Montenegro national football team

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Montenegro

Nickname

Hrabri Sokoli (The Brave Falcons)

Association

Football Association of
Montenegro

Confederation

UEFA (Europe)

Head coach

Zoran Filipović

Captain

Mirko Vučinić

Top scorer

Mirko Vučinić ; Igor Burzanović (1)

Home stadium

Stadion pod Goricom, Podgorica

FIFA code

MNE

Elo ranking





First kit





Second kit

First international

Montenegro 2 - 1 Hungary

(Podgorica, Montenegro; March 24, 2007)

Biggest win

Montenegro 2 - 1 Hungary

(Podgorica, Montenegro; 24 March 2007)

Biggest defeat

The Montenegro national football team came into existence following the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In that event, the newly independent states of Serbia and Montenegro competed as a united team and played their last group match on June 21, failing to qualify for the following knockout stage.

As successor to the joint team, Serbia took its 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.[2] In October 2006, Montenegro was granted provisional membership of UEFA, with a debate on full membership due at a full UEFA Congress in January 2007 [3]. On 26 January 2007, the Montenegro FA was granted full membership of UEFA [4], and played its first friendly match against Hungary on 24 March, 2007 at Stadion Pod Goricom in Podgorica, resulting in a 2-1 victory.[5]

The first official competition that the Montenegro national team will compete in is the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Montenegro will play at the Kirin Cup 2007 in early June.

1 World Cup record
2 European Championship record
3 Current coaching staff
4 Player selection
- 4.1 Current Squad
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

1930 to 1938 - Was part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1950 to 1990 - Was part of SFR Yugoslavia
1994 to 2002 - Was part of FR Yugoslavia
2006 - Was part of Serbia and Montenegro

1960 to 1992 - Was part of SFR Yugoslavia
1996 to 2000 - Was part of FR Yugoslavia
2004 - Was part of Serbia and Montenegro
2008 - Did not enter, not UEFA members until January 2007 Serbia took Serbia & Montenegro's place in qualifying

Head Coach: Zoran Filipović
Assistant Coach: Branko Brnović
Goalkeeping coach: Zoran Lemajić

In international football, players are normally committed to play for a specific national team to the exclusion of all others 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, if at least one of the following statements about him is true:

He has acquired Montenegrin citizenship.
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, etc. it is probable that a large 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, they are no longer eligible to play for the other one.

On 18 March 2007, Montenegrin head coach Zoran Filipović announced the squad for the team's first official game against Hungary. Players called up for the game that was played on 24 March 2007:^[1]

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Vukašin Poleksić	August 30, 1982 (age 24)	1	0	FC Tatabánya
2	DF	Risto Lakić	March 7, 1983 (age 24)	0	0	Budućnost
3	DF	Milan Jovanović	April 18, 1981 (age 25)	1	0	Unirea
4	DF	Savo Pavićević	December 11, 1980 (age 26)	1	0	Hajduk Kula
5	DF	Radoslav Batak	August 15, 1977 (age 29)	1	0	Ankaraspor
6	DF	Jovan Tanasijević	January 20, 1978 (age 29)	1	0	Dynamo Moscow
7	MF	Nikola Vujović	June 23, 1981 (age 25)	0	0	Budućnost
8	FW	Stevan Jovetić	November 2, 1989 (age 17)	1	0	Partizan
9	FW	Mirko Vučinić (captain)	October 1, 1983 (age 23)	1	1	AS Roma
10	FW	Igor Burzanović	August 25, 1985 (age 21)	1	1	Red Star Belgrade
11	MF	Simon Vukčević	January 29, 1986 (age 21)	1	0	Saturn
12	GK	Mladen Božović	August 1, 1984 (age 22)	0	0	Budućnost
13	DF	~~Milan Radulović~~^[2]	August 18, 1981 (age 25)	0	0	Zeta
14	MF	Janko Tumbasović	January 14, 1985 (age 22)	1	0	Zeta
15	MF	Vladimir Vujović	July 23, 1982 (age 24)	1	0	Al-Wahda
16	MF	Neđeljko Vlahović		0	0	Kom
17	DF	Vlado Jeknić	January 12, 1975 (age 32)	1	0	Burghausen
18	MF	Mirko Raičević	March 22, 1982 (age 25)	1	0	Budućnost
19	MF	Vladimir Božović	November 13, 1981 (age 25)	1	0	OFK Beograd
20	FW	Milan Purović	July 5, 1985 (age 21)	1	0	Red Star Belgrade
21	DF	Luka Pejović		0	0	Grbalj
22	MF	Branko Bošković	June 21, 1980 (age 26)	1	0	Rapid Wien
23	DF	Aleksandar Mikijelj^[2]	February 5, 1979 (age 28)	0	0	Mogren