San Marino's Unexpected Turn in International Football
The spotlight often focuses on the top-ranked teams or those with a rich history filled with stars and titles. However, today we feature a national team that's on the opposite side of the spectrum: a national team that routinely sits at the bottom of both the UEFA and FIFA rankings, as well as in the groups of the competitions in which it participates.
San Marino as Country
San Marino is a sovereign state (the oldest in the world, by the way) that is surrounded by Italian territory on all its borders, and is therefore considered an enclave. It is one of the six so-called microstates of Europe, along with Andorra, the Vatican City, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Monaco.Its territory covers 61.2 km2, making it one of the smallest in the world. With a population of approximately 36,000, it is also one of the countries with the lowest population density in the world. Because it is surrounded by Italy, the country's official language is Italian, which allows it to maintain a close relationship with the country of the boot in many areas. While this isn't directly football-related information, it will help provide some context for the San Marino national team.
Football in San Marino
The San Marino Football Federation (FSGC) was founded in 1931 and is responsible for organizing local and national team football tournaments. It joined both UEFA and FIFA in 1988. It occupies the lowest place in both the national association coefficient lists. The Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio (the name of the country's league championship) is an amateur football league created in 1985 and originally had two levels, Serie A1 and A2, i.e., first and second tier respectively. However, in 1996, they merged to form a single league with no relegation or promotion.The league is currently made up of 16 teams that, interestingly, do not have their own stadiums but instead play their matches in different stadiums around the country, as designated by the Federation. The league's most successful team in history is Tre Fiori, although, unlike other European leagues, the champion usually varies and has 12 different crowned champions since the tournament's inception. To put this into context, in Portugal and Turkey, two higher-level championships with longer history, there have only been five and six different first-tier champions since the national league's inception. It's quite common for San Marino clubs to be made up mostly of Italian players, given the small population in San Marino and the large number of players from the surrounding country.
In addition to the league, San Marino also has two other competitions: the first, the Coppa Titano, which is the oldest in the country, created in 1937, and the second, the Super Coppa Sammarinese, created in 2012 and pitting the winners of the other two competitions against each other. Interestingly, there is a San Marino club (currently called San Marino Calcio, although it has undergone many name changes throughout its history) founded in 1960 and, with the approval of both the San Marino and Italian federations, part of the league system of the country of the boot since its inception. The club's colors are those of the flag of San Marino and the third tier has historically been the highest level achieved.
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The National Team
The first record of a San Marino national team representing the country dates back to 1986, when a team was formed to face the Canadian U-23 team in an international friendly, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Americans. Following the country's affiliation with UEFA and FIFA in 1988, San Marino was eligible to participate in the qualifying rounds for international competitions of both organizations, such as the Euro and the World Cup. Until then, any player born in the country had to play under the Italian flag in order to compete in official UEFA or FIFA international competitions. The first official match was in 1990, against Switzerland, in a qualifier for Euro 1992, which ended in a 4-0 defeat for San Marino.The players who make up the San Marino national team are a mix of native-born players and naturalized Italians, although most are amateur or semi-professional players, which is why they tend to be at a clear disadvantage compared to other European national teams. This is reflected in San Marino's results, as it wasn't until 1993, in a 1994 World Cup qualifying match, that they earned their first point, drawing 0-0 against Turkey. That was San Marino's 13th competitive match, with a record of 1 draw and 12 losses, with 2 goals scored and 55 goals conceded. This has resulted in San Marino regularly being last in both the UEFA and FIFA rankings.
In September 2024, San Marino would achieve its first victory in an official match, having already won a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004. That was the only victory (even if it was a friendly) for Giampaolo Mazza, the historic manager of the San Marino national team who remained from 1998 to 2013, and who has managed the most matches for the national team, adding a record of 1 victory, 2 draws and 82 defeats in the 85 matches he managed San Marino.
The first official victory in 2024 was in the Nations League against Liechtenstein. That victory was a 1-0 result, with the only goal in the match scored by Nicko Sensoli. In the second match against Liechtenstein in that edition of the Nations League, San Marino would achieve its second official victory and its first away victory, this time by 1-3. These results, along with a draw against Gibraltar, earned San Marino a historic promotion to League C of the 2026-27 Nations League.
These two victories in a period of less than a year represent a considerable step forward for what is often considered the worst national team in the world, a title based on the team's history. Of the 219 matches (including friendlies) San Marino has played since 1990, the national team has won three, drawn ten, and lost 206, scoring 40 goals and conceding 869. San Marino's all-time top scorer is Andy Selva, with eight goals in 73 matches played.