The rivalry between Croatia and Serbia is a competitive sports rivalry that exists between the national football teams of the two countries, as well as their respective sets of fans. While the two national teams have not met often, the rivalry is described by The Daily Telegraph as one of the most heated up rivalries in the world because of tensions between the countries that arose through the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequently often bad Croatia–Serbia relations.
The first meeting between Croatia and Serbia, the latter playing as FR Yugoslavia, happened on 18 August 1999 at the Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, as part of UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying. The match ended as a goalless draw. The match remained memorable for power outage at the stadium that allegedly intimidated the Croatian players. The return game at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb was played on 9 October 1999 and it was a deciding match for Croatia, as they needed a victory to qualify for the tournament. Ten minutes into the game, Aljoša Asanović passes the ball to Davor Šuker who shoots, but Ivica Kralj rebounds the shot. Even though the ball was over the goal line, Spanish referee José María García-Aranda ruled the goal out. In 20th minute, Alen Bokšić opened the scoreline. However, Yugoslavia came from behind with goals by Predrag Mijatović and Dejan Stanković in 26th and 31st respective minute. In a duel between Zoran Mirković and Robert Jarni, the former grabbed the latter by the genitalia and received a straight red card. The incident motivated Croatia even more resulting in Mario Stanić's equalizer in 47th minute. The third goal that would've taken Croatia to the tournament never came, as Josip Šimić who came on for Bokšić wasted the best chance the team had. It was this elimination that saw Croatia entered a phrase of crisis that lasted for eight years.
Croatia and now independent Serbia met again 14 years later in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. The first match was played on 22 March 2013 at the Maksimir Stadium and ended up as a 2–0 victory for Croatia following goals by Mario Mandžukić and Ivica Olić. The return game was played on 6 September 2013 at the Red Star Stadium and ended up as a 1–1 draw. Croatia took the lead after Mandžukić scored in 53rd minute but Serbia equalized in 66th minute through Aleksandar Mitrović. In 80th minute, Josip Šimunić brutally tackled Miralem Sulejmani as the latter was running all by himself towards the Croatia goal. As a result he received a straight red card. Croatia finished the qualification as the group runners-up and went on to beat Iceland 2–0 on aggregate in the play-offs. Serbia ended up third in the group with three points less than Croatia and subsequently not qualifying for the tournament.
