Serbia national rugby league team

Serbia

Nickname

White Eagles (Beli orlovi)

Governing body

Serbian Rugby League

Region

Europe

Head coach

Marko Janković

Captain

Dalibor Vukanović

Most caps

Zoran Pešić (28)

Home stadium

Makiš Stadium, Belgrade

RLIF ranking

14th

Colours

First international

Lebanon 102–0 Serbia

(19 October 2003)

Biggest win

Germany 6–90 Serbia

(22 April 2011)

Biggest defeat

France 120–0 Serbia

(22 October 2003)

The Serbia national rugby league team represents Serbia in the sport of rugby league football and has been participating in international competition since 2003.

History

Rugby League was first played in Serbia in 1953 when it was introduced by Dragan Marsicevic, secretary of the Yugoslav Sport Association. Two French teams toured later that year, and in 1954 the clubs Partizan and Radnički were formed. These clubs played their first match on April 26, 1954.

In 1961 a Yugoslav Rugby League team played its only game against a French Select XIII team in Banja Luka. The French team won 13-0. The sport was died out soon afterwards.

The Serbian Rugby 13 Federation was formed on November 10, 2001. There is now an eight team domestic competition between Dorcol Spiders, Morava Cheetahs, Red Star Belgrade, Belgrade University, Radnički Nova Pazova, Tsar Lazar, Soko, Stari Grad, and Niš.

Serbia has participated in the Mediterranean Cup competition in 2003 and 2004.

Serbia won the 2006 and 2007 Slavic Cup after beating Czech Republic 36-28 in Prague and 56-16 in Belgrade, respectively.

2008 World Cup Qualifying

Serbia failed to qualify for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, losing to Holland, Russia and Georgia in 2006, to be eliminated from the qualification process.

Serbia won 2007 and 2010 European Shield tournaments, by beating both Germany and Czech Republic on both occasions.

Serbia took part in then European 2nd tier competition Euro Med Challenge in 2008. After being defeated 4-30 by Russia in Novi Sad and 14-20 by Lebanon in Bhamdoun, Serbs finished third.

Serbia was a participant in the 2009 European Cup, having been drawn in a group alongside Wales and Ireland.

2013 World Cup Qualifying

Main article: 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifying

Serbia participated in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers in October 2011. They played games against Italy, Lebanon and Russia, but were defeated in all three matches and so were ultimately unsuccessful in qualification for the tournament.

2014 Balkans Cup

Main article: 2014 Balkans Cup (rugby league)

Serbia participated in the inaugural Balkans Cup tournament in held in their own country. Serbia finished second in the tournament after a defeat to Greece in the final.^[1]

2017 World Cup Qualifying

Main article: 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying

Serbia participated in the qualification for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. The first stage of qualifying involved having to finish in the top 3 in their 2014–15 European Shield competition. During their qualification, Serbia created history after beating Russia for their first ever time on their eighth time of asking.^[2] Serbia managed to qualify for the final round of European Qualification after beating Italy on the 20th of June. Serbia finished on top of the pool with 10 points after defeating Ukraine in the final game.

The final qualification tournament will consist of 6 teams - the top three teams from the European B tournament, the winners of the European C tournament and seeded nations Wales and Ireland. The tournament will feature two groups of three teams playing in a single round-robin format. The winners of each group will qualify for the World Cup, while the runners-up will face each other in a play-off match on 5 November 2016 to determine the final spot. A seeded draw will take place to determine the groups on 5 November 2015.

Tournament History

The following tournaments is a list of notable international competitions that Serbia has been competing in since their existence in 2003. A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Serbia

World Cup

World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2008	Failed to Qualify
2013	Failed to Qualify
2017	To Be Determined
Total	0 Titles	0/13	0	0	0	0

Balkans Cup

Balkans Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2014	Second place	2/4	2	1	1	0
Total	0 Titles	1/1	2	1	1	0

European Cup

European Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2005	Failed to Qualify
2009	Group Stage	5/6	2	0	2	0
2010	Not Invited
2012	Not Invited
2014	Not Invited
2015	Not Invited
Total	0 Titles	1/32	2	0	2	0

European Shield

European Shield record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	D
2006	Not Invited
2007	Champions	1/3	2	2	0	0
2008	Not Invited
2009	Not Invited
2010	Champions	1/3	2	2	0	0
2011	Not Invited
2012/13	Third Place	3/4	6	2	4	0
2014/15	Champions	1/4	6	5	1	0
Total	3 Titles	4/8	16	11	5	0

2011 squad

2011 Serbia Squad

First team squad

Coaching staff

1 Adam Nedić - FB
2 Mirko Božović - WG
3 Aleksandar Sič - CE
4 Lazar Živković - CE
5 Vladan Kikanović - WG
6 Milan Šušnjara - FE
7 Dalibor Vukanović (c) - HB
8 Dejan Lukenić - PR
9 Nikša Unković - HK
10 Danilo Delić - PR
11 Ivan Djordjević - SR
12 Vuk Tvrdišić - SR
13 Soni Radovanović - LF

14 Stevan Stevanović - HK
15 Miloš Ćalić - PR
16 Stefan Nikolić - PR
17 Zoran Pešić - SR
18 Nebojša Živanović - CE
19 Radovan Tajsić - LF
20 Nenad Radević - SR
21 Ivan Šušnjara - FB
22 Stefan Nedeljković - PR
23 Aleksandar Aleksić - SR
24 Nemanja Cojić - SO
25 Marko Milenković - PR
26 Slaviša Zekić - SR

27 Ilija Radan - PR
28 Pero Madžarević - PR
29 Austen Novaković - SR
30 Miloš Zogović - CE

Head coach

Marko Janković

Legend:

(c) Captain
(vc) Vice captain

Updated: 29 June 2010
Source(s): European Shield 2010

Notable players that have played for Serbia

Notable players of Serbian Heritage

Youth National Teams

Serbian youth national teams permanently compete in European cups from 2006. Their first appearance was in France during Under 19s European Nations Cup. They finished 6th after dying minutes defeat by Scotland Under 19s.

In 2007, Serbia hosted Under 16s European Nations Cup. Win over Russia Under 16s in group stage secured match for the 3rd place, but Serbia Under 16s eventually lost 20-22 by Euro Celts Under 16s and finished 4th.

In 2008 Serbia attended Under 18s European Nations Cup in Czech Republic. Ireland Under 18s beat Serbia Under 18s in preliminaries and send them to European Nation Shield semifinals, where they beat Euro Celts Under 18s and qualify for the Shield final. In the most indecisive game of the tournament, Serbs finally lost to Scots after golden point extra time (second extra time) and won 6th place.

In 2009, Serbia hosted Under 16s European Championships for the second time. Serbia Under 16s failed to win a game in the European Shield part of the competition. The both, Euro Celts Under 16s (composed of Irish, Russian, Welsh, Czech, Serbian and French players) and Scotland Under 16s defeated Serbia Under 16s on their home soil and Serbs finished 6th.

All-time Results Record

RLIF World Rankings
Official Rankings as of December 2015^[3]
Rank	Change	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	897.00
2		Australia	719.00
3		England	655.00
4		Samoa	280.00
5		France	209.00
6		Ireland	162.00
7		Fiji	147.00
8		Wales	132.00
9		Scotland	121.00
10		United States	102.00
11		Serbia	72.00
12		Italy	65.00
13		Canada	62.00
14		Papua New Guinea	60.00
15		Russia	46.00
16		Tonga	40.00
17		Belgium	40.00
18		Malta	32.00
19		Germany	28.00
20		Lebanon	27.00
21		Spain	26.00
22		Cook Islands	23.00
23		Ukraine	22.00
24		Greece	21.00
25		Denmark	20.00
26		Norway	19.00
27		Jamaica	16.00
28		Netherlands	15.00
29		Sweden	15.00
30		Czech Republic	14.00
31		South Africa	13.00
32		Niue	4.00
33		Hungary	2.00
34		Latvia	2.00
35		Morocco	0.00

Below is table of the official representative rugby league matches played by Serbia at test level up until 5 February 2016:

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Czech Republic	4	4	0	0	100%	204	54	+150
France	3	0	0	3	0%	12	206	-194
Georgia	2	0	0	2	0%	22	89	-67
Greece	2	0	0	2	0%	48	94	-46
Germany	6	5	0	1	83.3%	284	71	+213
Hungary	1	1	0	0	100%	50	0	+50
Ireland	1	0	0	1	0%	0	82	-82
Italy	6	3	0	3	50%	130	166	-36
Morocco	2	0	1	1	0%	24	78	-54
Netherlands	2	0	0	2	0%	36	54	-18
Philippines	1	0	0	1	0%	12	18	-6
Russia	8	1	0	7	12.5%	104	214	-110
Ukraine	3	3	0	0	100%	114	22	+92
Wales	1	0	0	1	0%	8	88	-80
Total	40	16	1	23	40%	1,095	1,204	-109

Date	Result	Competition	Venue
5 February 2016	Philippines def. Serbia 18-12	Friendly International	New Era Stadium, Sydney, Australia^[4]^[5]
12 September 2015	Serbia def. Ukraine 64-4	2014/15 European Championship B	FC Locomotive Stadium, Chop, Ukraine ^[6]
20 June 2015	Serbia def. Italy 21-14	2014/15 European Championship B	Stadio comunale di Teglio Veneto, Gemona, Italy ^[7]
22 May 2015	France def. Serbia 68-8	Friendly International	Saint-Esteve, France ^[8]
16 May 2015	Serbia def. Russia 20-15	2014/15 European Championship B	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[9]
19 October 2014	Greece def. Serbia 50-22	2014 Balkans Cup	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[10]
17 October 2014	Serbia def. Hungary 50-0	2014 Balkans Cup	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[11]
21 June 2014	Serbia def. Italy 45-6	2014/15 European Championship B	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[12]
17 May 2014	Serbia def. Ukraine 40-14	2014/15 European Championship B	Zeleznicar Stadium, Niš, Serbia ^[13]
14 September 2013	Italy def. Serbia 32-20	Rugby League European Shield	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[14]
25 May 2013	Russia def. Serbia 24-10	Rugby League European Shield	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[15]
18 May 2013	Serbia def. Germany 46-10	Rugby League European Shield	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[16]
22 September 2012	Russia def. Serbia 21-20	Rugby League European Shield	Nara Stadium, Narofominsk, Russia ^[17]
9 June 2012	Serbia def. Italy 24-18	Rugby League European Shield	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia ^[18]
12 May 2012	Germany def. Serbia 25-24	Rugby League European Shield	Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg, Germany^[19]
29 October 2011	Russia def. Serbia 36-28	2013 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[20]
23 October 2011	Italy def. Serbia 52-6	2013 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	Makiš Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[21]
16 October 2011	Lebanon def. Serbia 96-4	2013 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	Olympic Stadium, Tripoli, Lebanon^[22]
30 September 2011	Serbia def. Ukraine 10-4	Milan Kosanovic Cup	Ada Ciganlija Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[23]
22 April 2011	Serbia def. Germany 90-6	Friendly International	TuS Hochspeyer, Kaiserslautern, Germany^[24]
3 July 2010	Serbia def. Germany 40-14	Rugby League European Shield, West Division	FK Radnički Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[25]
26 June 2010	Serbia def. Czech Republic 56-4	Rugby League European Shield, West Division	RK Petrovice, Prague, Czech Republic^[26]
8 November 2009	Italy def. Serbia 42-14	2009 Rugby League European Cup	The Llynfi Road, Maesteg, Wales^[27]
25 October 2009	Wales def. Serbia 88-8	2009 Rugby League European Cup	FK Smederevo, Smederevo, Serbia^[28]
18 October 2009	Ireland def. Serbia 82-0	2009 Rugby League European Cup	Tullamore, Ireland^[29]
5 October 2008	Lebanon def. Serbia 20-14	Rugby League Euro Med Challenge	Municipal Stadium, Bhamdoun, Lebanon^[30]
20 September 2008	Russia def. Serbia 30-4	Rugby League Euro Med Challenge	FK Kabel, Novi Sad, Serbia ^[31]
18 August 2007	Serbia def. Czech Republic 56-16	Rugby League European Shield	FK Radnički Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[32]
7 July 2007	Serbia def. Germany 38-6	Rugby League European Shield	Heidelberg, Germany^[33]
12 August 2006	Serbia def. Czech Republic 34-26	Slavic Cup	Ragbyove hřiště v Edenu, Prague, Czech Republic
17 June 2006	Netherlands def. Serbia 38-26	2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	Rotterdamse RC Beekweg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands^[34]
4 June 2006	Russia def. Serbia 44-6	2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	FK Radnički Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[35]
13 May 2006	Georgia def. Serbia 45-10	2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers	FK Radnički Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[36]
24 July 2005	Georgia def. Serbia 44-12	2005 Rugby League European Cup Qualifier	Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia^[37]
18 June 2005	Netherlands def. Serbia 26-10	2005 Rugby League European Cup Qualifier	FK Radnički Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia^[38]
25 October 2003	Morocco XIII def. Serbia 58-4	Rugby League Mediterranean Cup	Olympic Stadium, Tripoli, Lebanon^[39]
22 October 2003	France def. Serbia 120-0	Rugby League Mediterranean Cup	Municipal Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon^[40]
19 October 2003	Lebanon def. Serbia 102-0	Rugby League Mediterranean Cup	Olympic Stadium, Tripoli, Lebanon^[41]

References

External links

Rugby League European Federation

Members	Full England France Ireland Jamaica Lebanon Russia Scotland Serbia South Africa Ukraine Wales Associative Canada Czech Republic Germany Greece Italy Latvia Malta Norway Observers Bosnia Belgium Catalonia Denmark Hungary Morocco Netherlands Saudi Arabia Spain Sweden Trinidad & Tobago United Arab Emirates

National teams	Austria Bosnia Belgium Catalonia Czech Republic England Estonia France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lebanon Malta Moldova Morocco Netherlands Norway Portugal Russia Scotland Serbia Spain Sweden Ukraine Wales

Competitions	European Cup European Championship B (2nd tier) European Championship C (3rd tier) Euro Med Challenge (defunct)

Rugby League International Federation

Full members	Australia Cook Islands England Fiji France Ireland Jamaica Lebanon New Zealand Papua New Guinea Russia Samoa Scotland Serbia South Africa Tonga Ukraine Wales

Affiliate nations	Belgium Canada Czech Republic Denmark Germany Ghana Greece Hungary Italy Japan Latvia Malta Morocco Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden United Arab Emirates United States

Unaffiliated nations	American Samoa Argentina Austria Bosnia Burundi Catalonia Chile Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Georgia Moldova New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Peru Philippines Portugal Solomon Islands Thailand Tokelau Uruguay Vanuatu West Indies

International competitions	Men's World Cup Women's World Cup Tertiary Student Rugby League World Cup World Club Challenge Four Nations Tri-Nations The Ashes World Sevens World Nines Anzac Test Asian Cup Baskerville Shield European Cup European Shield European Bowl Mediterranean Cup Pacific Cup Saint Patrick's Day Test Slavic Cup Peter Leitch QSM Challenge Trophy Atlantic Cup Colonial Cup Nordic Cup Milan Kosanovic Cup Balkans Cup Cabramatta International Nines Latino Rugby League Sevens

Awards and rankings	Hall of Fame Golden Boot RLIF Awards World Rankings

Teams list	Men's Women's

National sports teams of Serbia

American football Baseball Basketball F M 3x3 Beach handball F M Cricket Football F M Futsal Handball F M Ice hockey Korfball Rugby league Rugby Union F F7 M M7 Softball Tennis F M Mixed Volleyball F M Water polo F M

Olympic Games Paralympic Games European Games Mediterranean Games

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