Sport in Serbia


Sport in Serbia plays an important role, and the country has a strong sporting history. The most popular sports in Serbia are football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, water polo and handball.
Professional sports in Serbia are organized by sporting federations and leagues. One of particularities of Serbian professional sports is existence of many multi-sport clubs, biggest and most successful of which are Red Star, Partizan, and Beograd in Belgrade, Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Radnički in Kragujevac, Spartak in Subotica.

Football

Football is the most popular sport in Serbia, and the Football Association of Serbia with 146,845 registered players, is the largest sporting association in the country. Dragan Džajić was officially recognized as "the best Serbian player of all times" by the Football Association of Serbia, and more recently the likes of Nemanja Vidić, Dejan Stanković and Branislav Ivanović play for the elite clubs of Europe, developing the nation's reputation as one of the world's biggest exporters of footballers. The Serbia national football team lacks relative success although it qualified for three of the last four FIFA World Cups. Serbia national youth football teams have won 2013 U-19 European Championship and 2015 U-20 World Cup. The two main football clubs in Serbia are Red Star and Partizan, both from Belgrade. The rivalry between the two clubs is known as the "Eternal Derby".

Basketball

Serbia is one of the traditional powerhouses of world basketball, as Serbia men's national basketball team have won two World Championships, three European Championships, one FIBA Diamond Ball, and two Olympic silver medals as well. The women's national basketball team won the European Championship in 2015 and Olympic bronze medal in 2016. Serbia men's national 3x3 team have won four FIBA 3x3 World Cups, and two FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup. A total of 31 Serbian players have played in the NBA in last three decades, including Predrag "Peja" Stojaković and Vlade Divac. The renowned "Serbian coaching school" produced many of the most successful European basketball coaches of all times, such as Željko Obradović, who won a record 9 Euroleague titles as a coach. The first foreign coach in the history of any NBA team is Igor Kokoškov. KK Partizan basketball club was the 1992 European champion and ŽKK Crvena zvezda women's basketball club was 1979 European champion.

Tennis

Recent success of Serbian tennis players has led to an immense growth in the popularity of tennis in Serbia. Novak Djokovic, seventeen-time Grand Slam champion, finished in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018 as No. 1 in the world. Monica Seles, a former world no. 1, member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, won eight Grand Slam singles titles. Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Janković were both ranked No. 1 in the WTA Rankings. There were two No. 1 ranked-tennis double players as well: Nenad Zimonjić and Slobodan Živojinović. The Serbia men's tennis national team won the 2010 Davis Cup, and 2020 ATP Cup, also two World Team Cup while Serbia women's tennis national team reached the final at 2012 Fed Cup.

Volleyball

Serbia is one of the leading volleyball countries in the world. Its men's national team won the gold medal at 2000 Olympics, silver and bronze medal at the World Championship, the European Championship on 3 occasions as well as the 2016 FIVB World League. The women's national volleyball team are current world Champions, has won European Championship three times as well as Olympic silver medal in 2016.

Water polo

The Serbia men's national water polo team is the second most successful national team after Hungary in the history of sport, having won Olympic gold medal in 2016, three World Championships. The last 3 FINA World Cups in 2006, 2010, 2014. A record 12 FINA World Leagues and seven European Championships in 2001, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, respectively. VK Partizan has won a seven European champion titles, VK Bečej and VK Crvena zvezda one.

Other sports

Other noted Serbian athletes include: swimmers Milorad Čavić and Nađa Higl ; track and field athlete Ivana Španović ; wrestler Davor Štefanek, taekwondoist Milica Mandić, and auto-racing driver Dušan Borković.

National leagues

Football:
Basketball:
Volleyball:
Handball:
Water Polo:
Ice hockey:
Rugby football:
Football:
Basketball:
Volleyball:
Handball:
Water polo:
Tennis:
Rugby league:
Rugby union
Ice hockey:

Football

Club

;UEFA Champions League
;Intercontinental Cup

International (men)

International (women)

Club

;Euroleague
;EuroLeague Women

International (men)

International (women)

Handball

International (men)

International (women)

Club

;EHF Champions League
;EHF Women's Champions League

International

Club

;LEN Champions League

International

;Davis Cup
;ATP Cup
;World Team Cup
;Fed Cup
;Multi Sport Events
;Aquatic sports
;Athletics
;Basketball
;Boxing
;Canoeing
;Chess
;Cycling
;Fencing
;Football
;Futsal
;Gymnastics
;Handball
;Judo
;Karate
;Rowing
;Shooting
;Table tennis
;Tennis
;Volleyball
;Water polo
;Weightlifting
;Wrestling