The Serbia national rugby league team represents Serbia in the sport of rugby league football. They have competed in international competition since 2003 under the administration of the Serbian Rugby League.
They are coached by Englishman Darren Fisher, and captained by Stevan Stevanović.
History 1950s–1960s 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 26 April 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 died out soon afterwards due to the communist regime banning the sport.
2000s The rebirth of Serbian Rugby League Federation was on 10 November 2001 with the new federation been formed. 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 the 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
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
Serbia participated in the inaugural Balkans Cup tournament held in their own country. Serbia finished second in the tournament after a defeat to Greece who had a full squad of Australian born players in the final.
2017 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 three 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.
The final qualification tournament consisted of six 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 featured two groups of three teams playing in a single round-robin format. The winners of each group qualified for the World Cup, while the runners-up faced each other in a play-off match on 5 November 2016 to determine the final spot. A seeded draw took place to determine the groups on 5 November 2015. Serbia were placed in Group A. They took on Wales on 15 October 2016, in Llanelli Wales and Italy in Belgrade on 22 October for a place in the 2017 World Cup.
In the lead up to the World Cup qualifiers, Serbia played Spain in Valencia and ran out 64-4 winners a dominant display in the first ever meeting between these two nations.
In the first World Cup qualifier against a Wales side full of Super League and Championship players, Serbia lost, 50–0, proving that there is still a long way to go but that there was some slight improvement from last time the two nations meet in 2009 when Serbia lost 88–8.
In the second and final game of World Cup qualifying Serbia needed victory over Italy to send them through to a one-game playoff against Russia but lost the game at the Makiš Stadium in Belgrade, 14–62, which was a result against an Italian team with many NRL and English Super League players who were Australians of Italian heritage. On 10 November 2016, 15 years was celebrated since the re-forming of Serbian Rugby League a milestone occasion.
2021 World Cup qualifying Serbia were eliminated very early in qualifying, but caught a lucky break when Russian Rugby League Federation were disqualified due to internal issues. Serbia reluctantly took Russia's place in the final stages of qualifying but were easily eliminated losing on 26 October 2019 to Scotland 86–0 in Glasgow, then losing the deciding match in Belgrade to Greece on 9 November 2019 by another embarrassing score-line of 6–82.
Coaching history Also see :Category:Serbia national rugby league team coaches.
John Risman 2004 Marko Janković 2006–08 Gerard Stokes 2008–09 Marko Janković 2010–15 Radoslav Novaković 2015 (interim) Jason Green 2016 Ljubomir Bukvić 2016–17 Radoslav Novaković 2018 (caretaker) Brett Davidson 2018 Stuart Wilkinson 2019 Darren "Daz" Fisher 2021
Current squad The 19-man national team selected for the match against in October 2024: Nicholas O'Meley (Burleigh Bears) Nick Cotric (Catalans Dragons) Andrej Mora (Dorcol Tigers) David Nofoaluma (Baroudeurs De Pia XIII) Sasha Popovic (Glebe Dirty Reds) Jake O'Meley (Lakes United Seagulls) Ilija Cotric (Mounties) Jesse Soric (NZ Warriors) Aleksandar Pavlovic (Partisan 1953) Djordje Krnjeta (Partisan 1953) Dzavid Jasari (Partisan 1953) Enis Bibic (Partisan 1953) Stevan Stevanovic (Partisan 1953) Marko Jankovic (Red Star) Milos Calic (Red Star) Nikola Djuric (Red Star) Rajko Trifunovic (Red Star) Vukw Strbac (Red Star) Jason Muranka (Free Agent) Jordan Grant (Wynnum-Manly)
Competitive Record Overall Below is table of the official representative rugby league matches played by Serbia at test level up until 27 October 2024:
Opponent Played Won Drawn Lost Win % For Aga Diff 1 1 0 0 100% 50 4 +46 2 2 0 0 100% 78 36 +42 1 1 0 0 100% 36 8 +28 5 4 0 1 75% 186 82 +92 † 4 0 0 4 0% 22 284 –262 2 0 0 2 0% 22 89 –67 5 2 0 3 25% 144 190 –46 5 4 0 1 80% 238 61 +177 1 1 0 0 100% 50 0 +50 2 0 0 2 0% 16 106 –90 8 4 0 4 % 196 230 –34 4 0 0 4 % 24 282 –258 2 2 0 0 % 76 50 +26 3 0 1 2 0% 30 122 –92 5 0 0 5 0% 66 180 –114 1 0 0 1 0% 12 18 –6 9 2 0 7 % 174 236 –62 1 0 0 1 0% 0 86 –86 2 2 0 0 100% 88 24 +64 5 5 0 0 100% 218 50 +168 3 0 0 3 0% 8 186 –178 Total 70 29 1 40 % 1,688 2,320 –632 †Includes matches played against the France Espoirs side.
World Cup World Cup recordYearRoundPositionGPWLD 1954did not enter 1957 1960 1968 1970 1972 1975 1977 1985-88 1989-92 1995 2000 2008 Failed to Qualify 2013 2017 2021 2026Total0 Titles0/140000
European Championship European Championship recordYear**DivisionRound2007BChampions1st22002009AFifth place5th20022010BChampions1st22002012-13BThird place3rd62042014-15BChampions1st65012018BThird place3rd21102020BChampions1st2200 Champions Runners-up Promoted Relegated
Balkans Cup Balkans Cup recordYearRoundPositionGPWLD 2014Second place2/42110 2017Champions1/32200Total1 Titles2/24310
Results Date Score Opponent Competition Venue Attendance 19 October 2003 0–102 2003 Mediterranean Cup Olympic Stadium, Tripoli 22 October 2003 0–120 Municipal Stadium, Beirut 25 October 2003 4–58 Olympic Stadium, Tripoli 18 June 2005 10–26 2005 European Nations Qualifiers FK Radnički Novi Beograd, Belgrade 24 July 2005 44–12 Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi 8,000 13 May 2006 10–45 2008 World Cup Qualifying – Europe FK Radnički Novi Beograd, Belgrade 500 4 June 2006 6–44 FK Radnički Novi Beograd, Belgrade 500 17 June 2006 26–38 , Rotterdam 250 12 August 2006 34–26 2006 Slavic Cup Ragbyove hřiště v Edenu, Prague 7 July 2007 38–6 2007 European Shield Fritz-Grunebaum Sportpark, Heidelberg 264 18 August 2007 56–16 FK Radnički Novi Beograd, Belgrade 650 20 September 2008 4–30 2008 Euro-Med Challenge FK Kabel, Novi Sad 500 5 October 2008 14–20 Municipal Stadium, Beirut 1,000 18 October 2009 0–82 2009 European Cup Spollanstown, Tullamore 295 25 October 2009 8–88 FK Smederevo Stadium, Smederevo 93 8 November 2009 14–42 Llynfi Road, Maesteg 17 July 2010 56–4 2010 European Shield – West RK Petrovice, Prague 100 July 2010 40–14 FK Radnički Novi Beograd, Belgrade 300 22 April 2011 90–6 TuS Hochspeyer, Kaiserslautern 30 September 2011 10–4 Milan Kosanovic Cup Ada Ciganlija Stadium, Belgrade 16 October 2011 4–96 2013 World Cup Qualifiers - Europe Olympic Stadium, Tripoli 23 October 2011 6–52 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 29 October 2011 28–36 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 12 May 2012 24–25 2012-13 European Shield Fritz-Grunebaum Sportpark, Heidelberg 6 September 2012 24–18 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 600 22 September 2012 20–21 Nara Stadium, Naro-Fominsk 18 May 2013 46–10 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 25 May 2013 10–24 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 14 September 2013 20–32 Stadio Augusteo, Este 17 May 2014 40–14 2014–15 Rugby League European Championship B Železničar Stadium, Niš 750 21 June 2014 6–20 Nara Stadium, Naro-Fominsk 10 September 2014 45–6 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 17 October 2014 50–0 2014 Balkans Cup Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 19 October 2014 50–22 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 16 May 2015 20–15 2014–15 Rugby League European Championship B Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 22 May 2015 8–68 Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan 20 June 2015 21–14 2014–15 Rugby League European Championship B Stadio comunale di Tegilo Veneto, Gemona del Friuli 12 September 2015 64–4 Avanhard Stadium, Uzhhorod 5 February 2016 12–18 New Era Stadium, Cabramatta 24 September 2016 64–4 Quatre Carreres, Valencia 15 October 2016 0–50 22 October 2016 14–62 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade 8 October 2017 50–8 , Belgrade 8 October 2017 50–20 FC Heroj Polet, Belgrade 13 October 2018 18–36 , Moscow 20 October 2018 24–20 , Belgrade 26 October 2019 0–86 Lochinch Sports Ground, Glasgow 9 November 2019 6–82 Makiš Stadium, Belgrade6 June 202150–42021 Serbia tour of the Balkans NK Rijeka, Vitez19 June 202128–16 FC Trebich, Sofia27 June 202122–12 FK Arsenal Stadium, Tivat4 July 202122–12 Kompleksi Zmijani, Shkodër ≈1003 October 202166–102021 European Championship B City Stadium, Paraćin ≈5009 October 202154–18 FK Heroj Polet, Belgrade ≈150 13 May 2023 40–6 Friendly Nea Smyrni Stadium, Athens ≈1,000 27 May 2023 52–4 Friendly Rugby Club Pasian di Prato, Udine 26 August 2023 28–16 Friendly Městský Stadion, Krupka 25 September 2023 10–78 Friendly FC Obilic, Belgrade 14 October 2023 10–40 Friendly RC Zwolle, Zwolle 17 February 2024 52–34 Friendly Stadion u Parku, Tivat 28 September 2024 6–52 Friendly FC Masinac, Niš22 October 20240–482026 World Cup European Qualifiers Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne26 October 202450–10Friendly Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève
IRL Rankings
See also
Rugby league in Serbia
References
External links ragbiliga.rs Serbia: European Rugby League