Serbia, who have never made it past the group stages, are in Group G alongside Brazil, Switzerland and Cameroon.

Serbia’s all-time leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic was named in the 26-man squad despite his ankle injury, Coach Dragan Stojkovic announced on Friday.

Mitrovic, who is currently recovering from the injury, missed the Cottagers’ defeat at Manchester City last weekend, and Fulham manager Marco Silva confirmed on Friday that he will be absent for Sunday’s Premier League match against Manchester United. 

If Mitrovic recovers in time for the World Cup,  he is likely to start up front alongside Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic. The pair have scored a combined 17 goals for their clubs this season.

The team will be captained by Ajax Amsterdam’s Dusan Tadic, who has 90 caps for the national team, scoring 18 times.

Their midfield will be led by Lazio’s versatile Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who has six goals in 35 appearances for the national team.

Serbia is in Group G alongside Brazil, Switzerland, and Cameroon. The team will take on five-times champions Brazil in their opening group game on 24 November. 

They are scheduled to play a friendly match against Bahrain in Manama on 18 November, before flying to their base in Doha.

Serbia’s full squad

Goalkeepers: Marko Dmitrovic, Predrag Rajkovic, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic

Defenders: Stefan Mitrovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Milos Veljkovic, Filip Mladenovic, Strahinja Erakovic, Srdjan Babic

Midfielders: Nemanja Gudelj, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sasa Lukic, Marko Grujic, Filip Kostic, Uros Racic, Nemanja Maksimovic, Ivan Ilic, Andrija Zivkovic, Darko Lazovic.

Forwards: Dusan Tadic (captain), Aleksandar Mitrovic, Dusan Vlahovic, Filip Duricic, Luka Jovic, Nemanja Radonjic