Serbia are England’s opponents in their opening group game in Germany next week, and they will be looking to cause an upset in Group C. Here is everything you need to know about the Eagles before the tournament kicks off.

Euro Squad

While Serbia is not the biggest name in international football, they do have a lot of players who will be familiar to fans of the Premier League and European football.

Đorđe Petrović, who managed to work his way into Chelsea’s starting 11 last season will be heading to the tournament, albeit not as Serbia’s first choice goalkeeper, as will Fulham’s Saša Lukić.

❤️🇷🇸 pic.twitter.com/7bRJggaIqs

— Saša Lukić (@SasaLukic28) March 27, 2024

Other notable players in the squad are Dušan Tadić, who has the most caps in Serbian history, and Aleksandar Mitrović, who is the nation’s all-time top goal scorer with 57.

Juventus pair Filip Kostić and Dušan Vlahović will also be incredibly important for the Eagles in this tournament with the latter having scored 13 goals in 26 appearances for the national team.

Their strength lies in their physicality and with the height of Vlahović and Mitrović, and the accuracy of Tadić’s passing, Serbia could be especially dangerous from set pieces.

Group and Schedule

Serbia are in Group C alongside England, Denmark and Slovenia. While England are considered favourites for this group, second place is definitely up for grabs between the remaining three teams.

Serbia begin their campaign against England on 16th June before facing Slovenia and Denmark on 20th and 25th of June respectively. All of their games will be available to watch in the UK on BBC and ITV.

Vlahović 🇷🇸📸#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/nU61CYwAhU

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) April 25, 2024

Players to Watch

Serbia is a nation with a lot of good players, but the two who will be most important for them in this tournament are Mitrović and Tadić.

Mitrović has come off the back of scoring 28 league goals in 28 games in his first season for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. The 29-year-old made a name for himself as a goalscorer in the Premier League with Newcastle and Fulham, however his most impressive season came in the Championship, where he scored 43 goals in 46 games.

Tadić is also heading to the tournament in good form, having contributed to 24 league goals for Fenerbahce this season. Despite being 35-years-old, the former Southampton man will lead his nation out as captain, and will be hoping to provide plenty of attacking threat for the likes of Mitrović.

Aleksandar Mitrovic has 28 goals in 29 games for Al-Hilal.

Woah 💥 pic.twitter.com/BNHx1dmCOH

— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 18, 2024

How did they fare in Euro 2020?

Serbia were not at Euro 2020, having failed to qualify from their qualifying group. They finished third, behind Ukraine and Portugal, and headed to a playoff against Scotland to decide one of the last spots for the Euros. They were defeated by Scotland on penalties.

This will be the first time that Serbia has qualified for the Euros as Serbia. Previously they have taken part at the tournament as part of Serbia and Montenegro and Yugoslavia. Their last appearance came at Euro 2000.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿| 𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨

One of the dramatic nights in Scotland’s history happened in November 2020, as David Marshall’s penalty save from Aleksandar Mitrovic in the penalty shootout sent Scotland to EURO 2020, their first major tournament in 23 years!

Ryan… pic.twitter.com/Vf077auCxJ

— Everything Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@AboutScotlandd) February 16, 2024

How far will Serbia go this time?

Like Denmark and Slovenia, Serbia will have their eyes on second place in the group, as England are firm favourites to finish first. Their squad certainly has enough talent to cause problems for the likes of Denmark and Slovenia, and based on recent performances, could really hurt some of the bigger teams in the tournament too.

Ultimately, I think that Serbia will finish second in Group C but then have to face the hosts Germany in the Round of 16. Die Mannschaft will probably have too much for them and so Serbia won’t be able to progress to the Quarter-Finals.