September 6 – San Marino, the whipping boys of international football as the worst team on the planet, according to FIFA’s world rankings, made history on Thursday by beating Liechtenstein 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League to claim their first ever competitive win.
The tiny country of barely 30,000 people half the size of Manchester and surrounded by Italy, came into the match looking for a first win of any sort since beating the same opposition in a friendly in 2004.
Liechtenstein had a goal disallowed for a tight offside in the first half before San Marino pounced on a defensive error to grab the winner in the 53rd minute through Nicko Sensoli. Aged 19, he had not been born when the tiny republic who sit 210th in the world rankings last won a game.
San Marino, who are in the three-team Group 1 of the bottom tier League D in the Nations League with Gibraltar their other opponents, held on for eight minutes of injury time to win and spark wild celebrations.
Their competitive record before Thursday’s victory read: won zero, drawn five, lost 171. Yet they had given notice of their improvement having claimed draws in friendly matches against Seychelles, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis over the past two years.
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