San Marino national football teamFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to:
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searchSan Marino
Nickname(s)La Serenissima, The Big ClubAssociation
San Marino Football FederationConfederation
UEFA (
Europe)Head coach
Giampaolo MazzaCaptain
Andy SelvaMost
capsMirco Gennari,
Federico Gasperoni (48)Top scorer
Andy Selva (8)Home stadium
Stadio OlimpicoFIFA codeSMR
FIFA ranking201Highest FIFA ranking118 (September 1993)Lowest FIFA ranking201 (November 2008)
Elo ranking194
Home
coloursAway
coloursFirst international
San Marino 0 - 4
Switzerland (
Serravalle,
San Marino;
November 14,
1990)Biggest win
San Marino 1 - 0
Liechtenstein (
Serravalle,
San Marino;
April 28,
2004)Biggest defeat
San Marino 0 - 13
Germany (
Serravalle,
San Marino;
September 6,
2006)"San Marino football team" redirects here. For the club that competes in
Italy's Serie C2, see
San Marino Calcio. The San Marino national football team is the national football team of
San Marino, controlled by the
San Marino Football Federation. The team has enjoyed very little success, due to the republic's tiny population, the smallest of any UEFA country.The first official game played by a San Marino team was a 0–4 defeat in a
European Championships qualifier to
Switzerland in 1990. Previously, a San Marino side had lost 0–1 to a Canadian
Olympic team in 1986, but this was not an official match. Since making their competitive bow San Marino have competed in qualifying for every European Championships and
World Cup, but have never won a match in either competition. They have only ever won one game, beating
Liechtenstein 1–0 in a
friendly match on
28 April 2004.Contents[
hide]
1 History 2 Stadium 3 Minnow reputation 4 Draws and victory 5 World Cup record 6 European Championship record 7 Players and managers 7.1 Current squad 8 Records 8.1 Top goalscorers 9 References 10 See also 11 External links [
edit] HistoryThough the San Marino Football Federation formed in 1931, the federation did not establish a national team until 1986, when a team representing the Federation played
Canada's Olympic team in an unofficial international. San Marino gained affiliation to governing bodies
FIFA and
UEFA in 1988,
[1] allowing the team to participate in major championships. Prior to this, Sammarinese players had been considered Italian in international football contexts.
[2]San Marino's first match in a FIFA sanctioned competition was against
Switzerland on
14 November 1990 in a qualifier for the
1992 European Championships. San Marino lost 4–0, and went to lose all eight qualifiers. The team particularly struggled in away matches, losing every one by at least four goals. San Marino scored only one goal, a
penalty in a 3–1 defeat at home to
Romania,
[3] and conceded 33 goals in total.For their first World Cup qualifying campaign San Marino were drawn in a group with
England,
the Netherlands,
Norway,
Poland and
Turkey. The opening match resulted in a 10–0 hammering at the hands of Norway. The return match was less one-sided, finishing 2–0 to the Norwegians. A 4–1 defeat in Turkey saw San Marino score their first World Cup goal, and a 0–0 draw against the same opposition on
10 March 1993 gave them their first ever point. In their final qualifier, against England,
Davide Gualtieri scored the fastest goal in World Cup Qualifying history, after 8.3 seconds, though the team went on to lose 7–1.
[4] San Marino finished the campaign with one point and 44 goals conceded.Qualification for
Euro 96 followed a similar pattern to that of the previous European championships, losing every game. A match away to
Finland gave San Marino their first goal away from home in the European championships, but the team lost 4–1.
[5] Their only other goal came in a 3–1 home defeat to fellow minnows
the Faroe Islands; the two wins over San Marino were the only points gained by the Faroe Islands and the return match, a 3–0 scoreline in
Toftir, is the Faroes' record competitive win.
[6]Even by Sammarinese standards, qualification for the
1998 World Cup was disappointing. Losing every game by three goals or more, San Marino failed to score a single goal. This is the only World Cup qualifying tournament in which they have failed to score. Qualification for
Euro 2000 again resulted in defeats in every game. The closest game was against
Cyprus, a 1–0 defeat on
18 November 1998.In April 2001 San Marino gained their first ever away point, drawing 1–1 with
Latvia in
Riga. The team ended the
2002 World Cup qualifying group with a new best of three goals, though one of these came in a 10–1 defeat to
Belgium. In
Euro 2004 qualifying San Marino lost all eight matches, failing to score. The closest result was a 1–0 home defeat to Latvia, with the winner scored in the last minute.
[5]In April 2004 San Marino gained their first and thus far only win at the 65th attempt, a 1–0 victory over
Liechtenstein in a friendly in
2004 courtesy of a fifth minute goal by
Andy Selva. The match was Martin Andermatt's debut as Liechtenstein coach.
[7] Results during qualification for the
2006 World Cup followed a similar vein to previous qualifying groups. Matches were generally one-sided defeats, with the exception of single goal defeats at home to
Lithuania and Belgium.San Marino's opening
Euro 2008 qualifying match resulted in a record 13–0 defeat at home to
Germany on
September 6,
2006. They scored only twice and conceded fifty-seven goals in losing all twelve matches, although the home matches against
Ireland,
Cyprus and
Wales were each lost by a single goal.