Though the
San Marino Football Federation was formed in 1931, the Federation did not establish a national team until 1986, when a team representing the Federation played against the
Canada U-23 team in an unofficial international, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. San Marino gained affiliation to
FIFA and
UEFA in 1988, allowing the team to participate in major championships. Before this, Sammarinese players had been considered Italian in international football contexts. San Marino's first match in a FIFA-sanctioned competition was against
Switzerland on 14 November 1990 in a qualifier for the
1992 European Championships. San Marino lost 4–0 and would lose all eight of their other qualifiers. The team struggled in away matches, losing all by at least four goals. San Marino scored only one goal, which was a
penalty in a 3–1 defeat at home by
Romania, and conceded 33 goals in total. For their first World Cup qualifying campaign, San Marino was drawn in a group with
England, the
Netherlands,
Norway,
Poland and
Turkey. The opening match resulted in a 10–0 defeat to Norway. The return match was less one-sided, finishing 2–0 to the Norwegians. A 4–1 defeat in Turkey saw San Marino score their first goal in a World Cup qualifier (also their first from open play), and a goalless draw against the same opposition on 10 March 1993 gave them their first-ever point. In their final qualifier against England,
Davide Gualtieri scored the then-fastest goal in World Cup qualifying history after 8.3 seconds. However, San Marino went on to lose 7–1. San Marino finished the campaign with one point and conceded 46 goals in 10 matches. The team's qualification campaign for
UEFA Euro 1996 followed a similar pattern to the previous European championships as they lost every match. A match away to
Finland gave San Marino their first goal away from home in the European Championship qualifiers. However, the team lost 4–1. Their only other goal came in a 3–1 home defeat by the
Faroe Islands; the two wins over San Marino were the only points gained by the Faroe Islands in the group. In the first match, a 3–0 score in
Toftir is the Faroe Islands' record competitive win. Even by Sammarinese standards, the qualification campaign for the
1998 FIFA World Cup was disappointing. Losing every match by three goals or more, San Marino failed to score a single goal. This is the only World Cup qualifying tournament in which they have failed to score. Qualification for
Euro 2000 again resulted in defeats in every match. The closest San Marino got to gaining a point was against
Cyprus, a 1–0 defeat on 18 November 1998. In April 2001, San Marino gained their first-ever away point, drawing 1–1 with
Latvia in
Riga. The team ended the
2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying group with a new best of three goals, though one of these came in a 10–1 defeat by
Belgium. In the
UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, San Marino lost all eight matches, failing to score. The closest result was a 1–0 home defeat by Latvia, with the winner scored in the last minute. Latvia went on to qualify for the final tournament. A 2–2 draw against
Liechtenstein in a friendly in August 2003 saw the team set a new national record for most goals scored in a match; only twice since, in a 2–3 loss to Malta in another friendly nine years later, and again in their most recent victory, 3-1 over Liechtenstein in November 2024’s final match of their UEFA Nations League run, have the team scored multiple goals in a game. In April 2004, San Marino gained their first win after more than 70 attempts, a 1–0 victory over Liechtenstein in a friendly on 28 April 2004 courtesy of a fifth-minute goal by
Andy Selva. The match was
Martin Andermatt's debut as Liechtenstein manager. Results during qualification for the
2006 World Cup followed a similar vein to previous qualifying groups. Matches were generally one-sided defeats, except for single-goal defeats at home by
Lithuania and Belgium. San Marino's opening
UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match resulted in a record 13–0 defeat at home by
Germany on 6 September 2006. They scored only twice and conceded fifty-seven goals in losing all twelve matches. However, the home matches against
Ireland,
Cyprus and
Wales were each lost by a single goal. In the
qualification campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, they lost all ten matches and failed to qualify. They conceded 47 goals in those fixtures, including 10 in a defeat by
Poland, which became Poland's highest scoring victory of all time, and scored just once, in a 3–1 defeat by
Slovakia. The
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers started in a similar way, the first nine matches all being defeats with an aggregate of 49 goals conceded and none scored, their best result being a one-goal loss to
Finland at home, with the worst being a heavy 11–0 loss to the Netherlands, which became the Netherlands' highest scoring victory of all time and San Marino's worst-ever away defeat. This was then followed up by two lighter defeats, a 5–0 home loss against
Sweden, before completing the campaign with a 4–0 away loss to
Moldova. On 10 September 2013,
Alessandro Della Valle scored San Marino's first competitive goal in five years. With the score 1–0 to Poland in the
Stadio Olimpico, Della Valle headed in a free-kick in the 22nd minute, beating goalkeeper
Artur Boruc at his front post. Poland then regained the lead a minute later and eventually won 5–1. It was the first international goal of any kind scored by San Marino since the national team lost 3–2 at home to Malta in 2012. On 15 November 2014, San Marino drew 0–0 at home against
Estonia. It was the first time in ten years that the team had not lost a match, ending a 61–match losing streak, On 16 November 2019,
Filippo Berardi scored a goal in a 3–1 loss to
Kazakhstan in a
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match—the first goal for San Marino in two years (5–1 vs.
Azerbaijan on 4 September 2017) and their first home goal in six years (5–1 vs.
Poland on 10 September 2013). On 13 October 2020, San Marino recorded their fourth competitive draw and their first since 2014, after their
UEFA Nations League match with
Liechtenstein ended 0–0. A month later they made history by holding
Gibraltar to a goalless draw, surviving with ten men after Davide Simoncini was sent off. This heralded several firsts for them: the first major tournament in which they had gained more than one point, the first time they had gained more than one point in a calendar year, and the first time that they had gone unbeaten without conceding a single goal in two consecutive competitive matches. On 7 December 2020, San Marino was drawn into
Group I for the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The team failed to get a single point and lost all their matches, including a 0–10 home defeat against
England, and with a record of one goal scored, at home against
Poland in a 1–7 loss, against 46 conceded. On 28 March 2022, San Marino played the first official match in its history against a non-European team in a friendly game against
Cape Verde played on a neutral venue in Spain, the result being a 2–0 loss. San Marino then took on a second African side with a much lower standard than the previous one, the 198th ranked
Seychelles, whom they hosted in a friendly at
Stadio Olimpico on 21 September 2022. San Marino ended an 18-game losing streak with a goalless draw but disappointed overall, failing to capitalize on their chances and win at home against an opponent within its reach, who played defensively in a 4–5–1 formation. The
2022–2023 edition of the UEFA Nations League saw the selection again in Group B of League D composed of three teams, but they lost their four games without scoring a goal. On 17 October 2023, San Marino scored their first competitive goal in two years against
Denmark in a 1–2 loss during
UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying. They would score again against
Kazakhstan on 17 November 2023, losing 3–1, and just three days later they scored again in a 2–1 loss to
Finland. This marked the first time San Marino scored in three consecutive games. (2024) On 20 March 2024, San Marino scored in four straight games for the first time in their history after taking a 1–0 lead against
Saint Kitts and Nevis, eventually losing 3–1. On 24 March 2024, San Marino ended a 12-game losing run with a 0–0 draw against Saint Kitts.
2024–25 UEFA Nations League San Marino played Liechtenstein at home in the first round of the
2024–25 UEFA Nations League on 5 September. After a disallowed goal for Liechtenstein in the 30th minute,
Nicko Sensoli stole the ball from the Liechtenstein defence and scored to make it 1–0 in the 53rd minute. The Sammarinese then held on to claim a 1–0 victory, their first competitive win since joining FIFA and UEFA. A later loss away to Gibraltar and a 1–1 draw salvaged in stoppage time by a
Nicola Nanni penalty against the same side left San Marino second in the table, with the ability to advance directly to League C should they beat Liechtenstein away (by virtue of their opponents's two draws). On 18 November 2024, San Marino played Liechtenstein in
Vaduz. Despite being the more dangerous side in the first half, they were heading into the break 0–1 because of an
Aron Sele 40th minute goal. After the break, they swiftly equalized with a right-wing attack culminating in
Lorenzo Lazzari getting past the defence and beating the goalkeeper. In the 66th minute, San Marino won a penalty and Nanni smoothly converted it for an improbable 2–1 lead. Stunningly, just 10 minutes later,
Alessandro Tosi found himself on the left side of the Liechtenstein goal and passed to substitute
Alessandro Golinucci, who hit a first-time strike into the net to make it 3–1. In the end, the result stood, which meant San Marino was to be promoted to League C. It was the first time San Marino had scored more than one goal in a competitive fixture, the first time that San Marino had scored more than two goals in any fixture, the first time that San Marino had won a match from a losing position, the first time San Marino won an away match, and the first time San Marino was promoted in a major international competition. ==Image==