20 years of coefficients - San Marino (55)

20 seasons ago, UEFA has made two major changes in European club football. Firstly - Cup Winners' Cup was abolished and since then we have only two European competitions (UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup / Europa League). Secondly - season 1999/00 was a first one with current method of a seeding. So since 1999, European club football runs without bigger changes, which gives us an opportunity to compare results of all clubs and associations. So let's start with the weakest one - San Marino.

Points for UEFA Country Ranking

First section is showing all earned points, which are then used for a  calculation of a Country coefficient . This table will always be sorted by Total earned points. San Marino could send clubs into Europe for the first time in season 2000/01, but all participations of Sammarinese league winner has finished after two defeats until European debut of AC Libertas. Libertas was a first club from San Marino which has earned some points - 0,5 for a draw with Drogheda United (Irl). Since then, clubs from this small country were able to gain some points (in average) in every second season. But it was enough only for very poor 5 points in total.

UEFA seasonal coefficient

Seasonal coefficient represents gained points divided by number of clubs. Naturally, the Sammarinese seasonal coefficient was usually the zero. There were only six exceptions, inluding most successful season 2009/10 (thanks to a point of SP Tre Fiori). San Marino had coefficient 0,500 also in season 2018/19, but it was season with more qualifying rounds which resulted in a bigger amount of points for weaker associations. After all, you can see that in a second row (which is showing positions according to a gained seasonal coefficients). In season 18/19, San Marino had 52nd best coefficient. But in mentioned season 09/10, San Marino was on 46th position.

UEFA five-year coefficient

Five-year coefficient determines the number of places allocated to an association in forthcoming UEFA club competitions. It's simply a sum of five seasonal coefficients. Also following table is showing coefficients in a first row and positions in a second row. In other words - it is UEFA Country Ranking. In case of San Marino it's important to know also total number of UEFA members in given year. And that means - San Marino was always last, or second to last.

Knockout summary

KO summary is showing results of all clubs / associations in knockout ties, in which the seeding was determined by the coefficients. So that means:
1) All rounds prior Group Stage / all qualifying rounds (except very new Champions Route qualifiers in UEFA Europa League).
2) All rounds in former UEFA Cup until season 2003/04 (incl.) except QF, SF and F.
Wins indicate number of advances for the next round, loses indicate eliminations. Please note: for our purposes - seeded club is always that club with a bigger coefficient. We use this rule also in cases, when the draw is made before conclusion of a previous round. In that case - UEFA uses the coefficient of seeded club, despite given club may be eliminated. In that case de facto two unseeded clubs play togehter, so we consider that club with bigger coefficient as a seeded one. By the way, this table will always be sorted by Total (%) winning ratio.

San Marino is the only association without win (i.e. advance for the next round) in 'seeded' ties. Clubs from Kosovo also have winning ratio 0%, but they have never been seeded yet. San Marino is worst also in total statistics (regardless of a seeding). Sammarinese clubs has played 41 ties so far and lost 40 of them. It makes awful winning ratio 2,44%. But it was much worse few months ago, because until this season, clubs from San Marino lost very all ties! 19 years waiting finished in summer 2018, when SP Tre Fiori become first club from San Marino, which survived KO round. Who was that ashamed opponent? Bala Town FC from Wales.

Upsets - wins

This section will show very all European upsets (i.e. ties in already mentioned knockout rounds, which have been won by an unseeded clubs). They will be sorted by a difference between coefficient of an unseeded winner of a tie and coefficient of a seeded loser. Column Multiple indicates how many times smaller was a coefficient of an unseeded winner. In case of San Marino - there is only one upset. Already mentioned tie between Tre Fiori and Bala Town in UEFA Europa League Preliminary Round 2018/19.

Upsets - loses

Of course, this section is de facto the same (but it's focused on a lost seeded ties from given association's point of view). Clubs from San Marino have been seeded three times and they have always been eliminated.

Group Stage summary

As Knockout summary, also Group Stage summary will show results from the perspective of seeded, unseeded and all teams. This section comprises all played groups in UEFA Cup / Europa League and all played groups in UEFA Champions League (except second round GS (last 16 teams) in seasons 99/00 - 02/03, because seeding in this stage was not based only on club coefficients, but also on positions in first round group stage).
For our purposes - seeded clubs are those teams, which have been in a drawing Pot 1 or Pot 2 (or in Pot 3 in case of UEFA Cup in seasons 04/05 - 08/09). Unseeded clubs are those teams, which have been in last two drawing Pots. Mark # indicates number of participations, W indicates wins (i.e. number of advances for the next round), L indicates loses (i.e. number of eliminations) and % win indicates winning ratio. This table will always be sorted by Total (regardless of a drawing pot) winning ratio in all competitions. Please note - we consider third place in Champions League group as an elimination (L).

No clubs from San Marino have advanced for Group Stage.

If you wish to purchase all of our statistics - in several big spreadsheets (comparable, sortable and filterable by all associations, clubs, rounds, seasons etc.) - contact us.
If you wish to use this article in your article, you are free to do so (just mention FootballSeeding.com as a source).