Football in San Marino

Football in San Marino has been a very popular game for many years. In the year of 1931, the San Marino Football Federation started its operation. Till date, the San Marino Football Federation controls the game of football in San Marino. In the international matches the San Marino football is represented by the San Marino national football team. The San Marino national football team was established in 1986. The FIFA code of this team is SMR. San Marino created a record in the history of World Cup by scoring the fastest goal, within 8.3 seconds from the start of the match by Davide Gualtieri, against England in a World Cup qualifying match in 1993.

The international football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA recognized the national football team of San Marino as their member in 1988. The San Marino national football team played their first official international match against Switzerland in 1990. This first official game played by San Marino football team was a match of the European Championships Qualifier. The football team of San Marino suffered a 0-4 defeat in this match.

Till 2007, the San Marino national football team has never qualified for the World Cup. In 1993, the San Marino national football team had put up some brilliant performances that helped them to better their FIFA ranking to 118. However, as of September 2007, the FIFA ranking of the San Marino national football team is 196.