People, mostly fans, take their sports and especially football (in most parts of the world) especially seriously. But not in San Marino, who have very few actual professional footballers on their squad, which was quite amazing to watch as they stepped on to the pitch at Wembley to face England.

So what did we have? Mirko Palazzi, who plays for AC Rimini in the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione A, was the only actual footballer who started for San Marino (207th in the world in the FIFA rankings) on the Wembley pitch.

The rest? Aldo Simoncini, an accountant; Fabio Vitaioli, Bar owner; Cristian Brolli, student; Davide Simoncini, accountant; Alessandro Della Valle, bank clerk; Enrico Cibelli, bartender; Mateo Coppini, Olive oil company; Michele Cervellini, student; Danilo Rinaldi, furniture company; Alex Gasperoni, Lighting company. Now wonder this side has only one win in all of its history, against the mighty Liechtenstein. After that roundup, losing 5-0 to England doesn’t sound that bad.

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