Bulgaria have recorded only one significant success. The Europeans have been eliminated five times in the first round and reached the last 16 once in 1986, where they were defeated by hosts Mexico.
Their greatest triumph came at USA 1994, where 72,000 fans watched them dispatch defending champions Germany in the quarter-final with a sensational 2-1 victory in New York's Giants Stadium. Goals from the supremely gifted Hristo Stoitchkov and Jordan Letchkov secured the team a semi-final spot and marked the pinnacle of achievement in the country's football history. Before 1994, the Bulgarians had won none of their 16 games in FIFA World Cup finals. However, the Bulgarian campaign ended with defeat at the hands of Italy in the semi-final, and in the play-off for third place they went down 4-0 to Sweden.
The last country to become a member of FIFA, Montenegro started off at the bottom of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, but they have the players and a history - shared with Serbia - that suggests they will soon rise towards the middle rungs of the global ladder.The Montenegrins have yet to dispute a qualification match, but they did participate in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany, as one half of the side known as Serbia and Montenegro.
Representing two republics that unified in 2003 after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro did not take long to find its bearings. In qualifying for their first and only FIFA World Cup, they registered six wins and four draws to finish top of a tough group that also included Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belgium.
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