On the decline of club football in Belarus Błażej Winte recently wrote on Sport.plr. In short, the local league is currently in 54th place in the UEFA ranking, ahead of only San Marino. Even Gibraltar and Andorra have achieved more in the last five years in European cups (this period is taken into account in the ranking). Not so long ago, Bate Borisov were frequent guests in the Champions League group stage. Today, this club has a lower total valuation on transfermarkt.de than Chrobry Głogów.
Belarus is falling apart in football. Even San Marino beats them
A perfect example of the breakdown of local football was provided by Islach Minski Rayon. They are the fourth team in the previous season of the Belarusian league, currently ninth after 15 rounds (they play in the spring-autumn system). Not a powerhouse even in Belarus, but they should have sent San Marino's La Fiorita away in the first round of the Europa Conference League qualifiers, and without any problems. However, this did not happen.
First game won 1:0. Low for such an opponent, but everyone was calm before the return match in Belarus. In the meantime, the unbelievable happened. La Fiorita took the lead in the 87th minute thanks to a goal by Jacopo Semprini. What's more, they did not allow a goal to be scored either in regular time or in extra time. They won the penalty shootout 4:2, causing one of the biggest sensations of this season in European cups in general.
Krzysztof Piątek on the path of the brave San Marino people
As calculated by Adam Żmudziński, a specialist in “unusual” leagues, on the X portal, this is only the third time in history that the San Marino team has advanced in international club competitions (after Tre Fiori in the 2018/19 qualifying round). Europa League and in the 2022/23 Conference League qualifiers). The goal scorer, 22-year-old Semprini, has 9 matches in the Italian youth Primavera for SPAL and 16 matches in the fourth Italian league (Serie D) on his CV. Apart from matches in the Sanmarine league. As a reward, they will face Basaksehir FK in the second round, whose football players are Krzysztof Pi±tek and Patryk Szysz.