder Bremen) Uroš Spajic (Red Star Belgrade) Srcan Babic (Spartak Moscow) Nemanja Stojic (TSC)
Midfielder
Nemanja Gudelj(Sevilla) Dušan Tadic(Fenerbahçe) Filip Kostic(Juventus) Sergej Milinkovic-Savic(Al Hilal) Nemanja Maksimovic(Getafe) Saša Lukic(Fulham) Andrija Živkovic(PAOK) Mijat Gacinovic (AEK Athens)MF: Ivan Ilic (Torino) Srcan Mijailovic (Red Star Belgrade) Lazar Samardžic Udinese) Veljko Birmanxevic (Sparta Prague)
Forward
Aleksandar Mitrovic (Al Hilal) Luka Jovic (Milan). Dušan Vlahovic (Juventus) Petar Ratkov (Red Bull Salzburg)
Serbia Key Players
A key player in the team Serbia is Mitrovic. Also nicknamed ‘Mitrogol’. The Serbian international has had a wonderful time with Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia. The striker who hailed from Smederevo is Serbia’s highest goal scorer in Serbia’s history.
He is regarded as something of a national hero. This is due to his persistence, and ability to score impossible goals. He is also known to be passionate about the game and will always fight until the end.
Another Key Player is Dusan Tadic. The captain of Serbia is an experienced player who has played for different clubs and leagues. He is expected to step up for his country in this tournament and lead them to glory
Talent to look out for
Serbia possesses several amazing forwards and fantastic goalkeepers. However, the 23-year-old defender, Pavlovic can be undermined. He is a player with an insane level of work-rate. He has shown his qualities with Salzburg in the Champions League. He made his debut for Serbia in 2020. As of now, he has 30 caps for Country.
Dragan Stojkovic Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dušan Vlahovic
“Aleksandar Mitrovic has shown numerous times how devoted he is to the Serbian jersey. He is showing that same devotion to the clubs he plays for. He’s a lad whom you can trust. That’s an important quality. Those are pretty big things as forwards can sometimes be pretty selfish or they can just look to be that one player who scores and decides the match.”
“Dušan Vlahovic is, in my opinion, one of the most talented forwards in Europe. He’s still very young. What he has achieved in the last two or three years, when he made the breakthrough and signed for a club as big as Juventus, is all the result of his great dedication and the goals he scored.
“As a person, he’s a very humble lad, which is very important. I like his character and I love how devoted he is. The Juventus star has been on the radar of big clubs for his abilities. Now the Euros tournament will be a strong time to display more of his abilities for the world to see.”
About the Author
Ifeoluwa King is a lover of football and also a sports enthusiast. He’s been a football fan for 20 years. Pick any topic in the world of football and sports, and you’ll find him there. For more information about him and more of his awesome content, you can visit his X (Twitter) handle: @kng7.
