San Marino has been the whipping boy in world football for decades. Now the coup has succeeded: the team from the dwarf state called the “Titans” is promoted to the Nations League. The team and coach can now think even bigger. “A surreal dream,” says Coach Cevoli in an interview.
San Marino’s amateur footballers screamed as if they had won a big title and euphorically threw coach Roberto Cevoli into the air – tears of joy flowed from the ecstatic head of the association. With a historic 3-1 win in Liechtenstein, the tiny state’s footballers achieved promotion to the C league in the Nations League last week. At least for one blissful evening in Vaduz, the bottom of the FIFA world rankings shed their decades-old loser image – and can now even dream of taking part in the qualifying play-offs for the 2026 World Cup.
“Apart from the serious risk of a heart attack, I can only say that these boys made history tonight,” stammered the visibly moved association president Marco Tura and revealed: “I had to cry between the boys. San Marino recorded the first away win in their international history, their highest success at that, and scored three goals in a match for the first time.
After the surprising first victory in more than 20 years in September, coach Roberto Cevoli’s team celebrated their next success. They have never managed to win after falling behind – in fact, the footballers who are called “Titans” only have three international successes to their name: all three came out against Liechtenstein, first in a friendly match in 2004 and now twice in this Nations League season. “Ending the first half 1-0 down was an insult to football. But the boys were brilliant and deserved what they achieved,” said San Marino’s 55-year-old coach Cevoli.
Lorenzo Lazzari (46th minute), Nicola Nanni (66th/penalty) and substitute Alessandro Golinucci (76th) turned the match around. Nanni plays in the third Italian league, Lazzari – a university student – even lower. Golinucci only plays in the domestic league in San Marino – in addition to his regular job as a warehouse worker for a toy company. This made her coach Cevoli proud, as he reported in the interview.
Ask: Signore Cevoli, how has your life changed since the 3-1 win in Liechtenstein last Tuesday?
Roberto Cevoli: I received a lot of messages that I still haven’t answered all of. And new news is coming again. Friends and former teammates, players I coached – everyone is happy for me and compliments us.
Ask: How did your promotion party in Vaduz turn out?
Cevoli: Honestly? It wasn’t a big deal, we went back to the hotel, were very tired and didn’t do much. We drank a few bottles of wine, made a few toasts and nothing else. But I hope that we can make up for it in San Marino.
Ask: What does jumping into the C league of the Nations League mean for San Marino – for the tiny state and your association?
Cevoli: We have never been promoted in a football competition. This is something new. Historical. We broke records in Liechtenstein, scored more than two goals in a game for the first time and won away from home for the first time. It makes us proud to represent San Marino at this moment because the whole world will be talking about us for a few more days.
Ask: Is the Nations League the big opportunity for the eternal outsiders?
Cevoli: There’s a lot of truth to that. We experienced our greatest success ever in this competition. If you always play against the strongest teams in the world as San Marino, you can never recognize your limitations and improve. The Nations League was initially heavily criticized, but it has proven to be a very positive thing. This tournament allows us to compete with teams that play at the same level as us. And it’s no coincidence that we managed to get into League C.
Ask: By winning the group, it is not ruled out that San Marino will play in the play-offs for the 2026 World Cup.
Cevoli: That would be an additional opportunity to show ourselves. But all without raising any strange hopes. San Marino at a World Cup – that’s a surreal dream at the moment. But if it really happens that we are allowed to play in the play-offs, we would compete with dignity and try to do our best.
Ask: She was born in Italy, but has long been a citizen of San Marino. You became national coach in December 2023. Why did you accept the job at 210th and bottom of the FIFA world rankings?
Cevoli: Because we can only do better, because when you’re last you can’t get any worse. (laughs) But joking aside: coaching your country’s team is always something nice and special. That was the first reason for my decision. Representing your nation, even just in sport, is a great thing and that’s why I think it makes you give that little bit more.
Ask: Your squad includes players from Italy’s third and fourth divisions as well as amateurs from the domestic league. Do you find it difficult to prepare for a course and international matches?
Cevoli: It is very difficult because San Marino only has 34,000 inhabitants. This means that the selection of players is of course limited. We have decided to rely on young players and work with them. There are a lot of good young people, so we have significantly reduced the average age of the team. These young players inspire you, they have good qualities and the results of the last few games are a consequence.
Ask: San Marino was always the whipping boy, Germany once won 13-0 against your country. But there haven’t been really big defeats for a long time. In the most recent European Championship qualification they lost 1:2 against Denmark, which was very unfortunate. In your opinion, what is the team’s biggest development?
Cevoli: We must not forget that our opponents were now Liechtenstein and Gibraltar. But it’s no longer the case that we fall apart after conceding the first goal. That was the case in the 1-1 draw against Gibraltar and now in the 3-1 draw in Liechtenstein. When it comes to this mentality, San Marino has taken a giant step forward, the team has matured a lot.
Ask: Your national team has a fan club that calls itself “Brigata Mai una gioia”, which in German means: “Never a joy.” Wouldn’t after promotion be the ideal time to change the name?
Cevoli: No!
Ask: No?
Cevoli: Our Tifosi don’t want to change their name. You feel connected to this name. At least that’s what they told me. You see – this is really an issue for us. This is a question that a lot of people have asked me. The fans were also asked. But they asked that the name remain. The group now has members from all over the world. There were people from Peru and Saudi Arabia in Liechtenstein. It’s a fantastic thing.
The interview was designed for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT PICTURE, BILD) conducted and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
