Serbia have given themselves a big pair of boots to fill in the World Cup after qualifying with an impressive 5-0 hammering of Romania, their captain Dejan Stankovic said.

Serbia, who reached their first major football tournament as an independent nation, produced their most effervescent qualifying performance on Saturday and won Europe's Group Seven ahead of 2006 finalists France, who are assured of a play-off spot.

"We've just raised the bar for ourselves and expectations will be high but it needs to be said that the Romanians did not deserve such a heavy defeat," Stankovic told reporters.

"We were under a lot of pressure to finish the job in front of 50,000 home fans and we were flying after the second goal."

Striker Nikola Zigic opened the floodgates in the first half before Marko Pantelic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and a late Milan Jovanovic brace completed the rout.

"It was important to take something into the dressing room at half-time and the opening goal allowed us to control the match in the second half," Zigic said.

"Now that we have booked a place in South Africa, I am sure that we will play the best we can and not let our fans down in the finals."

Thousands of Serbia fans celebrated in central Belgrade, with players parading in an open-top bus on Saturday night.

The Serbians are away to Lithuania in their final group match on Wednesday.