San Marino vs 26.09.26 16:000 – 7Full Time
Finland — UEFA Nations League: stats, lineups & analysis
Match report
Finland's emphatic start shows San Marino the scale of League C
Finland opened its League C campaign by winning 7-0 away to San Marino, taking an early lead in a Group C1 that also includes Albania and Belarus. For San Marino, this was its first League C match after winning promotion from D1. The step up was plain by half-time: Finland led 3-0 before the hosts had a player sent off.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data and the sources linked below.
Joel Pohjanpalo scored three times, Leo Walta twice, and Adrian Svanbäck and Benjamin Källman also scored. Finland's fourth goal came just before Alessandro Golinucci's red card early in the second half, so the dismissal deepened a result already moving decisively against San Marino. Pohjanpalo completed his hat-trick with a late penalty.
Finland have three points and a goal difference of plus seven after their opener, with Albania and Belarus also in the group. UEFA's revised format sends the League C group winner up to B and gives the runner-up a play-off route. With another three matches scheduled in the opening window, this result gives Finland a strong start rather than settling the group.
Pohjanpalo told Yle it was his first hat-trick for Finland. He said the two early goals eased the match, but thought Finland could have made more chances after San Marino's sending-off and must improve against stronger opponents. Coach Friis praised his side for continuing to seek goals after taking the lead; he noted that goal difference may matter later even though a 1-0 win would have brought the same three points.
Report sources
Finland won 7–0 away against San Marino (half-time 0–3).
San Marino met Finland in the UEFA Nations League (League C - 1). Kick-off was Saturday, 26 September 2026, 16:00 UTC at San Marino Stadium. Referee: Nathan Verboomen.
Team pages: San Marino · Finland · UEFA Nations League
Key moments
- 5' Goal: Joel Pohjanpalo — 0–1 · Watch Joel Pohjanpalo's goal video (5')
- 14' Goal: Adrian Svanbäck (assist: Leo Walta) — 0–2 · Watch Adrian Svanbäck's goal video (14')
- 33' Goal: Benjamin Källman (assist: Adrian Svanbäck) — 0–3 · Watch Benjamin Källman's goal video (33')
- 50' Goal: Leo Walta — 0–4
- 51' Red card: Alessandro Golinucci
- 55' Goal: Leo Walta (assist: Juho Lähteenmäki) — 0–5
- 79' Goal: Joel Pohjanpalo (assist: Adrian Svanbäck) — 0–6
- 88' Goal (penalty): Joel Pohjanpalo — 0–7
Starting line-ups
San Marino (4-1-2-1-2)
- 1 E. Colombo
- 12 A. Tosi
- 15 M. Pasolini
- 5 Michele Cevoli
- 4 F. Fabbri
- 8 L. Capicchioni
- 17 Alessandro Golinucci
- 16 C. Meloni
- 10 S. Zannoni
- 9 Nicola Nanni
- 11 Nicolas Giacopetti
Finland (4-3-3)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave San Marino 9%, the draw 14%, Finland 77%. It finished San Marino 0–7 Finland.
Finland's rating gap outweighs San Marino's home ground — Finland are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Finland's 77%. The draw at 14% is about what a gap this size usually leaves.
Why Finland at 77%?
Finland sit 827 points higher on our strength rating — 769 to 1597. Sides with a more than 240-point rating edge on the road won 66.4% of 5,896 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 7–14–79.
Why not higher?
No scored evidence points the other way. 77% is what this rating gap has been worth in games like these; the rest is the draw at 14% and San Marino at 9%.
Why is the draw only 14%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 14.9%. These teams' recent games average 3.9 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 22.8% of 17,254. The goals environment takes 1.3 points off the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Finland have averaged 19 percentage points more possession than San Marino in recent games. That doesn’t change our forecast here. San Marino (8 fully-tracked matches with us) and Finland (8) carry strength ratings anchored to the official international ratings list, so the class read stands on far more than our own short records. National sides play too few games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from the published international ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the San Marino vs Finland final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Nations League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Joel Pohjanpalo's goal against San Marino (5').
- Watch Adrian Svanbäck's goal against San Marino (14').
- Watch Benjamin Källman's goal against San Marino (33').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from San Marino 0–7 Finland. Explore more on the San Marino and Finland team pages or the UEFA Nations League page.