San Marino vs Romania

Romania head to the San Marino Stadium to take on continental minnows San Marino in a must-win 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Though their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup remain far-fetched, San Marino entered their World Cup qualification campaign with renewed confidence following a highly successful UEFA Nations League D (UNL) campaign. FIFA’s lowest-ranked side defied expectations to top UNL Group D1, despite being underdogs in all four matches against Liechtenstein and Gibraltar. Again on the wrong side of the odds in their Group H opener against Cyprus, San Marino put in a respectable performance on the road despite falling to a 2-0 defeat. Roberto Cevoli’s charges now face their toughest challenge in some time as they host Romania, a team that has dominated all three previous H2H meetings by an aggregate score of 10-1.

Ominously for San Marino, visiting Romania sit 172 places above them in FIFA’s world rankings, a gap fueled by the visitors’ impressive 2024, during which they topped their Euro 2024 group and UNL Group C2 to secure promotion to League B. However, the visitors’ World Cup qualifying campaign got off to a dismal start as Bosnia & Herzegovina beat them 1-0 in Bucharest. The Tricolour must respond immediately, as anything less than a win here would put their hopes of a first World Cup appearance since 1998 in serious jeopardy. A trip to San Marino could be just what Mircea Lucescu’s men need to bounce back, especially after winning all three of their Nations League away games.