SAN MARINO

No country is more of a football outsider than San Marino, the plucky micro-state minnows who have forever appeared anchored in last place in the FIFA rankings of all 211 member nations - largely the result of 20 winless years since their one and only previous victory - in a friendly against Liechtenstein - in April 2004.

We tracked the Titani obsessively in the first years of our podcast, hoping that either one or both of us would finally see them win a match. Between us, we attended three or four San Marino games without success and were thinking we might run out of funds if we kept spending all our budget on trips to San Marino. But when they were drawn at home to Liechtenstein in the UEFA Nations League in September 2024, we both felt we just had to be there.

Just as well, because it was one of the greatest footballing experiences of our lives. And much more importantly, for the San Marino players, who claimed a fortuitous 1-0 win (Liechtenstein had a goal ruled out for offside) thanks to a second-half strike from Nicko Sensoli. The final whistle saw pandemonium in the stands as the San Marino fan group, the Brigata Mai 1 Gioia (Never Any Joy Brigade) were finally treated to the unfamiliar sight of victory.

Having promised a special podcast episodes in the event of a San Marino win, Lee and Paul scurried to a quiet square in Serravalle and got to work talking excitedly about the momentous occasion and questioning what underdog cause we would dedicate ourselves to next.

San Marino followed up their first competitive victory with their first-ever away win - also against Liechtenstein, who must really hate facing them by now - later that year and even won their UEFA Nations League D group to gain promoted to League C. Now there’s a sentence we never thought we’d utter!