Montenegro national football team

Montenegro

Nickname(s)	Hrabri sokoli (The Brave Falcons)
Association	Fudbalski Savez Crne Gore (FSCG)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Ljubiša Tumbaković
Captain	Mirko Vučinić
Most caps	Elsad Zverotić (58)
Top scorer	Mirko Vučinić (17)
Home stadium	Podgorica City Stadium
FIFA code	MNE
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	94 (5 May 2016)
Highest	16 (June 2011)
Lowest	199 (June 2007)
First international
Official Montenegro 2–1 Hungary (Podgorica, Montenegro; 24 March 2007)

The Montenegro national football team (Montenegrin: Fudbalska reprezentacija Crne Gore, Фудбалска репрезентација Црне Горе) represents Montenegro in association football and is controlled by the Fudbalski Savez Crne Gore (FSCG), the governing body for football in Montenegro. Montenegro's home ground is Podgorica City Stadium in Podgorica.

Montenegro is one of the world's newest international sides, having come into existence following the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In that tournament, the newly independent states of Serbia and Montenegro competed as a united team and played their last group match on 21 June, failing to qualify for the following knockout stage.

The first official competition that the Montenegro national team competed in was the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying; they had not registered membership with FIFA in time for the qualifying draw for UEFA Euro 2008, which took place in January 2006. The team's good form at the start of UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying saw them reach a record high of 16th the FIFA World Rankings published in June 2011.

History

Formation

Following the independence of Montenegro from Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia took Serbia and Montenegro's place in the Euro 2008 qualifying stage, but UEFA had stated that they would be willing to include Montenegro as a late entry, as long as FIFA had ratified a separate Montenegrin Football Association before September 2006, when the qualifying began. However, as of the competition beginning, this had not occurred. In October 2006, Montenegro was granted provisional membership of UEFA, with a debate on full membership scheduled at a full UEFA Congress in January 2007. Montenegro's first FIFA World Ranking was joint 199th place, the last place on the list. This is because they had a score of 0 when the rankings were worked out.

First matches

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

On 26 January 2007, the Montenegro FA was granted full membership of UEFA, and played its first friendly match against Hungary on 24 March 2007 at Stadion Pod Goricom in Podgorica, a 2–1 victory. Striker Mirko Vučinić scored the country's first ever goal in the 62nd minute. On 31 May 2007, Montenegro was admitted as FIFA's 208th member.

Montenegro's first coach was Serbia and Montenegro-born Zoran Filipović. Hailed by both players and press, his record was rather positive, with 23 matches played, eight victories, eight draws and seven defeats. Filipović, however, left the Balkan newcomers in January 2010 when his contract expired. During his time, Macedonia rose to 73rd position in the FIFA rankings.

Montenegro played at the 2007 Kirin Cup, but finished in last place behind Japan and Colombia, losing to both teams.

On 26 March 2008, Montenegro recorded one of its best played matches with a 3–1 win over Norway. At the same time, the nation recorded its highest scoring game.

First competitive matches

On 6 September 2008, Montenegro played its first ever World Cup qualifier, at Podgorica City Stadium, against Bulgaria in Podgorica. As expected, Bulgaria took an early lead in the 11th minute with a goal from Stiliyan Petrov. Mirko Vučinić scored in the 61st minute to make the game 1–1. Igor Burzanović took a penalty and made it 2–1 in the 82nd minute. As Montenegrin fans were about to celebrate a historical first competitive win, a last-minute equalizer from Blagoy Georgiev spoiled the party. In their next match on 10 September, they achieved another notable result when they held the Republic of Ireland to a 0–0 draw.

Another near-upset came in a narrow 2–1 loss against Italy. Despite Alberto Aquilani's early strike, Vučinić quickly equalized 11 minutes later. Aquilani then scored again ten minutes later. However, their second match against Italy in the two-game series ended 2–0 in favor of the world champions. And another disappointment came when the team could only draw 0–0 against Georgia and went on to draw 2–2 against Cyprus, having fought back after being two goals down. The fixture on 5 September 2009 was a shock when, after taking an early lead against Bulgaria in Sofia with Stevan Jovetić putting them 1–0 up, Bulgaria scored four goals in succession to win 4–1. Montenegro, then eliminated, drew their next game with Cyprus 1–1, who were also eliminated. Montenegro would finally register their first competitive win against Georgia, winning 2–1. They then managed a great performance to hold the Republic of Ireland to a 0–0 draw at Croke Park. They ultimately finished fifth in the group with nine points, just below Cyprus on goal differential. Though they failed to qualify for the World Cup, Montenegro had performed better than expected in their first competitive international matches. The next month, they reached one of their highest positions in the FIFA rankings, in 73rd place.

Golden era

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification

During the UEFA Euro 2012 qualification, the team has recorded further victories. The team defeated Wales in Podgorica in a match attended by 9,000 fans. The team won 1–0 from a goal by Mirko Vučinić. A few days later, the team defeated Bulgaria in Sofia 1–0. The next month, the team defeated Switzerland 1–0 by taking the lead in the second half and then recorded a 0–0 draw in London against England. On 4 June 2011, Montenegro played against Bulgaria. Switzerland tied with England 2–2, with England narrowly avoiding defeat. Although Montenegro had a bright start, the Bulgarians were able to keep it 1–1. Radomir Đalović scored for Montenegro early in the second half, but Ivelin Popov scored minutes later, keeping Montenegro in second. Montenegro and England were at the time tied on points, but due to a larger goal difference, England remained ahead.

After that, Montenegro played against Wales in Cardiff. Montenegro were beaten 2–1 (Steve Morison and Aaron Ramsey for Wales, Stevan Jovetić for Montenegro]], and appeared to have significantly damaged their chances of making the play-offs. After the match, Montenegro still was in second in group G, but Switzerland has closed the gap to only three points.

On 7 October, Montenegro played its seventh match in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying against England in Podgorica. It was a rainy October night, but a very bright one for Montenegro. England started the match well, leading 0–2 in the 31st minute thanks to goals by Ashley Young and Darren Bent. A deflected volley by Elsad Zverotić in the 45th minute reduced the deficit to 1–2, and Montenegro were much brighter in the second half, creating a lot of chances. Their cause was greatly helped by the dismissal of Wayne Rooney after 73 minutes for kicking out at Miodrag Džudović. Montenegro equalised in stoppage time when a cross from Stefan Savić was headed in at the far post by Andrija Delibašić. The Montenegrins celebrated wildly, knowing following an announcement on the public address system that Wales were beating Switzerland 2–0, and thus that a point would be sufficient to guarantee second place in the group and a place in the play-offs. The game ended 2–2, whilst Wales won 2–0, securing a play-off position for Montenegro, a historic achievement putting the team two matches away from qualifying for Euro 2012.

In their last match in Euro 2012 qualifying, Montenegro lost 2–0 to Switzerland in Basel, though the outcome did not carry any implications, as Montenegro had already secured their place in the play-offs.

On 13 October, the draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs was held in Kraków, Poland. As a result of the draw, Montenegro played against the Czech Republic, eventually losing 3–0 on aggregate and failing to qualify.

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Montenegro was in qualification Group H, along with England, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and San Marino.

In their first match, Montenegro played against Poland in Podgorica. Jakub Błaszczykowski scored from a penalty kick for Poland in the fifth minute, but Montenegro came back with goals by Nikola Drinčić in the 26th minute and Mirko Vučinić in the first half's injury time following a corner kick. In the second half, Adrian Mierzejewski scored an equalizer for Poland in the 55th minute, the game's final goal in a 2–2 draw.

On 11 September, Montenegro played against San Marino in Seravalle. In a very one-sided match, Montenegro won 0–6, the biggest win for Montenegro since its formation. Montenegro then proceeded to beat Ukraine 0–1 away in Kiev, the sole goal scored by Dejan Damjanović. In their last match in 2012, Montenegro faced San Marino in Podgorica on 14 November, a comfortable 3–0 win.

Montenegro played their fifth qualifier match against Moldova in Chișinău on 22 March 2013, winning 0–1 through Mirko Vučinić's lone goal. After that, Montenegro returned to Podgorica to play the second ranked team in the group, England. The outcome was a 1–1 draw the goals coming from Wayne Rooney in the sixth minute and from Dejan Damjanović.

At the top of their World Cup qualifying group, Montenegro hosted Ukraine on 7 June 2013. They suffered their first defeat, losing 0–4. The match also saw Montenegro finish the match with nine men after Vladimir Volkov and Savo Pavićević were sent off. Their last four matches yielded just a single point, a 1–1 draw in Poland. Their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign finished with a 2–5 home defeat to Moldova, finishing third in the group behind England and Ukraine.

Crisis

UEFA Euro 2016 qualification

On 23 February in Nice, Montenegro was drawn for qualification in Group G alongside Russia, Sweden, Austria, Moldova and Liechtenstein. They did not qualify.

Team image

Montenegrin supporters

Name

Under the official FIFA Trigramme, the team’s name is abbreviated as MNE, which is also the country's code. The team's nickname is "The Brave Falcons" (Montenegrin: Hrabri Sokoli).

Training

The Montenegrin national team trains at the Football Association of Montenegro Training Camp located in the Podgorica neighborhood of Stari Aerodrom.

Kit

The team kit is currently produced by Italian company Legea. It is all-red with gold details to reflect the colours of the Montenegrin national flag. Before that, briefly the kit providers were Adidas (2006–2007) and daCapo (2007–2008).

Manufacturer	Period
Adidas	2006–2007
daCapo	2007–2008
Legea	2008–present

Supporters

At competitive matches, the Montenegrin home ground Podgorica City Stadium is very often filled to capacity. The stadium is regarded as too small to meet the needs of the national team. Demand for the World Cup qualifier against Italy in 2009 was 30,000 tickets and 40,000 for the Euro 2012 qualifying match against England in 2011.

Montenegro's loudest and most loyal supporters are Ultra Crna Gora (Ultra Montenegro). They practice ultras way of support – standing up and singing for 90 minutes, no matter the result, both home and away. They occupy the north and south stands of Podgorica City Stadium. Choreography is usually performed at the beginning of the games. Ultra Crna Gora consists of many subgroups, mostly named after Podgorica's neighborhoods and Montenegrin towns in other parts of the country.

On 7 October 2011, in a match against England, at the sound of final whistle, hundreds of Montenegrin supporters ran onto the pitch to celebrate with the players.

Players

In international football, players can normally only play for one national team once they play in all or part of any match recognised as a full international by FIFA. However, an exception is made in cases where one or more newly independent states are created out of a former state. Based on current FIFA rules, a player will be eligible to play for Montenegro, even if he had previously represented Serbia and Montenegro or any other country, if at least one of the following statements applies:

• He was born in Montenegro.
• At least one of his parents and/or at least one of his grandparents was born in Montenegro.
• He has lived in Montenegro continuously for any five-year period.

Due to mixed ancestries, it is likely that a high percentage of the players eligible to play for Montenegro will also remain eligible to play for Serbia, and vice versa. However, once they have played for either Serbia or Montenegro in any competitive fixture, they are no longer eligible to play for any other nation.

Current squad

The following squad was called up for the Friendly Match against Turkey on 29 May, 2016.
Caps and goals as of 29 May 2016 after the game against Turkey.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Vukašin Poleksić (Vice-Captain) (1982-08-30) 30 August 1982 38 0 Békéscsaba 1GK Milan Mijatović (1987-07-26) 26 July 1987 2 0 Bokelj 1GK Danijel Petković (1993-05-25) 25 May 1993 1 0 Lovćen 2DF Elsad Zverotić (1986-10-31) 31 October 1986 58 5 Sion 2DF Marko Baša (1982-12-29) 29 December 1982 37 2 Lille 2DF Žarko Tomašević (1990-02-22) 22 February 1990 18 2 Kortrijk 2DF Marko Simić (1987-06-16) 16 June 1987 18 0 Kayserispor 2DF Vladimir Volkov (1986-06-06) 6 June 1986 17 0 Lech Poznań 2DF Adam Marušić (1992-10-17) 17 October 1992 9 0 Kortrijk 2DF Marko Vešović (1991-08-28) 28 August 1991 7 0 Rijeka 2DF Aleksandar Šofranac (1990-10-21) 21 October 1990 2 0 Sutjeska 2DF Emrah Klimenta (1991-02-13) 13 February 1991 1 0 Sacramento Republic 2DF Nemanja Mijušković (1992-03-04) 4 March 1992 1 0 Vardar 2DF Filip Stojković (1993-01-22) 22 January 1993 1 0 Čukarički 2DF Risto Radunović (1992-05-04) 4 May 1992 0 0 Budućnost 3MF Mladen Kašćelan (1983-02-13) 13 February 1983 25 0 Tosno 3MF Nikola Vukčević (1991-12-13) 13 December 1991 16 0 Braga 3MF Nemanja Nikolić (1988-01-01) 1 January 1988 11 0 Hapoel Tel Aviv 3MF Marko Bakić (1993-11-01) 1 November 1993 9 0 Fiorentina 3MF Vladimir Boljević (1988-01-17) 17 January 1988 8 0 AEK Larnaca 3MF Petar Grbić (1988-08-07) 7 August 1988 7 0 Akhisar Belediyespor 3MF Vladimir Jovović (1994-10-26) 26 October 1994 6 0 OFK Beograd 3MF Vladimir Rodić (1993-09-07) 7 September 1993 5 0 Malmö FF 3MF Branislav Janković (1992-04-08) 8 April 1992 3 0 Čukarički 3MF Darko Zorić (1993-09-12) 12 September 1993 3 0 Borac Čačak 3MF Aleksandar Šćekić (1991-12-12) 12 December 1991 2 0 Bokelj 3MF Marko Janković (1995-07-09) 9 July 1995 1 0 Maribor 3MF Nebojša Kosović (1995-02-24) 24 February 1995 1 0 Partizan 3MF Damir Kojašević (1987-06-03) 3 June 1987 0 0 Vardar 3MF Vukan Savićević (1994-01-29) 29 January 1994 0 0 Slovan Bratislava 4FW Mirko Vučinić (Captain) (1983-10-01) 1 October 1983 44 17 Al-Jazira 4FW Stevan Jovetić (Vice-Captain) (1989-11-02) 2 November 1989 40 16 Internazionale 4FW Fatos Bećiraj (1988-05-22) 22 May 1988 40 5 Dynamo Moscow 4FW Stefan Mugoša (1992-02-23) 23 February 1992 10 0 1860 München 4FW Filip Raičević (1993-07-02) 2 July 1993 2 0 Vicenza

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called on the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mladen Božović	(1984-08-01) 1 August 1984	38	0	Zeta	v. Sweden, 14 June 2015
GK	Ivan Janjušević	(1986-11-05) 5 November 1986	1	0	Balzan	v. Sweden, 14 June 2015
DF	Stefan Savić	(1991-01-08) 8 January 1991	37	3	Atlético Madrid	v. Belarus, 29 May 2016
DF	Esteban Saveljich	(1991-05-29) 29 May 1991	4	0	Almería	v. Belarus, 29 May 2016
DF	Saša Balić	(1990-01-29) 29 January 1990	12	0	Târgu Mureș	v. Macedonia, 12 Novemmber 2015
MF	Staniša Mandić	(1995-01-27) 27 January 1995	4	0	Čukarički	v. Macedonia, 12 Novemmber 2015
MF	Draško Božović	(1988-06-30) 30 June 1988	2	0	Rudar	v. Macedonia, 12 Novemmber 2015
MF	Marko Vukčević	(1993-07-07) 7 July 1993	1	0	Vojvodina	v. Sweden, 14 June 2015
FW	Dejan Damjanović	(1981-07-27) 27 July 1981	30	8	FC Seoul	v. Russia, 12 October 2015
FW	Goran Vujović	(1987-05-03) 3 May 1987	1	0	Arsenal Tula	v. Sweden, 14 June 2015

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• ^INJ Withdrew due to an injury.
• ^PRE Preliminary squad.
• ^RET Retired from international football.

Managers

Manager	Career	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	GF	GA	Win %
Zoran Filipović	2006–2009	23	8	8	7	28	31	34.78%
Zlatko Kranjčar	2010–2011	13	6	2	5	14	11	46.15%
Branko Brnović	2011–2015	34	11	9	14	39	40	32.35%
Ljubiša Tumbaković	2016-	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.00%

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Ljubiša Tumbaković
Assistant Coach	Zoran Mirković
Assistant Coach	Aleksandar Janković
Assistant Coach	Miodrag Džudović
Goalkeeping Coach	Dragoje Leković

Player records

Player/coach records are accurate as of 29 March 2016.

  Active players are highlighted

Most capped players

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Elsad Zverotić	2008–	58	5
2	Simon Vukčević	2006–	45	2
3	Mirko Vučinić	2006–	44	17
4	Vladimir Božović	2006–2014	42	0
5	Stevan Jovetić	2006–	40	16
	Fatos Bećiraj	2009–	40	5
7	Savo Pavićević	2006–2014	39	0
8	Mladen Božović	2006–	38	0
	Vukašin Poleksić	2009–	38	0
10	Stefan Savić	2010–	37	3
	Marko Baša	2009–	37	2

Top goalscorers

#	Player	Career	Goals	Caps	Goals/Cap
1	Mirko Vučinić	2006–	17	44	0.39
2	Stevan Jovetić	2007–	16	40	0.4
3	Dejan Damjanović	2008–	8	30	0.27
4	Radomir Đalović	2006–2012	7	26	0.27
5	Andrija Delibašić	2009–2013	6	21	0.29
6	Elsad Zverotić	2008–	5	58	0.09
	Fatos Bećiraj	2009–	5	40	0.13
8	Nikola Drinčić	2006–2014	3	33	0.09
	Stefan Savić	2010–	3	37	0.08
10	Igor Burzanović	2006–2009	2	8	0.25
	Simon Vukčević	2006–2014	2	45	0.04
	Marko Baša	2009–	2	37	0.05

Captains

#	Player	Montenegro career	Captain (Total Caps)
1	Mirko Vučinić (current captain)	2006–	22 (29)

Competition History

Montenegro have participated in two qualification rounds for big tournaments so far. On both occasions, Montenegro failed to qualify. Firstly, Montenegro tried to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but they finished 5th in their group. Montenegro had more success in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifications, when they finished 2nd in their group, and qualified for the play-offs. They failed to qualify for the main event, because they lost their two leg match against Czech Republic.

FIFA World Cup

Year	Round	Position	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 2006	Part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro
2010	Did Not Qualify
2014
2018	TBD
2022
Total		0/20	0	0	0	0	0	0

UEFA European Football Championship

Year	Round	Position	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960 to 2004	Part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro
2008	Did Not Enter
2012	Did Not Qualify
2016
Total		0/15	0	0	0	0	0	0

Recent results and fixtures

Main article: List of official matches of the Montenegro national football team

FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying

Main article: 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts England 10 6 4 0 31 4 +27 22 Ukraine 10 6 3 1 28 4 +24 21 Montenegro 10 4 3 3 18 17 +1 15 Poland 10 3 4 3 18 12 +6 13 Moldova 10 3 2 5 12 17 −5 11 San Marino 10 0 0 10 1 54 −53 0

England — 4–0 4–1 2–0 5–0 1–1 Moldova 0–5 — 0–1 1–1 3–0 0–0 Montenegro 1–1 2–5 — 2–2 3–0 0–4 Poland 1–1 2–0 1–1 — 5–0 1–3 San Marino 0–8 0–2 0–6 1–5 — 0–8 Ukraine 0–0 2–1 0–1 1–0 9–0 —

Top Goalscorers during Qualification

4 goals

• Andrija Delibašić
• Dejan Damjanović

2 goals

• Fatos Bećiraj
• Elsad Zverotić

• Mirko Vučinić

1 goal

• Nikola Drinčić
• Luka Đorđević

UEFA Euro 2016 qualification

Main article: UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group G

See also

• Sport in Montenegro
• Football in Montenegro
• List of Montenegro international footballers
• Montenegro national football team record

External links

• Football Association of Montenegro (Montenegrin)
• FIFA.com (Montenegro) (English)
• UEFA.com (Montenegro) (English)
• List of players (English)
• Montenegro national team match reports (English)