Montenegro W

Formation

Following the independence of Montenegro from Serbia and Montenegro, Serbia was set to represent both Serbia and Montenegro in the Euro 2008 qualifying stage. However, UEFA would include Montenegro as a late entry if FIFA ratified a separate Montenegrin Football Association before September 2006. Moreover, this did not occur before the competition began.

In October 2006, Montenegro was granted provisional membership of UEFA, with a debate regarding full membership scheduled at a full UEFA Congress in January 2007. Montenegro's first FIFA World Ranking was joint 199th place, the last place on the list by default.

First matches

On 26 January 2007, the Montenegro FA was granted full membership of UEFA. The team played its first FIFA-recognized friendly match against Hungary on 24 March 2007 at Stadion Pod Goricom in Podgorica. Montenegro won 2–1 in front of 12,000 spectators. Striker Mirko Vučinić scored the country's first goal in the 62nd minute. On 31 May 2007, Montenegro was admitted as FIFA's 208th member.

'Golden' era

On 11 September 2012, Montenegro played against San Marino in Seravalle. In a one-sided match, Montenegro won 6–0, the biggest win in the team's history. Montenegro then beat Ukraine 1–0 in Kyiv, with the only goal scored by Dejan Damjanović.

Ups and downs

On 23 February 2014 in Nice, Montenegro were drawn for qualification in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group G alongside Russia, Sweden, Austria, Moldova and Liechtenstein. Although Montenegro, opened their campaign with a 2–0 victory against Moldova, they failed to qualify with goalless draw against Liechtenstein, a 1–0 loss against Austria and a 1–1 home draw against Sweden. On 27 March 2015, Montenegro's home match against Russia was abandoned after 67 minutes due to crowd violence, after the Russian left-back Dmitri Kombarov was hit by a projectile. The score was goalless and Russia had missed a penalty moments before the match was abandoned. The Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare, causing a second 33-minute delay. The abandoned match was ruled a 3–0 victory in Russia's favour. Montenegro finished fourth at the end of the campaign and placed 95th on the FIFA ranking list.