Lowest ranking FIFA minnows San Marino score historic UEFA Nations League promotion with Liechtenstein win

San Marino, FIFA’s lowest-ranked international soccer team, has earned promotion in the UEFA Nations League after beating Liechtenstein.

The perennial minnows rank 210th in world soccer but beat Liechtenstein 3-1 to move up to the third tier of the UNL against the odds with seven points from four games which is one better than Gibraltar.

Lorenzo Lazzari, Nicola Nanni and Alessandro Golinucci were the heroes as La Serenissima came from 1-0 down at Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz to win by a clear two-goal margin (Nanni celebrated his win by stopping by Morning Footy on CBS Sports Golazo Network).

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It was the first time that San Marino have ever scored three goals in a game and it follows September’s famous 1-0 win — also over Liechtenstein — which was their first victory of any description in 20 years.

Nicko Sensoli was the hero that day which gave the miniscule nation landlocked by Italy — where many of the players ply their trade at the lower levels — cause for wild celebrations at San Marino Stadium in Serravalle.

Prior to that September success against Liechtenstein, the last Sammarinese triumph came against the same opponents back in 2004 which created a 140-game wait without a win before the 19-year-old Sensoli’s historic goal.

To put it into further context how historic this Nations League campaign has been for San Marino, Sensoli — who is part of the San Marino academy having been born in the Republic’s capital — was not even born until 2005 which was the year after their previous win.

On top of 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 which made all the difference in the final standings just last Friday.

San Marino, as well as being landlocked, is populated by little over 30,000 people and situated around northeastern Italy and consists of just 61 square kilometers.

Eritrea, who have not even played a game of any type since 2020, are non-officially unranked by FIFA in the world standings, San Marino have been bottom of the pile since November 2023 and are generally derided for their epic winless streak.