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Champions are made not born.
Our
Story to becoming World Campions
We set off on a long journey to achieve something no one has ever done before — to bring the World Cup trophy in football to Serbia. At the end of the world, in an unfamiliar land, we began fighting our battles, enduring and delivering blows. We pulled ourselves together, closed ranks, and kept pushing on from match to match.
We compared the journey of the Serbian U20 team to distant New Zealand with the journey of the ancient Argonauts who, under Jason’s leadership, who embarked on a distant journey to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
None of the Argonauts was better than the others, each of them was a specialist in something. This means that only through joint effort could they accomplish their shared goal. In the same way, the team spirit of the Serbian U20 squad. The results showed that this was precisely the key ingredient that allowed the team to win its "golden fleece".
It takes an expert team to bring the best out of each player.
Coach Paunović brought this team together in 2012, after the elimination in the Elite Round of qualification for the U-17 European Championship. On that occasion, a clear goal was presented to everyone — during their very first meeting, they were shown a film about the ‘Chilean team,’ which returned from former Yugoslavia in 1987 with the trophy.
No Weak Links: How Serbia’s Team Adapts, Endures, and Prevails
"There is no one in the Serbian team who has scored five goals like in the Hungarian or Ukrainian squads, but in every match someone new rises to the occasion.
Who will shine next largely depends on the challenges they face. Sometimes it’s one of our defenders, sometimes the goalkeeper, a striker, or a midfielder. Depending on the opponent, the style of play, and the strategy, our team is capable of adapting so well to the circumstances that it is almost impossible to outplay them or break them physically or mentally.
From each player we get what he does best, and together that adds up to victory — which is the very essence of the fight.”
A hard-fought victory over Mali came first, then a brilliant match against Mexico, followed by Hungary — and all of that is the perfect prelude to what awaits next.
Even the local newspaper wrote about our time in Dunedin as we competed in the qualifiers.
The players of the Serbian National Team had shown in New Zealand that they have no shortage of fighting spirit.
And to return to the beginning of our story: what one person alone cannot achieve, the united effort of many can.
"I would have never imagined that one day I would hold this trophy in my hands and become Nr. 1 in the world"
Our players play at the best of the best clubs in the World
