RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

 

Foundation Year - 2001

International Team - Serbian Rugby League

Highest finish in World Cup - Lost all World Cup Qualifying games (2008)

Top level domestic competition - Serbia have a 5 team National Championship competition.

History - Serbia is a new rugby league playing nation and continues the trend of European nations taking up the sport. Rugby League was introduced to Serbia as early as the 1950's but failed to gain a permanent foothold. Rugby League was reintroduced in 2001 and has gone from strength to strength ever since.

Rugby League has made huge strides in Serbia since 2001. Serbia now has a national competition involving 5 teams with plans to expand the competition in the near future. They are involved in international matches from junior to senior level. Serbia are currently associate members of the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF). The Super League is also broadcast into Serbia via Sport Klub TV.

Serbia participated in the Mediterranean Cup for the first time in 2003. It was the first time Serbia had taken part in an international rugby league competition. Playing in a competition involving France, Lebanon and Morocco provided Serbia with a taste of what was required to compete at international level. Serbia suffered some heavy defeats during the tournament but had set a platform to improve from.

Serbia returned for the Mediterranean Cup in 2004. Armed with the lessons of 2003 Serbia put in a much improved performance during the tournament and managed a draw against Morocco. Serbia's differential of -276 in the 2003 tournament had been reduced to just -72 in 2004.

In May/June of 2006 Serbia took part in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup European qualifiers for the first time. Serbia put in respectable performances against Georgia, Netherlands and Russia but failed to register a win.

Towards the end of 2006 Serbia played an international against fellow newcomers Greece in Athens. Serbia put in a spirited performance going down to Greece 44 - 26.

In 2007 Serbia took part in the inaugural Central European Development Tri-Nations. Serbia went through unbeaten defeating Germany 38 - 6 and Czech Republic 56 - 16. This was the first time Serbia had won an international tournament.

In early 2008 the Rugby League European Federation released European seedings with Serbia ranked 8th out of 16 European nations.

In late 2008 Serbia took part in the inaugural Euro Med Challenge involving Russia and Lebanon. The step up from the Development Tri-Nations saw Serbia fail to overcome Russia and Lebanon. On the positive it was the best performance Serbia had put in against Russia and Lebanon.

In early 2009 Serbia were ranked 16th in World seedings by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF).

In late 2009 Serbia participated in the European Cup competition for the first time along side Lebanon, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy. Serbia didn't have a good campaign and didn't manage to win. By finishing 6th Serbia are unable to secure their place in the 2010 European Nations Cup and more then likely go back to playing in other European competitions in 2010.

Dear Readers, If you have first hand knowledge of the current Rugby League situation in Serbia we would love to hear from you. Please email us at: webmaster@rugbyleagueplanet.com or join our international rugby league Forums at http://forums.rugbyleagueplanet.com and let us all know what's going on in your part of the world.