San Marino, FIFA’s lowest-ranked men’s team, broke a two-decade losing streak on Thursday to beat Liechtenstein 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League for their first victory in two decades – and the team’s first-ever victory in a competitive match .
Nicko Sensoli scored the only goal of the match in the 53rd minute, giving San Marino the lead in a fairly even match. Liechtenstein, who were eleven places ahead of their opponents, dominated possession and matched San Marino with eight shots. However, they failed to put a shot on target, while San Marino had two and scored on one of them.
They went on a winless streak of 176 matches in competitive matches, drawing only five of those encounters, while losing the other 171.
It was a monumental achievement for the small, landlocked country of around 33,000 inhabitants, which has not celebrated a victory since April 2004 in the friendly match against Lichtenstein, which they also won 1-0.
The win means San Marino now tops Group 1 in League D of the UEFA Nations League, although the only other team in the group, Gibraltar, have yet to play their first match. League D is the lowest level in the Nations League, but teams can be promoted to League C and slowly try to move up the ranks of European football.
San Marino has long been one of Europe’s bottom dwellers and has suffered lopsided losses throughout its history. Their highest FIFA ranking was 118, almost 100 places above their current placement of 210, in 1993, but has since fallen, suffering their biggest defeat in a 13–0 loss to Germany in 2006.
San Marino will keep an eye on their first-ever winning streak on Tuesday when they take on 152nd-ranked Moldova in a friendly. They will resume their Nations League campaign in 198th-place Gibraltar on October 10.