Ever since Serbia became an independent nation, they have failed to get past the group stage at the FIFA World Cup. Till 2006, they were playing as Serbia & Montenegro and once Montenegro seceded from the Union, Serbia have crashed out of the group stage in 2010 and in Russia 4 years ago.
But hopes are high this time around that Serbia can progress to the knockout stages for the first time.
Despite being drawn again in the same group as Brazil who they lost to four years ago, Serbia are confident they are stronger this year.
After topping their qualifying group ahead of Portugal, Serbia breezed into the World Cup finals without losing a game. They followed this up by then topping their UEFA Nations League Group and winning promotion to League A in September.
Much of the credit for Serbia's recent upturn in form must go to manager Dragan Stojkovic, who was appointed following Serbia's failure to qualify for the 2020 European Championships.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Serbia Team News
Playing a back three, Stojkovic has succeeded in getting the best out of his sharp-shooting front two, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic.
Fulham's Mitrovic, in particular, has been in sparkling form for his country. Serbia's all-time top scorer has 50 goals in 76 matches and will be one of the outside bets for the Golden Boot, especially considering hapless Cameroon are also in their group.
Crucial for their chances of progressing will be Serbia's crunch clash against Switzerland on December 2 in their last group fixture. It was in this same fixture in Russia that Shaqiri scored a last-minute winner to effectively book Switzerland's place in the last 16 at the expense of Serbia. Four years on, the tides have seemingly turned.
If Stojkovic can keep Serbian heads together, there could even be a strong argument made for the former Yugoslav giants being this tournament's dark horses.
Serbia Group in FIFA World Cup 2022
Serbia have been placed in Group G alongside 5-time winners Brazil, Switzerland, and Cameroon.
Serbia in FIFA World Cup
Serbia have played 46 matches in the FIFA World Cup games so far out of which they have won 18 and lost 20.
Serbia FIFA World Cup 2022 Squad
Marko Dmitrovic (Sevilla), Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino), Predrag Rajković (Mallorca)
Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina), Stefan Mitrovic (Getafe), Strahinja Pavlovic (Salzburg), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Filip Mladenovic (Legia Warsaw), Srdan Babic (Almeria), Strahinja Erakovic (Red Star Belgrade)
Dusan Tadic (Ajax), Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla), Filip Kostic (Juventus), Nemanja Maksimovic (Getafe), Filip Duricic (Sampdoria), Nemanja Radonjic (Torino), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Sasa Lukic (Torino), Andrija Zivkovic (PAOK), Uros Racic (Braga), Ivan Ilic (Hellas Verona), Darko Lazovic (Hellas Verona)
Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham), Luka Jovic (Fiorentina), Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
Serbia Fifa World Cup 2022 full schedule
Fifa World Cup : Group G games-
Serbia vs Brazil - 25th Nov; 12:30 AM IST – Lusail Stadium
Serbia vs Cameroon - 28th Nov; 3:30 PM IST – Al Janoub Stadium
Serbia vs Switzerland – 3rd Dec; 12:30 AM IST- Stadium 974
Serbia Fifa World Cup 2022 live telecast in India
FIFA World Cup will be live telecast on Sports18 and Sports18 HD in India
Serbia Fifa World Cup 2022 live streaming in India
All FIFA World Cup 2022 matches will be available to all viewers for free on JioCinema; JioCinema is available to download for all telecom operators.