On a humid Thursday night in the hills of Serravalle, with 914 lucky fans watching on, a seismic moment in history took place which sent tremors across the football community.

The tweets and replays quickly began to roll in. What channel is it on? How can I watch it? Are you seeing this?!

Fan accounts spurted out frantic, largely unintelligible updates, live feeds were furiously refreshed and suddenly San Marino fans simply couldn’t sit still. This was it – they were finally, after 34 long years of waiting, going to win a competitive game.

In the 53rd minute of a Nations League clash with Liechtenstein that had thus far flown under the radar, Nicko Sensoli scored the most famous goal in San Marino’s history to seal their first ever three points in competitive football.  

It was hardly a Puskas Award winner – the teenager pounced on a defensive error to loft the ball into a vacant net – but it meant absolutely everything to every single one of San Marino’s 33,000-strong population – not the worst way to open your account.

‘When I saw my team-mate kick the ball to the penalty area I saw that nobody was next to the defender,’ the hero of the hour explained, talking Mail Sport through his goal. 

‘In that moment I initially thought he may have headed it to put it wide, but I immediately heard the goalkeeper yelling at him. 

‘Even though I don’t speak German, I gambled he asked for a back pass. I accelerated towards the ball to arrive with a good pace to slightly anticipate the goalkeeper. 

‘The only way to beat him would have been a lob because we were really close. When I saw the ball bouncing to the goal I started celebrating madly.’

To most audiences, San Marino aren’t a team regularly at the forefront of the mind. They’re a chance to blood some youngsters, pad the stats a bit, a certain six points in the qualifying group.

In their entire history San Marino had only ever won one game before Thursday night. One win from 205 games, curiously also 1-0 against Liechtenstein. But speaking to the players involved after a historic evening, you realise that they represent every reason that we all fell in love with the game. 

‘It means everything,’ captain on the night Alessandro Golinucci explains. 

‘Everything I have always dreamed from the very first time I wore the jersey of my national team in the U17s. From then to now, it has been the ultimate target I’ve always aimed for in my football career. We managed to meet it and we’re really proud for this achievement! 

‘It feels like an ultimate and incredible emotion, a once-in-a-lifetime joy. These three points will always remain in historical records of our team, it is difficult to find words that can describe what we have felt and we are still feeling after the final whistle.

‘I remember I was on the bench next to my brother, Enrico. We were hysteric in the closing part of the match – standing up, cheering our team-mates in the pitch, frenetically walking in front of the bench. 

‘It was really hard to live those moments out of the pitch and feeling the anxiety of the final minutes, but at the end of the day the final whistle gave us a great relief. We exploded in joy, and having had the chance to share that moment with my brother doubled the pleasure. ‘

Never before had La Serenissima won a competitive game, until Roberto Cevoli’s soon-to-be national heroes stepped up; it might have been Sensoli’s goal that sealed the result, but you’d be hard done to find a side so built on the basis of collective effort and team spirit than San Marino.

Needless to say, having been forced to wait so long to celebrate their maiden three points, San Marino have plans to mark the occasion.

‘We celebrated it in a local club here in San Marino, but we’re planning a special event this weekend to celebrate properly an historical event,’ Golinucci revealed. 

Sensoli – who wasn’t even born the last time San Marino won a game – added: ‘We “destroyed” the locker room, fully enjoying a deserved victory!’. Heart-warming footage later published by the UEFA Nations League social media accounts backed this up.

It is of course worth pointing out that while for some the Nations League is just another competition in the international calendar, for nations like San Marino, Gibraltar and Liechtenstein, it is way more. 

Rather than suffer thrashings at the hands of England (10-0 in 2021), Germany (13-0 in 2006) and Belgium (9-0 in 2019), La Serenissima have the opportunity to test themselves against in genuinely competitive match-ups and actually grow as a team, testing new ideas and giving players valuable minutes.

‘As you may imagine I am really proud of this victory, of the team and the players’ overall performance against Liechtenstein,’ San Marino’s now-most successful ever head coach Cevoli adds.

‘What makes me most proud is that our players showed a great mindset, fighting for any ball possession and focusing on the opportunity to win the game. Minute by minute they took awareness that they could compete against Liechtenstein. This is the product of the efforts they made in last nine months.

‘Coaching is a complicated job, but the payoff is massive. These emotions delete all previous negative periods or defeats; moments like this, which will last a lifetime, are why we love football. I am massively proud to coach the national team of my own country – for any coach, this surely is the best opportunity ever.’

It has been a long time coming, there’s no denying it, and of course the long-awaited victory tastes all the sweeter. But it is also the vindication of a new approach to the national team that has at last reaped the ultimate rewards.

Sure, there haven’t been any wins along the way, but it has been a hugely positive past 12 months for San Marino. Their fortunes on the field have improved with five goals in their previous seven games – including a first in competitive action in two years against Denmark last year.

It might not sound much, but it is a huge improvement from the 36 games it took to score as many prior to that.

‘All the people involved in Sammarinese football, from those who play on the pitch to executives, employees, supporters and football fanatics, today feel fulfilled after this success,’ Marco Tura, president of the San Marino football federation, says. 

‘We’re all massively satisfied to have won our very first three points in San Marino international history, fully aware that this is the product of a magnificent job made primarily in the last few years investing in youth players.’

Sensoli, the history-making goal scorer, is only 19, as is Matteo Valli Casadei, who played 90 minutes at the centre of midfield. The Benvenuti twins, Giacomo and Tommaso, are 18; in total, across the full match squad Cevoli’s side contained 13 players aged 23 and under.

After all, you can’t be scarred by past defeats if you weren’t playing in them. Bringing in fresh, hungry faces, has given Cevoli’s San Marino a vigour that the casual supporter might not expect from a side previously without a competitive win in over 200 attempts.

Instead, Cevoli and Co are putting together a team that can bring a new definition to international football in San Marino.

They may not be able to compete with the talent pool and riches of some of Europe’s biggest hitters, but why can’t they earn a similar result when Gibraltar visit Serravalle in November? Why can’t San Marino top their Nations League group, or at least put up a fight?

For many the achievement of finally beating the odds, at last ending the wait for three incalculably huge points, might be enough. But for San Marino and president Tura, who have continued to fight like no other nation in the face of numerous setbacks, it is just the beginning.

‘It’s an historical achievement and we’re fully aware to have met a record that makes us incredibly proud. However, this should be seen as a starting point – not a finish line crossed.’