Yugoslavia’s national team has officially changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro and will make its first appearance under the new name in Wednesday’s EURO 2004 qualifier against Azerbaijan.
UEFA and FIFA, approved the Yugoslav Football Association’s (FSJ) request for a name change on Tuesday.
said he was relieved the administrative procedure was finally out of the way so the team could concentrate on their qualifying campaign.
“Our organisation doesn’t deal with politics, football is our job,’ said FSJ General Secretary Branko Bulatovic. ‘Serbia and Montenegro have been through a tough decade and our objective remains the same – to qualify for the Euro 2004 finals,” he said.
On February 4, the Yugoslav federal parliament scrapped Yugoslavia, replacing it with component republics Serbia and Montenegro. The boundaries of the new state remain the same as the former Yugoslavia.