Montenegro is one of the world's youngest international teams, having joined FIFA and UEFA in 2007 following the2006 Montenegrin independence referendum. The team played its first official international match againstHungary in March 2007.
In October 2006, Montenegro was granted provisional membership of UEFA, with a debate regarding full membership scheduled at a fullUEFA Congress in January 2007.[6] Montenegro's firstFIFA World Ranking was joint 199th place, the last place on the list by default.
On 26 January 2007, the Montenegro FA was granted full membership of UEFA.[7] The team played its first FIFA-recognized friendly match againstHungary on 24 March 2007 atStadion Pod Goricom inPodgorica. Montenegro won 2–1 in front of 12,000 spectators. StrikerMirko Vučinić scored the country's first goal in the 62nd minute.[8][9] On 31 May 2007, Montenegro was admitted as FIFA's 208th member.[10]
On 11 September 2012, Montenegro played against San Marino inSeravalle. In a one-sided match, Montenegro won 6–0,[11] the biggest win in the team's history. Montenegro then beat Ukraine 1–0 inKyiv,[12] with the only goal scored byDejan Damjanović.
On 23 February 2014 inNice, Montenegro were drawn for qualification inUEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group G alongsideRussia,Sweden,Austria, Moldova andLiechtenstein. 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 Russianleft-backDmitri Kombarov was hit by a projectile. The score was goalless and Russia had missed a penalty moments before the match was abandoned. The Russian goalkeeperIgor Akinfeev was hit by a flare, causing a second 33-minute delay.[13] 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.
Montenegro play home matches at thePodgorica City Stadium (Montenegrin:Stadion pod Goricom). The stadium's capacity is 15,230, but international matches reduce this to between 10,700 and 13,000.
The Football Association of Montenegro owns Camp FSCG, a Montenegrin training ground. Built in 2007, the centre has a total area of 54,000 square metres.[14] It is located onĆemovsko polje, a plain located in the outskirts of Podgorica outskirts between the settlements ofStari Aerodrom andKonik. It consists of six pitches with stands and floodlights,[15] andHouse of Football – the seat of the Football Association of Montenegro.[16]
Ininternational football, footballers can normally only play for one national team once they play in all or part of any match recognised as a full international byFIFA. However, an exception is made in cases where one or more newly-independent states are created out of a former state. Based on current FIFA rules, a footballer will be eligible to play for Montenegro, even if they had previously represented Serbia and Montenegro or any other country and at least one of the following statements applies:[17]
The footballer was born in Montenegro;
At least one of their parents and/or at least one of their grandparents was born in Montenegro;
The player has lived in Montenegro continuously for any five-year period.
Due to mixed ancestries, it is likely that a high percentage of the footballers eligible to play for Montenegro will also remain eligible to play for Serbia, and vice versa. However, once they have played for either Serbia or Montenegro in any competitive fixture, they are no longer eligible to play for any other nation.
