Classroom lesson · Sport · 🇸🇲 San Marino

Football in San Marino

A passionate footballing nation - one of the smallest football teams in the world

San Marino football players in their national blue and white kit on the pitch

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

San Marino has its own national football team that competes in international competitions, representing one of the smallest countries in world football. With a population of around 34,000 people - much smaller than most big clubs - the San Marino national team shows incredible determination and pride every time they play.

Tell me more

San Marino joined the international football family, FIFA, in 1988. Since then, the national team has competed in qualifiers for major tournaments including the World Cup and European Championship. Playing against nations with millions more potential players to choose from is a huge challenge, but San Marino's players take to the pitch with full commitment every time.

Football is widely played and enjoyed throughout San Marino, with local club teams competing in the San Marino Football Championship. The atmosphere at matches is close-knit and passionate - when your whole country has only 34,000 people in it, everyone feels connected to the team.

San Marino's national stadium is called the San Marino Stadium and is located in the town of Serravalle. Despite the country's size, the stadium holds thousands of fans who turn out to support their team. San Marino is proof that the love of football does not depend on the size of your country.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

01San Marino is one of the smallest football nations. What do you think motivates the players to compete against much bigger countries?
02Why do you think football is loved all over the world, even in the tiniest countries?
03If your school entered a competition against much bigger schools, how would you prepare mentally to give your best?

Try this

Classroom activity

Football nations map: on a world map, find and mark at least ten countries that have a national football team. Include San Marino! Use different colours to show very small countries (under 1 million people) and very large ones (over 100 million). Which surprise you the most?

More about San Marino

Other things that make San Marino special

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