If there is no accident, Serbian coach Stojkovic (hereinafter referred to as Stojkovic), who has coached R&F, will become the first head coach of the European Championship team to step down. He has lost the trust of the dressing room due to poor results. The 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Euro Championship have been stopped in the group stage in a row, and the four major stars in the team are "forcing the palace", and the Serbian media generally believes that Stowe's resignation is a foregone conclusion.
The Serbian team, which has big-name stars such as Mitrovic, Vlahovic, Jovic, and Milinkovic, is at the bottom of the group stage of this European Championship with 2 draws and 1 loss. Romania (44th), Slovenia (55th) and Georgia (75th), ranked below Serbia (34th) in the world, have all reached the round of 16, and Serbia is ranked 13th in the European Championship with a total value of 313 million euros, but the performance is not as good as Romania, which is worth less than 100 million euros.
What's worse is that in the "former South Derby", Serbia failed to defeat the weaker Slovenia, Serbian media and fans were very disappointed, and even President Vučić was very dissatisfied, saying that letting the Slovenian striker, who has a monthly salary of only 5,000 euros, score is a failure. Vučić believes that the Serbian government has invested heavily in the national team, but it has not been rewarded accordingly: "This is a real disaster, we have invested a lot of money in football, and the Serbian people deserve better results." I expect significant changes in our football".
Due to the exit of the European Cup, Football Association Secretary General Shubatovic and Vice President Nedemovic have resigned, President Vučić confirmed that he will meet with Football Association President Zajic and coach Stowe, the Football Association Executive Committee will decide Stowe's fate next week, and some league clubs have asked Zajic to also step down.
It is worth mentioning that the Serbian Football Association made a big mistake when chartering a flight to Germany before the European Cup, and they actually chose Croatia instead of their own airline flight, which caused dissatisfaction among all parties. The failure of this European Cup may bring a "big reshuffle" to the Serbian Football Association, and the national team management, league organization, and youth training system will usher in comprehensive changes.
After the 2022 World Cup ended in the group stage, Stowe surprisingly stayed in his post, and although he led Serbia to the European Championship finals for the first time in 24 years, it was still difficult to escape the fate of exiting the group stage. With consecutive tournament failures and the president's attitude, the outside world believes that Stowe's dismissal is inevitable. The Serbian Football Association is next inclined to hire foreign coaches, with Italy as the first choice and Germany as the second. Before the European Championships, representatives of the Serbian Football Federation had approached Loew in Berlin, and negotiations were put on hold after Stowe's contract was renewed, and now they will be restarted. Other candidates mentioned by the Cypriot media include Pochettino and Bielsa, but the top priority is to complete the termination.
However, after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in 1992, the Serbian team, which was renamed twice, participated in the tournament 7 times, all led by local coaches. From Santraci, Boskov, Petrokovic, Antich, Kostadzic to Stowe, it is enough to prove the ability of local coaches.
On the contrary, the two foreign coaches, Spanish coach Clement and Dutch coach Advocaat, failed to reach the finals of Euro 2008 and 2016.
Stowe, who had just signed a contract extension until the summer of 2026 before the European Championships, knew it would be difficult to stay in his position, and after flying from Germany to Belgrade airport, he had already hinted, "I like to work for the national team, but we can only wait and see." Believe me, I'm not going to be like a drunkard. "Although the FA Executive Committee will not meet until next week, the process of sacking Stowe is already underway. When the contract was renewed before the European Championships, the two parties included a compensation clause of 1 million euros in the contract. Serbian media revealed that during his four years in charge of the national team, Stowe's total income exceeded 7.5 million euros, including annual salary, bonuses and other incentives. Compared with the total of only 3 points in the 6 group games of the two tournaments, this price is obviously too high.
In addition to the poor record, there are rumors of infighting in Serbia.
During the European Cup, it was rumored that center forward Mitrovic thought that Stowe's tactics were inappropriate, and only 6 shots on target in 3 games totaled and 1 goal was scored; Captain Tadic complained that he was not placed in a good position and was even reduced to a substitute. After the group exit, the Serbian media reported that captain Tadic, center forwards Mitrovic and Milinkovic brothers were in the dressing room, claiming that as long as Stowe was still in office, they would refuse to play for the national team.
Backup goalkeeper Mielinkovic, who was Serbia's main goalkeeper in the European Championship qualifiers, was replaced by Rajkovic in the group stage after a physical altercation with Serbian fans at the Munich bar, The Telegraph confirmed. Despite the latter's outstanding performance, which was arguably the best in the Serbian team, Mielinkovic was still extremely unhappy with his deprivation of his main position, as evidenced by the disturbance in the bar.
With a bad record and internal and external troubles, this time, Stowe may not be able to recover.