For Euro 2020 qualifiers, Serbia was drawn into Group B with Euro 2016 champions Portugal, Ukraine, Lithuania and Luxembourg. Serbia kicked off the qualifiers with 1–1 away draw game against Portugal. But in the next away game against Ukraine, Serbia lost the game 0–5. This game also spawned a lot of controversy due to Krstajić's coaching style. After the 4–1 home win against Lithuania, Krstajić was sacked mainly because of the loss against Ukraine and replaced with Ljubiša Tumbaković. Tumbaković started with a 2–4 home loss against Portugal. The next two games were away wins against Luxembourg and Lithuania, before beating Luxembourg at home to keep its slim hope alive. However, Serbia could not take one of the top two places after the team managed a 2–2 draw to Ukraine at home.