Worst ranked international men’s football nation win their first ever competitive game

by Mick the Ram

San Marino, the small landlocked republic surrounded on all four sides by Italy, sit bottom of the FIFA world rankings in 210th position and until 5 September 2024 they had never won a competitive fixture.

They finally changed that statistic with a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein, coincidentally the only side they had previously beaten, although that was just a friendly match and was over twenty years ago.

Nicko Sensoli wrote his name into the history books as the scorer of the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute, and guaranteed himself iconic status.

The game was the opening encounter in their UEFA Nations League group, which will see San Marino take on European sides much closer to their own level.

Their performances have steadily improved over the past year or so, which saw them score for four consecutive games for the first ever time… albeit in losing causes.

Nevertheless, the victory was still unforeseen and was greeted with unbridled joy by the home support in their 7,000 capacity stadium and among the remainder of the tiny country’s 33,000 population.

Third smallest state in Europe

Only Monaco and the Vatican City are smaller independent states in Europe than San Marino, and its landscape is dominated by the 2,424 feet (739 metres) Mount Titano. It is also a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

Football in that part of the world is all about their illustrious neighbour Italy, who sit inside the top ten in the rankings, just behind the likes of Argentina, France, Spain and England.

Steadily improving

Nevertheless, they still take the game seriously, and there had been undoubted signs of improvement and progress recently.

It started with a brave showing against Denmark in October last year, when they ended a two-year wait for a competitive goal with an equaliser, which sparked mass jubilation and although they fell to a 2-1 loss, it served to spread a new confidence.

They followed that up with another goal in a 3-1 defeat to Kazakhstan and then an injury-time penalty made it a history making third consecutive match in which they scored, as they lost 2-1 to Finland.

Losing streak ended

St Kitts and Nevis ranked 146 in the table, visited San Marino earlier this year for a couple of friendlies and despite falling to a defeat in the opener, they scored again for the fourth match on the trot.

Then, although they could not halt a 140 game win-less run in the second fixture, they did stop a 12-match losing streak as they played out a 0-0 draw.

Nations League offered hope

Hopes were lifted, especially as they found themselves in Nations League group consisting of Gibraltar (198 in the world rankings) and Liechtenstein – a side without a win of their own for 40 games and ranked at 202.

They were also the nation who were on the receiving end of San Marino’s only previous victory way back in April 2004, when an Andy Selva goal (one of his record-holding eight for his country) secured a famous moment in history.

A long time coming

For the recent game against Liechtenstein, there was a sense that perhaps this could be the night, but their opponents started the brighter and appeared to take the lead in the first-half, only to have a goal ruled out by VAR.

After 19-year-old Sensoli took advantage of some indecision to slot home the opener, the crowd became more and more edgy, especially during the seven minutes of added-time.

Their team survived a couple of scares to hold on and the final whistle saw players fall to their knees, as the enormity of their victory began to sink in.

Fastest goal record

San Marino’s first official match saw them suffer a 4–0 defeat to Switzerland in 1990. They entered their maiden World Cup qualifying campaign, in the same group as the Netherlands, Poland, Norway (who inflicted a 10-0 defeat in the opening game), Turkey (against whom their first ever point was gained in a 0-0 draw) and England.

A 7-1 loss was par for the course against the former winners of the trophy, but in the final group fixture, Davide Gualtieri scored the then-fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history after just 8.3 seconds, when he latched onto a dreadful back-pass by Stuart Pearce to put the minnows ahead.

Memorable milestones

It took until April 2001 for San Marino to gain their first ever away point, pinching a 1-1 draw in Latvia.

Their one and only win before the momentous achievement a couple of nights ago, also came against Liechtenstein, in a friendly three years later.

When in November 2014, San Marino drew 0–0 at home to Estonia, it was the first time in ten years that the team had not lost a match, bringing to an end a 61-match losing run.

Looking to climb the rankings 

Another milestone was reached at the conclusion of the qualifiers for Euro 24, as for the first time they ended the rounds of matches not being the worst overall team.

They finished with better records than Liechtenstein and Gibraltar, both teams that they will now have in the sights, as they look to climb up the rankings table.

Caribbean nations such as Anguilla (in 209th position), British Virgin Islands (208), US Virgin Islands (207), Turks and Caicos Islands (206) and the Bahamas (203), will also be on their radar.