Serbia U21

Montenegro's departure from the shared state on 21 May 2006 left Serbia to field its own age-group side, and the under-21 team took shape that summer as the direct continuation of the record built first by Yugoslavia and then by Serbia and Montenegro. It played its opening fixture on 15 August 2006 in Uherské Hradiště, beating the Czech Republic 1-0.

That inheritance carries most of the team's silverware. The 1978 European Under-21 Championship was won under the Yugoslav flag, and the final has been reached three further times without the trophy changing hands again: in 1990, again as Yugoslavia; in 2004 as Serbia and Montenegro, beaten by Portugal; and in 2007, the young republic's first campaign as Serbia alone, where the Netherlands won 4-1.

The squad now trains and plays much of its football away from any club city, at the Serbian FA Sports Center in Stara Pazova, opened in May 2011 after a roughly fifteen-million-euro build. Known within the federation as the House of Football, it holds six pitches alongside a 3,000-seat stadium built to UEFA Category 3 standard, plus a hotel and athletics track, so the side can live and train on the same site between matches.

Qualification has turned harder since that last final: campaigns for the 2021 and 2023 European Championships both ended short. Among those who came through the age group, Branislav Ivanović stands apart, his 33 appearances the most of anyone to wear the shirt.