Serbia: Premier League Nations | OneFootball

The next destination of our alphabetical world tour is Serbia. Following Yugoslavia’s extended breakup during the 1990s, Serbia and Montenegro were born from the ashes. The newly named nation inherited the records of the former Yugoslav national team and after Serbia and Montenegro split themselves in 2006, Serbia inherited the records entirely.

That means that any player who won caps for Yugoslavia in the 1990s or earlier is by proxy considered to have played for Serbia as they are the modern successor of Yugoslavia in a footballing capacity.

According to the Premier League website, 29 players have represented Serbia in the Premier League, the first of which was back in 1995.

First Player & Top Scorer – Savo Milošević (Aston Villa; 1995-98)

One of four Yugoslavians to move to the Premier League before or during the 1995/96 season, Savo Milošević became the first Yugoslavian (and by later virtue, the first Serbian) to play in the Premier League when he made his debut in Aston Villa’s opening day 3-1 win over Manchester United.

Though he scored 29 goals in 90 league appearances for Villa, the fans never took to him. He became the Villans’ record signing at the time but was transfer-listed after spitting towards his own fans during a 5-0 loss to Blackburn in 1998.

His goal return was enough to leave him as the top-scoring Serb to this day, though Crystal Palace midfielder and penalty taker extraordinaire Luka Milivojević is only three behind and with the record in his sights.

Still, Milošević was a brilliant player that was perhaps not best suited to the Premier League. His goal record was respectable pretty much everywhere he went, impressing in the Yugoslav, Spanish and Italian top-flights and currently sitting joint-second in the all-time goal-scoring list for the Serbian national team, with 37 goals.

Most Appearances: Branislav Ivanović – 261 (Chelsea; 2008-17)

A versatile defender capable of playing centre back or right back, Branislav Ivanović was one of the best right-backs in the world in the first half of the 2010s.

He won almost everything on offer in his time at Chelsea, though he missed the 2012 Champions League final through suspension. Ivanović also was a good source of goals from defence with 22 coming in the Premier League.

He left the club in the 2016/17 January transfer window after suffering a miraculous loss of form but will be remembered on his day as one of the best defenders of the Premier League era.

Current Players

Two Serbs have appeared in the Premier League in 2019/20 – Crystal Palace’s Luka Milivojević and Manchester United’s Nemanja Matić. The two midfielders are not the only Serbs in the Premier League however, as Marko Grujić remains a Liverpool player despite playing most of the last three seasons out on loan.

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