Although the current iteration of the Serbian national team officially played their first game in 2006, the team's origins began in 1920 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as Yugoslavia. As Yugoslavia they achieved impressive 4th-place finishes in the 1930 and 1962 FIFA World Cups, and were runners-up in the 1960 and 1968 UEFA European Championships. The team were prevented from qualifying from either of those tournaments in 1994 and 1996 due to international sanctions amid the ongoing breakup of Yugoslavia, but returned to the international stage for the 1998 World Cup. By 2003 they were renamed Serbia and Montenegro, and 3 years later they split into 2 separate teams after the latter declared independence. In the years since, despite struggling to qualify for the European Championships, Serbia have made their presence felt on the world stage with multiple World Cup appearances.
