UEFA Regions’ Cup: NAT San Marino face Slovenian side Ptuj tomorrow

NAT San Marino arrived around lunchtime in Ptuj, the Slovenian host city of Group 2 in the Intermediate Round of the 2026-27 UEFA Regions’ Cup. This competition – the only international tournament in Europe reserved for amateur football – is one in which the San Marino representative side has always stood out for its high level of competitiveness. For those coming across the UEFA Regions’ Cup for the first time, it is worth noting that player eligibility rules are particularly strict (no professional contracts signed at any point in a player’s career and two consecutive years, without a break in registration, within the relevant football system), although some of Europe’s smaller states are granted limited exemptions to widen the pool of eligible players. Strictly speaking, it is certainly not a national team – as is clear from the squad list, which includes many Italian citizens. Rather, it is the expression of a league – the San Marino league – which in recent seasons has distinguished itself for an undeniable technical improvement. Having hosted and won its Intermediate Round group in 2024, which allowed NAT San Marino to reach the Finals of the competition, the team led once again by head coach Luigi Bizzotto lines up at the start of this new international campaign with high expectations.

“We have a core of four or five players who have already had this kind of experience and that will certainly help the rest of the group to reach the right level of awareness,” says Luigi Bizzotto, now in his fifth continental campaign in charge of NAT San Marino. “We are aware of our ability and, far from wanting to sound arrogant, we intend to make the most of that little bit of extra experience to help those who have not yet played in this sort of tournament and who, in turn, have brought great enthusiasm to the group.” As often happens in this competition, images and information about the recent outings of upcoming opponents are hard to come by: “We will discover the strengths and weaknesses of the teams we face directly on the pitch, also because – apart from the Serbians of FA of Vojvodina, whom we met last year in the Finals in San Marino 2025 – the other Slovenian and Moldovan representative sides will be completely new opponents for us,” Bizzotto continues. “Tomorrow we will be up against the hosts Ptuj in what will certainly be a difficult match, without the chance to prepare it on the basis of detailed knowledge of our opponents. That said, after each game we’ll be able to use footage of the other match and build a clearer idea of who we will be facing next.”

One complicating factor when taking on this kind of challenge abroad with a squad of amateur footballers is having the full group available, mainly in light of their work commitments. “As on every occasion – including the one hosted in San Marino, in fact – we face real difficulties in this respect. In this particular case, some players have taken holidays or special leave to be able to join this nine-day trip to Slovenia. The difficulties in calling up everyone we would have liked to involve, including for the preparatory training sessions, are inherent to the strict parameters of this competition and to the amateur status of the players it targets – that is beyond doubt. Those who are in Slovenia, I want to stress this, are here because they have earned it: I believe we have a competitive squad – confirms the head coach –, as many of them play for leading clubs in the Campionato Sammarinese and are performing well this season too. Beyond that, as I have already told the lads several times, at least for the first match we will need to be very sharp and focused in implementing our game plan without worrying too much about what our opponents may produce. Overall, I am quite confident based on what I have seen in the few training sessions we have unfortunately been able to hold together; in any case, the lads know each other well, as they have been playing in the same league for at least two years, and they have gelled very quickly.” Of the five cycles under Luigi Bizzotto, this may well be the squad that – at least on paper – seems capable of offering the greatest firepower: “That is probably true, because Bernardi, Badalassi, Ura, Belward and Sartini are forwards who can make the difference at any moment in a match. Even so, games have to be played at both ends of the pitch and a number of factors contribute to deciding the final outcome. I look at this international week with great optimism, fully aware that we also have excellent players in midfield and in defence – despite a few last-minute absences –.”

NAT San Marino will be in action tomorrow, on the first of the three matchdays in Group 2 of the UEFA Regions’ Cup 2026-27 Intermediate Round, as they take on hosts Ptju. Kick-off is scheduled for 15:30 at the Mestni Stadion.