San Marino national football team
Men's association football team / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The San Marino national football team (Italian: Nazionale di calcio di San Marino) represents San Marino in men's international association football competitions. The team is controlled by the San Marino Football Federation and represents the smallest population of any UEFA member. They are currently the lowest-ranked FIFA-affiliated national football team.
Nickname(s) | La Serenissima | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Association | Federazione Sammarinese Giuoco Calcio (FSGC) | |||
Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | |||
Head coach | Roberto Cevoli | |||
Captain | Matteo Vitaioli | |||
Most caps | Matteo Vitaioli (93) | |||
Top scorer | Andy Selva (8) | |||
Home stadium | San Marino Stadium | |||
FIFA code | SMR | |||
| ||||
FIFA ranking | ||||
Current | 210 (4 April 2024)[1] | |||
Highest | 118 (September 1993) | |||
Lowest | 210 (November 2018 – July 2019, March 2022 – July 2023) | |||
First international | ||||
Unofficial San Marino 0–1 Canada U23 (Serravalle, San Marino; 28 March 1986) Pre-FIFA recognized San Marino 0–0 Lebanon (Aleppo, Syria; 16 September 1987) FIFA recognized San Marino 0–4 Switzerland (Serravalle, San Marino; 14 November 1990) | ||||
Biggest win | ||||
San Marino 1–0 Liechtenstein (Serravalle, San Marino; 28 April 2004) | ||||
Biggest defeat | ||||
San Marino 0–13 Germany (Serravalle, San Marino; 6 September 2006) |
The first official match played by a San Marino team was a 4–0 defeat in a European Championship qualifier to Switzerland in 1990. Previously, a San Marino side played an unofficial match against the Canadian U-23 team in 1986, losing 1–0. Since making their competitive debut, San Marino has competed in the qualifiers of every European Championship and World Cup but has never won a match. They have only ever won once, defeating Liechtenstein 1–0 in a friendly match on 28 April 2004.
Until November 2014, San Marino was tied for last place in the FIFA World Rankings. This run lasted since the rankings were given a new calculation methodology. They were tied for last with Bhutan (208th) in the October 2014 rankings,[2] but a 0–0 draw with Estonia in the Euro 2016 qualifiers ended their tenure at the bottom of the rankings. In the same qualifying phase, San Marino scored their first away goal in fourteen years against another Baltic side, Lithuania. When the ranking methodology was revised again, the team fell back to the bottom following a 1–0 loss to Moldova in the Nations League.
San Marino's national team is sometimes considered the worst national side in the sport's history, as they have only ever won once and conceded an average of 4.2 goals per match. However, as a member of UEFA, they face stronger competition than many other low-ranked sides.[3]