San Marino obtained a stunning promotion to the third tier of the Nations League on Monday after coming from behind to beat Liechtenstein 3-1.
Trailing at half-time, San Marino claimed their second-ever official win thanks to strikes from Lorenzo Lazzari and Alessandro Golinucci, and Nicola Nanni’s penalty.
San Marino’s players charged onto the pitch in joy after securing promotion to League C following a historic result at the Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz.
The micro state’s national team, whose first competitive win came against Liechtenstein back in September, have been promoted after topping Group D1.
San Marino are international football’s bottom-ranked team but finished the group one point ahead of Gibraltar with whom they drew 1-1 on Friday thanks to a last-gasp Nanni spot-kick.
They scored three goals in a competitive fixture for the first time and Golinucci’s first-time finish in the 76th minute, which decided the match, came from a slick passing move which would once have been unthinkable.
The whipping boys of international football had been building up to their historic Nations League campaign after also claiming draws in friendly matches against Seychelles, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis over the last two years.
San Marino’s promotion to League C leaves Malta, Andorra and Liechtenstein as the only teams to have never moved up a division in the UEFA Nations League.
Malta are resigned to miss out on automatic promotion from Group D2 after placing second in their section behind Moldova.
However, the Maltese still have one other opportunity to win promotion as they will feature in a promotional play-off against either Latvia or Luxembourg in March 2026.
Malta’s opponents will be discovered when the play-off draw will be held on Friday.
