As FR Yugoslavia joined FIFA and UEFA in late 1994, the team was available to participate in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. Slobodan Santrač was appointed as a coach for the team. In the qualifiers, Yugoslavia was drawn in Group 6 with Euro 1996 runners-up Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, Faroe Islands and Malta. With seven winning games (of which are both against the Czech Republic, Faroe Islands and Malta and one against Slovakia), two draw games (against Spain and Slovakia) and one lost game against Spain, Yugoslavia ended up in second place with 23 points behind Spain. Yugoslavia qualified for the play-off i n which they were drawn to play against Hungary. With the aggregate score of 12–1 against Hungary, Yugoslavia qualified for the World Cup.