Yugoslavia national under-20 football team
| Association | Football Association of Yugoslavia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) |
| FIFA code | YUG |
| FIFA U-20 World Cup | |
| Appearances | 2 (first in 1979) |
| Best result | Winners: 1987 |
The Yugoslavia national under-20 football team (Serbo-Croatian: 'Omladinska reprezentacija Jugoslavije') represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the FIFA World Youth Championship and various friendly youth tournaments in the period between the mid-1970s and the country's dissolution in the early 1990s. It was a feeder team to the Yugoslavia national under-21 football team (which was itself formed following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976). However, since FIFA employs the Under-20 format for the World Youth Championship ever since its inception in 1977, the Under-20 selection was only occasionally formed to compete specifically at the tournament, in addition to a handful of other less official friendly tournaments which employ the same age format.
The team which would compete at the World Championship essentially consisted of players who had earlier participated in the UEFA Junior Tournament, which was the European Under-18 championship (held annually from 1957 to 1984 and then bi-annually from 1986 to 1992) and which doubled as the European qualifying tournament for the World Championship.
Yugoslavia Under-20 had appeared at two World Youth Championships throughout their existence. Their first appearance came at the 1979 tournament, where they were knocked out in the grop stage after two defeats (0–2 against Poland and 0–1 against Argentina) and one win (5–0 against Indonesia). Their second appearance in the 1987 tournament was much more successful, as they won the competition, remarkably defeating each of the three other semi-finalists and eliminating the defending champions Brazil during the course of the tournament, with Robert Prosinečki winning the Golden Ball award for Best Player of the tournament.
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