Football in San Marino

Football is the most popular sport in San Marino, as well as in Italy, the country of which it is an enclave.

The San Marino Championship, founded under the auspices of the FSGC (San Marino Football Federation), is the premier footballing competition in San Marino. The fifteen teams that take part in the competition are split into two groups of eight and seven teams. The top three from each section at the end of the regular season progress into a semi-knockout style Championship Playoff. Prior to 2007, the playoff champion earned a spot in the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Cup. In 2007, UEFA granted San Marino a spot in the 1st Qualifying Round of the Champions League. 2007 league champions S.S. Murata was the first team to represent San Marino in the Champions League when they participated in the 2007–08 competition, losing to Finland's Tampere United. San Marino also has a representative in the Italian system, with San Marino Calcio playing in the 3rd tier of Italian football, Lega Pro Prima Divisione. San Marino play their home matches in the Sanmarinese at the Stadio Olimpico of Serravalle.

There are two major cup competitions in the country. The first is the Coppa Titano, founded in 1937, in which all the teams in the league compete. The second is the Super Coppa Sammarinese which is contested between the winner of the cup and the winner of the league.

The San Marino national team played its first unofficial international match in 1986, suffering a 0-1 defeat to the Canadian Olympic team. Its first competitive outing was on November 14, 1990, a 0-4 loss against Switzerland in the European Championship qualifier. These defeats set the tone for most of the following outings of the team, who are regarded as whipping boys in the qualifying sections of the European Championship and the World Cup.

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