ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FAS | IN ONE CYCLE, THREE TEAMS HAVE QUALIFIED FOR THE GREATEST WORLD AND EUROPEAN COMPETITIONS

Serbia, football country, the representative one, is experiencing incredible moments once again. Namely, for a long time now no one has achieved what the current FAS Sports Department has done during the last qualification cycle with almost all national teams. It will be remembered that almost all teams (except the national U-21 team) managed to qualify for the world and European tournaments, winning matches through demanding and uncertain qualifications. And it happened in a truly spectacular way.

Our best team, the A team, coached by Dragan Stojković, qualified for the World Cup in an away match with Portugal. Lisbon Night will forever be remembered as an example of winning for the jersey of Serbia, the winning of one team that broke all prejudices that Serbia cannot win against a top team in a very important match. The stakes were huge – to be placed among the best teams in the world. In the end, Serbia will travel to Qatar in November.

In the last few days, we witnessed the great games of the U-17 team at the European Championship in Israel. The 2005 generation, with successes yet to come, and led by the coach Radovan Krivokapić, ended the competition after five matches, practically undefeated in the regular 90 minutes time, because only in the semifinals the Netherlands were better after the penalty kicks. This is the only team in the region that managed to qualify for the European Championship. In two qualification rounds, Croatia and Slovenia were left behind. It should be noted that this was the best result of our U-17 team in the last 30 years.

Our U-19 team also brought joy to us, and in such a way. In the country of football, the country considered to be the nursery of the most talented players in Europe, our U-19 team led by the coach Aleksandar Jović lectured a football class and left behind the Netherlands, Ukraine and Norway. In the elite qualification round, Serbia showed that there are successors of Tadić and mates in the generation of 2003. Lazetić and his teammates are now waiting for the European Championship in Slovakia (18th June – 1st July) where they will do their utmost to make a step forward and manage to qualify for the U-20 World Cup.

TO THE PRIDE OF STOJANOVIĆ, LAZETIĆ, MATIĆ…

A year to remember, a round not to forget. To the pride of the most responsible one for the work and results in the Sports Department of the FA of Serbia. From the very top and the A Team Director, Stevan Stojanović, Youth Teams Director, Nikola Lazetić and Youth Teams Coordinator, Igor Matić to all those within the system who are servicing all the teams – media and marketing team, team managers, kit-men, people working in the FAS Sports Centre in Stara Pazova.

BJEKOVIĆ AND ŠURBATOVIĆ ACTING AS TAILWIND

It’s not a secret, A team is the top priority in every national association, and it is the same in the FA of Serbia. Arrival of the legendary player, member of the national team, the fifth of the Zvezda’s stars, Dragan Stojković, meant a restart for Serbia and, as someone may say, an enlightenment. “The Eagles” are back on the map of the best teams in the world. On that road, they had great support given by the Deputy President, Nenad Bjeković and General Secretary, Jovan Šurbatović. They also had great understanding for the youth teams, and showed that investing in them today, will bring huge benefits to the A team tomorrow. After all, the best team of Serbia today consists of the players who were European and world champions in 2013 and 2015 respectively (age category U-19 and U-20). At that time, FA president was Tomislav Karadžić and general secretary was Zoran Laković, and sports directors were Savo MIlošević and Mitar Mrkela.