 He became the assistant coach of Yugoslavia, but he failed to qualify his team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, because of one point less than the second Slovenia, Yugoslavia remained third.After Yugoslavia, he continued working as a national team coach, this time for Cyprus and his team finished 4th in the 2004 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying, collecting 8 points and some criticism began for Vukotić.The bad beginning for the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification where at the first five matches, Cyprus won only one point – and that in a home tie match against Faroe Islands – was enough for him to resign as a coach.