Super Cup closes out the year: Virtus and Tre Fiori face off for the first trophy of the season

Postponed from its usual late-summer slot, the 2025 San Marino Super Cup will be played tomorrow evening – Tuesday 23 December – at the Acquaviva Stadium, kicking off at 20:00. The match will be broadcast live, free-to-view via streaming on Titani.tv and free-to-air on San Marino RTV (ch. 550), with Italian commentary.

The two sides contesting the first silverware of the season are Virtus and Tre Fiori. The Neroverdi, fresh from a historic Treble and current holders of every domestic title in San Marino, will be looking to defend the Super Cup they won last year against La Fiorita. If they succeed, Bizzotto’s men would become the first club to lift the trophy three times in a row, adding to their success in the 1988 Federal Trophy – which, until three years ago, was the only piece of silverware in the Acquaviva club’s cabinet. Over the last three seasons Virtus have turned into serial winners, celebrating 2 league titles, 2 Coppa Titano triumphs and 2 San Marino Super Cups. On the opposite side, the Gialloblù from Fiorentino are chasing a seventh win in the competition, which they last claimed in 2022. Tre Fiori, leaders in the Campionato Sammarinese with a one-point advantage over Virtus, are the main challengers to the Neroverdi’s dominance. In addition, Girolomoni’s men are out to avenge their defeat in last May’s Coppa Titano final – aiming not only to show how much closer they have come to the level of the team that has dominated in recent years, but also to prove they have what it takes to overtake them and add to their own trophy room, the most decorated in San Marino.

“Virtus come into this important fixture in good shape, certainly in better condition now than we would have been at the end of the summer, when the Super Cup was originally scheduled,” begins Luigi Bizzotto, head coach of Virtus. “We’re now into the rhythm of the league and, physically, we’re in a good spell as well: apart from Nicola Gori, who is suspended, everyone is available – despite a few minor knocks we can manage. We’ll go out there determined to win; we’re very keen to defend the trophies we secured last season. We know we’ll be facing a Tre Fiori side in good health, strong and highly motivated, and we’ll respond with our own motivation. Given the technical quality of the two teams and the standard of football both have shown in this first part of the season, I hope and expect an entertaining match for those watching, whether in the Acquaviva stands or in front of their screens.”

His opposite number, Danilo Girolomoni, Tre Fiori head coach, will also have a full squad to choose from: “All the players are fit and available; we go into this San Marino Super Cup in the best possible shape and at full strength. Overall, I think it has worked in our favour as well to play this match now rather than a few months ago. The start of the league has given us greater belief in our abilities and has said a lot about the growth path we’re on. For that reason, I believe that the gap to Virtus – simply compared to last year’s Coppa Titano final – has been significantly reduced, if not completely closed.”

In finely balanced games packed with individual quality like this one, a single episode – a moment of brilliance or a small mistake – can be decisive. That is the view of Matteo Prandelli and Manuel Battistini, captains of Tre Fiori and Virtus respectively. “I think the team has benefitted from the new arrivals in the summer: they integrated very quickly and well, helping to tighten the group. Tre Fiori are trying to build something important, both at club level and in terms of the playing squad. Our almost perfect start to the season makes us positive and confident going into tomorrow’s match: there’s a great atmosphere in the team and we’ve developed an awareness that perhaps we were missing last year. Tight, evenly matched games like this,” concludes Prandelli, “can be decided by the smallest detail, such as a set piece or a lapse in concentration. We’ll have to make the very most of our weapons to achieve something important.”

Sharing a similar view is Battistini: “It’s hard to say whether it will be the collective performance or individual skill that decides the game. Both Virtus and Tre Fiori can boast a wide range of solutions in both respects. In my opinion, a piece of individual brilliance could prove decisive – as has already been highlighted by those who spoke before me. For better or for worse, a single episode could indeed determine who wins the San Marino Super Cup. Maintaining this level season after season is certainly more difficult than reaching the top for the first time: summers filled with UEFA club competitions also create major headaches that affect performances in the opening months of the new season. Nevertheless, the team is solid and we too – despite making only a few changes – have added quality players who have given us more options and greater freshness. We may be second in the table, but what Tre Fiori and Virtus have produced so far – both offensively and defensively – is virtually identical.”