San Marino, FIFA’s lowest-ranked international soccer team, earned promotion to the UEFA Nations League after beating Liechtenstein.
The perennial minnows are ranked 210th in world football but beat Liechtenstein 3-1 to advance to the UNL third tier against all odds with seven points from four games, one better than Gibraltar.
Lorenzo Lazzari, Nicola Nanni and Alessandro Golinucci were the heroes as La Serenissima came back from 1-0 down at Vaduz’s Rheinpark Stadion to win by a clear two-goal margin (Nanni celebrated his victory by stopping by Morning Footy on CBS Sports Golazo Network ).
It was the first time San Marino had scored three goals in a match and follows September’s famous 1-0 victory, also over Liechtenstein, which was their first victory of any kind in 20 years.
Nicko Sensoli was the hero that day which gave the tiny landlocked nation next to Italy, where many of the players ply their trade at lower levels, cause for wild celebrations at the San Marino Stadium in Serravalle.
Before that September success against Liechtenstein, Sammarinese’s last triumph came against the same opponents in 2004, leading to a wait of 140 games without a win before 19-year-old Sensoli’s historic goal.
To put into further context how historic this Nations League campaign has been for San Marino, Sensoli (who is part of the San Marino academy and was born in the capital of the Republic) was not even born until 2005, which was the year after his previous victory.
As well as the pair of wins over Liechtenstein, San Marino also drew 1-1 at home to Gibraltar with a late Nanni penalty to thank for the vital point that made the difference in the final standings last Friday.
San Marino, in addition to being landlocked, is populated by just over 30,000 people and is located in northeastern Italy and consists of only 61 square kilometers.
Eritrea, which has not even played a match of any kind since 2020, is not officially ranked by FIFA in the world rankings, San Marino has been at the bottom of the rankings since November 2023 and is generally ridiculed for its epic winless streak.
