Bloated tournament makes it possible
©IMAGO
What a historical football curiosity that would be: tiny San Marino together with the actually big Italy in the qualifying playoffs for the World Cup. The 210th and therefore last in the FIFA world rankings, at least for a brief moment on the same level as the four-time world champion. The selection of amateurs and recreational footballers together in a knockout competition with football millionaires and international stars.
A bloated 2026 World Cup tournament with 48 teams and a complicated qualification mode is helping several soccer dwarfs jump onto the big stage. While the outsiders Uzbekistan, Jordan and Cape Verde have already achieved the coup for their World Cup debut, other nations such as Suriname or Curaçao still have the chance of winning their ticket to the XXL tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada next summer. And San Marino could also come into the spotlight.
It is largely impossible that the mini-republic will actually qualify for the World Cup. In a small knockout tournament, better nations such as Italy, Ukraine or Turkey would be waiting. Getting into those playoffs at the beginning of 2026 is unlikely, but still possible. It would be a football sensation. And on the way there, a scenario could arise whereby the amateurs from the enclave near Rimini don’t need success, but rather, crazy, a big defeat in order to reach the playoffs.
It’s a bit complicated: San Marino is last in qualifying group H with no points, so it no longer has a chance of one of the top two places. On the final match day next week, the selection will be visiting third-placed Romania, who may then fight for second place in the table in a long-distance duel with Bosnia-Herzegovina, which entitles them to take part in the playoffs. And San Marino is very interested in the Romanians finishing second.
Romania doesn’t actually need this second place because the selection from the Carpathians is already guaranteed to be in the playoffs as a group winner in the Nations League. But this starting position could slip to another Nations League group winner – for example San Marino, which won Nations League Group I of League D ahead of Gibraltar and Liechtenstein. And that’s why we can hope – even if other scenarios would have to occur for playoff participation.
Deliberately losing big in order to celebrate at the end: Does this questionable sporting curiosity actually happen? Of course, a severe abrasion would not be particularly noticeable statistically. San Marino has only won two competitive games in its football history, both against Liechtenstein. Coach Roberto Cevoli’s team recently lost 10-0 to the league leaders from Austria in the World Cup qualifying.
Darmstadt professional Boëtius with Suriname on the verge of a big coup
Other outsiders don’t need such arithmetic games – for them, the rule is: losing is forbidden. Suriname, for example, with the Darmstadt second division professional Jean-Paul Boëtius, wants to get their first World Cup ticket with two wins from two more games and celebrate like never before. “Our country is not that big, but we can party,” the 31-year-old told the “Darmstädter Echo” in the summer with regard to his World Cup dream.
The small country from the north of South America – squeezed between Guyana, French Guiana and Brazil – does not compete in the qualification there, but in Central and North America. And because the top teams there, the USA, Canada and Mexico, are there as hosts this time, small teams like Suriname and Curaçao have a chance.
Unlike Suriname, the Caribbean island only ranks second in the group with favorite Jamaica. 28 teams have already secured one of the 48 starting places for the World Cup, and several more will be added in the next few days. And the tableau will be completed in the spring when the intercontinental and European playoffs take place. San Marino is also still hoping to appear among the big players.