Sport in San Marino
San Marino is a small landlocked country in Europe. Along with many other countries, it considers football as its most popular sport.
rider at the San Marino MotoGP (which is not actually in San Marino)Massimo Bonini is a retired San Marinese footballer and coach, who played as a midfielder for Italian sides BellariaIgea Marina, Forlì, Cesena, Juventus and Bologna. Massimo Bonini began his career at Juvenes Dogana in 1973 but failed to make a league appearance during his 4 years at the club. After leaving Juvenes Dogana in 1977, he moved on to join Bellaria to make 33 appearances scoring 1 goal.
Since the San Marino Football Federation was not officially recognized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) until 1990, players from San Marino usually played in Italy. For this reason, Bonini was entitled to play for the Italian Football Federation and actually played for the Italian Under-21 football team. Since he always refused to give up the citizenship of San Marino, he had to wait until 1990 in order to play for San Marino's first team, winning 19 full caps since then. He played his first match for San Marino against Switzerland in 1990.
Many other sporting teams and athletes play in Italy due to the lack of facilities and lack of competition in San Marino.
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to San Marino. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.
Popular sports of San Marino
- Football (Soccer), shooting, baseball, basketball, rugby union
San Marino Sporting Success
- The San Marino national football team's 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein on 5 September 2024 in the UEFA Nations League was the country's first competitive win. The team's previous victory came in a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004.
Great athletes from San Marino
- Massimo Bonini (football)
- Alessandra Perilli (shooting)
San Marino Sports trivia
- At the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, shooter Alessandra Perilli won the country's first-ever medal, a bronze in the women's trap shooting event.
- The San Marino Grand Prix is not held in San Marino, but called that because there already is an Italian Grand Prix and of the track location's proximity to San Marino.
San Marino at major events
Past sporting events hosted in San Marino
Upcoming sporting events in San Marino
Annual sporting events held in San Marino
- San Marino Championship - the premier footballing competition in San Marino.
Sporting Facilities in San Marino
- San Marino Stadium, Serravalle
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