Welcome back again to the blog. Last time out we looked at the club side that I’ll be using as part of this challenge. Today, we dig into the history of the national team, including that game against England…
San Marino National Football Team – A History
Although the San Marino Football Federation formed in 1931, a national team was not established until 1986. Prior to this, all Smmarinese players were considered Italian nationals within the football world. Affiliation to both FIFA and UEFA was granted in 1988, with their first competitive game coming in the Euro 1992 qualifiers, losing to Switzerland 4-0.
San Marino quickly established an identity of perennial whipping boys of any international qualifying goods. During their first campaign, they only scored one goal (a penalty against Romania).
The 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign saw the country be handed a tough group with England, Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and Poland. Their first game in the group resulted in a 10-0 loss to Norway, but the group did bring some success for San Marino. They picked up their first ever point with a 0-0 draw at home to Turkey
The most famous goal in San Marino footballing history – Gualtieri nets against England…
It was in this qualifying round, however, that their most famous goal was scored. On a cold night in 1993, San Marino kicked off against the Three Lions and immediately set about on the attack. Although the ball was won back quickly by England, left back Stuart Pearce greatly underhit a simple back pass to David Seaman whilst being hounded by forward Davide Gualtieri (now a computer salesman). The onrushing Gualtieri latched on to the loose ball and slotted it past the Arsenal keeper, scoring the then fasted goal in qualifying history in 8.3 seconds. Although England won 7-1 in the end, it was yet another embarrassment for Graham Taylor en route to failing to qualify for USA ’94.
It’s easier to explain the rest of the nation’s footballing history by looking at the matches that they didn’t lose.
2001-2004 was clearly the peak in Sammarinese football, with the only victory in the nation’s history coming in 2004 with a 1-0 win over Liechtenstein in front of 700 fans.
So why the constant failures? There are very few (if any) Sammarinese players that are professional footballers, thus reducing the amount of game time each player will get. Additionally, a lack of funding available is unable to develop the game within San Marino, meaning that many players have to have second professions in order to make a living. A regular headline of all sporting media outlets lists all of the full time professions of each player. From accountants to hospital workers, bank clerks to bar owners, San Marino’s best sacrifice everything in the search for glory on a global stage.
Anyway, if you wanna see (nearly) every goal scored by the national team, have a gander at the video below.
So – what about the current playing squad?
As of the start of the game this is the current playing squad. Plenty of five star players right? You gotta remember that these players are rated 5 stars in the context of San Marino, which lets you know how good the players rated 1 star are!
Players of note include as follows:
Aldo Junior Simoncini – an accountant by trade, Simoncini is the first choice goalkeeper for us and will likely retain his place in between the sticks. A former CC San Marino player, Simoncini now plays his football for Tre Fiori in the San Marino league.
Mirko Palazzi – quite possibly the most versatile player in Football Manager, Palazzi has had the honor of scoring for his homeland (against Azerbaijan in 2017), Palazzi is somewhat a journeyman around the lower leagues in Italy and San Marino, and now finds himself on loan at Marignanese in Italy.
Filippo Berardi – quite possibly the golden boy of Sammarinese football, Berardi is most likely the player playing at the highest level of football in the national team, plying his trade for Vibonese in Serie C. Berardi has been the owner of a contract with Torino in the past, and I will admit that I would like to bring him to CC San Marino in the future!
Matteo Vitaioli – when he’s not scoring for fun for San Marino, Vitaioli runs a bar. A former CC San Marino player, the winger now plays for Tropical Coriano in lower league Italy.
Nicola Nanni – on loan from Serie B side Crotone to Serie C side Monopoli, at 19 years old Nanni is one of the younger players in the side.
The Future…
Our immediate concerns are getting through the remaining Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. We’ve got to play Scotland twice, along with Kazakhstan, Belgium, Russia and Cyprus again. I’m not expecting to pick any points up in any of these games – if I was a betting man the game against Kazakhstan would be the most likely game in which we might cause an upset.
As you may expect, we’re bottom of the group and unlikely to change that any time soon. It’s going to take decades to get to a point where we’re even thinking about qualifying for a major championship. We’re the lowest ranked team in the FIFA rankings (211st). so the only way is up right? All I can do right now is to take on friendly matches against teams around our ranking, hopefully picking up the odd win and perhaps boosting our profile that way.
ANYWAY – that’s the introductions done for both club and country. Let’s get on to playing the game shall we? Follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@registafm) and also on Twitch (twitch.tv/theregistafm) for any updates on the save as I’m playing it. Thanks for reading, and next time I’ll let you know how Season One went!
The 5,500 capacity San Marino Stadium
The Regista 
