World Soccer – August 2019

overcome a lousy start to last season and

win a place in the knockout by finishing

top of the second tier, before their

surprise victory over La Fiorita.

Among those wanting to change the

system is La Fiorita president Roberto

Bollini, who says: “Some clubs want to

play in Europe, some clubs just want to

survive and some clubs just want to play.”

This summer, San Marino co-hosted

the Euro Under-21 finals with Italy,

staging three group games in Serravalle.

Yet of all the small countries in UEFA,

San Marino is the only one to show

virtually no sign of improvement when

it comes to results.

In 1993 San Marino held Turkey to

a goalless draw in their first World Cup

qualifying campaign and in 2013 the

under-21s beat Wales 1-0 in a Euro

qualifier for the country’s first competitive

win. Under coach Pierangelo Manzaroli,

the under-21s kept another clean sheet

in the same qualifying campaign, holding

Finland 0-0 at home, and after taking

charge of the senior team in 2014 he

saw San Marino hold Estonia 0-0 in a

Euro qualifier to avoid defeat for the

first time in a decade. Since then, every

senior match has been lost and even

goals remain rare.

“We play against players like Rooney

on the Xbox and then we play against

them for real,” says Mirko Palazzi, who

scored against Azerbaijan in 2017 and in

more than 50 national appearances has

played twice at Wembley against England,

losing both games 5-0.

After an 8-0 thrashing by Germany in

World Cup qualifying in 2016, Bayern

Munich’s Thomas Muller said such games

were pointless and, in response, the

FSGC issued a stinging 10-point rebuttal.

But the federation has not helped itself

with an idealistic stance in refusing to

nationalise players.

“People say we should look for the next

Massimo Bonini, but he is famous because

of what he did with Juventus,” sighs Bollini.

“But we should be looking for the next

Andy Selva, who was from Rome.”

Born in San Marino, Bonini famously

did much of the running as a defensive

eyewitness

MARCO TURA

Elected

president of the

Sammarinese

association (FSGC)

in January 2017

but not universally

popular as he used

to be a ref rather

than a player.

FRANCO

VARRELLA

Part of Arrigo

Sacchi’s back-room

team for Italy in

the 1994 World

Cup and became

the first foreign

coach of San

Marino’s

beleaguered

national team in

January 2018.

LUCA MANCINI

President of ailing

San Marino Calcio,

who just survived

in Italy’s Serie D

last season but

are plagued by

financial problems.

NICOLA NANNI

San Marino’s great

hope, the teenager

made his senior

debut against

Moldova in 2018

and is on the

books of Serie B

side Crotone.

MASSIMO BONINI

Winner of the

European Cup and

three Serie A titles

with Juventus but

ignored requests

to play for Italy

at senior level.

Won 19 caps in his

thirties when San

Marino began to

play internationals

in 1990. Now the

FSGC’s technical

director.

Movers &

Shakers

Record goalscorer

...Andy Selva

Progress...hosting

games at this

summer’s Euro

Under-21 finals (left)

and losing 8-0 to

Germany (below)