'The Greatest Team That Never Was' - Yugoslavia's 1987 FIFA Youth World Cup winning side and their subsequent journey

In 1987's FIFA Youth World Cup, a dynamic and exciting young Yugoslav side featuring multiple players (Robert Jarni, Igor Štimac, Zvonimir Boban, Robert Prosinečki, Predrag Mijatović and Davor Šuker) that would go on to have stellar careers in the game, defeated the likes of Brazil and West Germany en route to claiming the prize.

Numerous members of this side went on to represent Yugoslavia at Italia 90, where the side recovered from a chastening 4-1 defeat to eventual winners West Germany in their opening Group game to reach the Quarter Finals where they were eliminated on penalties by Argentina.  Building upon this relative success, Yugoslavia powered to qualification for the 1992 European Championships winning seven of their eight qualifiers and winning a group containing Denmark, Northern Ireland, Austria and the Faroe Islands.  

Inspired by the afforementioned players, along with additional stellar talents such as Darko Pančev, Srečko Katanec, Dragan Stojković, Alen Bokšić and Dejan Savićević, Yugoslavia would have been heavily fancied to perform well at Euro 92, particularly given the fact that Red Star Belgrade had been crowned as European and Intercontinental Champions in 1991.

However, the Yugoslav side were not able to participate in the tournament, simmering tensions between the constituent nations of the Yugoslav State (that had been bubbling since the death of Tito in 1980) morphed into the Yugoslav Wars with nationalist sentiments driving Croatians, Slovenians and Bosnians to seek autonomy outside of Yugoslavia.  

Football was at the core of the disputes with a match between Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb being abandoned due to rioting between fans.  Dinamo's captain, Boban kicked a Police Officer, who was assaulting one of the Croatian club's fans.  This match has subequently been heralded as 'The Match That Started A War'.  

Alongside this, the Yugosalavian team and national anthem were roundly booed by Croatian nationals at the last Yugoslav international hosted in Zagreb ahead of the 1990 World Cup.  However, in the 2000 documentary 'The Last Yugoslavian Football Team', Yugoslavia's victory over Spain in the Second Phase of Italia 90 is shown being greeted with jubilant celebrations on the streets of Sarajevo with fans joyously chanting "YUGOSLAVIA!  YUGOSLAVIA!" in scenes that suggest football was capable of uniting the Yugoslav state despite the ongoing tensions.

In this episode, Chris and Nathan chart the journey of this side and how the hotbed of ethnic and political tensions that culminated in the Yugoslav Wars  resulted in the Yugoslavian side were forced to withdaw from Euro 92 - which was ultimately won by the side who replaced them, Denmark.  We also analyse the performance of the constituent nations of the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia) in subequent tournaments.