Vegno national football team
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| Nickname(s) |
I Cormorani The Cormorants Gli Azzurri The Blues |
|---|---|
| Association | FCV |
| FMF member | 2022– |
| Confederation | AEFA |
| Head coach |
 Fortunato Bongiovanni |
| Captain | Paolo Vassena |
| Top scorer | Anthony Boretto (14) |
| Home stadium | Stadio San Giuann |
| FMF code | VEG |
| FMF ranking | 10 |
| Highest FMF ranking | 10 (14/08/23) |
| First FMF intermicronational | |
Pacary  0–3 Vegno | |
| Biggest win | |
Vegno 5–0  EMR | |
| Biggest defeat | |
Floria  5–2 Vegno | |
| FMF World Cup | |
| Appearances | 1 (first in 2023) |
| Best result | Quarter-finals |
The Vegno national football team is the football team which represents the micronation of Vegno. It is a member of the AEFA, and is run by the FCV.
History
The foundation and the first qualification at the World Cup (2022–2023)
The team was founded in early 2022 after Vegno's Micrasian claim was successful. The team's first participation was in the friendly tri-series tournament in Krasnovlac, against fellow FMF newcomers Krasnovlac and Pacary, which Vegno successfully won after two victories. The first team was led by Agostino Conti the first official manager of the national team, based on a strong backbone of players from the newly created Campionato Vegnese (Vegnese Championship), which would then become Lega A Vegnese the following year, with a much more complex structure.
After only 5 games played and none official, Agostino Conti leaves the national team in May 2022, replaced by former Sancrus FC manager, Fortunato Bongiovanni.
At the release of the first FMF Elo Micras Rankings, Vegno was 22nd in the rankings and on 19 January 2023 following the draw for the qualifiers for the 2023 FMF World Cup in Mercury, he was placed in Group A together with Hurmu, Çakaristan, Krasnovlac, EMR and Mataba. The 2023 FMF World Cup qualification rounds, Vegno's first competitive foray, saw the team top their six-team group with 23 points and qualify for the finals, for the first time in their history at the first attempt. The 2-1 victory against Hurmu at home was decisive, where thanks to goals from Rosario Bonotto and Danilo Mannino, the team qualified from the top of the group without passing through the play-offs.
The 2023 FMF World Cup represents the first major world tournament in which Vegno participates and in the group draw he appears in the 5th pot, as he is 24th in the ranking. It is therefore placed in Group D together with the reigning champions Floria, Calbion, Unified Governorates and The Hexarchy.
The debut at the World Cup took place on 11 June 2023, where the vegnese national team managed to surprisingly beat Calbion 2-1, thanks to goals from Boretto and Vassena. The second match of the group sees them barely achieve a 1-1 draw against nified Governorates, while in the third match of the group they beat the reigning world champions Floria 4-2 in a memorable match, thanks to braces from Boretto and Bonotto, which represents one of the highest points of vegnese football. They then conclude the group with another draw against The Hexarchy which allows them to qualify for the play-off round as second in the group with 8 points.
At the play-off round on July 30th the team beat Tiana 2-0 thanks to another Boretto's brace and qualified for the first time in its history to the quarter-finals of a World Cup.
However, the national team's adventure at the 2023 FMF World Cup was interrupted in the quarter-finals where Boretto's sixth goal of the competition was not enough for the Cormorani to achieve victory. They were defeated 2-1 by Phinbella, still obtaining an extraordinary result considering the initial premises. At the end of the tournament the striker Boretto is included in the team of the tournament.
The Confederations Cup and the hosting of the Copa Apollonia (2024–)
On 27 November 2023 it was announced that Vegno would host the 2024 Copa Apollonia, which guarantees the national team automatic qualification for both the Apollonian competition and the 2024 FMF Confederations Cup. In the latter, Vegno is included in the hots's group, where faces Mercury, New Batavia and Sovereign Confederation. Within the group he recorded two defeats, both against Mercury, three draws, two against New Batavia and one with the Sovereign Confederation, and only one victory, against the autonomous region of the Benacian Union. They finish the group with 6 points, which still allow them to qualify for the semi-finals as second in the group.
In the semi-finals they met the reigning world champions Senya and were defeated 1-0. Vegno played their last match of the competition in the play-off for third place, losing for the third time in a row against Mercury, this time 1-2, conceding the final defeat goal in the extra time.
They therefore closed their first FMF Confederations Cup in 4th place, with only one victory, two draws and five defeats.
On 7 July Vegno made its debut in the 2024 Copa Apollonia against Daau, in the opening match of the competition.
Chronological competitive participation
- 2022 Krasnovlac Tri-Nations Series
- 2023 FMF World Cup qualification
- 2023 FMF World Cup
- 2024 FMF Confederations Cup
- 2024 Copa Apollonia (hosts)
Team image
Crest
The team's crest was created in 2022 by the FCV following the foundation of the team to become the first official symbol of the Vegnese national side. The crest's design includes the flag of Vegno with the cormorant, the name of the nation and the abbreviation of the Vegnese football association, the Federazione Calcistica del Vegno.
Kits
The first home and away kits of the Vegno national team were presented in April 2022, just before the beginning of the 2022 Krasnovlac Tri-Nations Series, the first matches for the team. The predominant colour of the home shirt is blue, with the names and numbers of players in white, while the shorts are orange, representing the colours of the Vegnese flag, though there is also the possibility that the shorts could also be white. The away kit is, on the other hand, totally white, with numbers and names of players in blue.
| Period | Kit manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 2022– | Alberobianco
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Players
Current squad
The following 20 players were selected by coach Fortunato Bongiovanni for the 2024 Copa Apollonia.
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Recent callups
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Previous squads
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Individual records
Player records
As of 26 June 2024, the players with the most appearances and goals for Vegno are:
| Caps Record | Goals Record | Captain-caps Record | |||||||||||||
| Pos. | Player | Period | Caps | Goals | Pos. | Player | Period | Goals | Caps | Goals/caps | Pos. | Player | Captain Caps | ||
| 1 | Anthony Malvicino | 2022- | 38 | 0 | 1 | Anthony Boretto | 2022- | 27 | 36 | 0,75 | 1 | Paolo Vassena | 33 | ||
| 2 | Anthony Boretto | 2022- | 36 | 27 | 2 | Rosario Bonotto | 2022- | 12 | 34 | 0,35 | 2 | Anthony Malvicino | 4 | ||
| = | Paolo Vassena | 2022- | 36 | 6 | 3 | Nicolò Gualtieri | 2022- | 6 | 12 | 0,5 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | Rosario Bonotto | 2022- | 34 | 10 | = | Paolo Vassena | 2022- | 6 | 36 | 0,17 | 4 | ||||
| 5 | Gaetano Tosi | 2022- | 32 | 2 | = | Danilo Mannino | 2022- | 6 | 30 | 0,2 | 5 | ||||
| 5 | Michele Spanu | 2022- | 31 | 1 | 6 | Lorenzo Annovi | 2022- | 2 | 11 | 0,18 | 6 | ||||
| 7 | Iuri Coscelli | 2022- | 30 | 0 | = | Gaetano Tosi | 2022- | 2 | 32 | 0,06 | 7 | ||||
| = | Danilo Mannino | 2022- | 30 | 5 | 8 | Sandro Autiero | 2022- | 1 | 5 | 0,2 | 8 | ||||
| 9 | Christopher Caravita | 2022- | 25 | 1 | = | Graziano Formentini | 2022- | 1 | 6 | 0,16 | 9 | ||||
| 10 | Adolfo Braccini | 2022- | 21 | 0 | = | Giacomo Tiozzo Zucca Caenazzo | 2022- | 1 | 8 | 0,125 | 10 | ||||
Captains
List of captaincy periods of the various captains throughout the years
- 2022–: Paolo Vassena
Managers
The coach of the Vegno national team is chosen directly by the president of the FCV and his collaborators. The first coach in the history of the national team was Agostino Conti, in charge for only 5 games, before resigning to accept the contract with the Stonehall Hotspur club.
Replacing Conti in 2022 was Fortunato Bongiovanni, former manager of Sancrus FC, winner of a Bonfire Cup. Bongiovanni is currently the manager with the most appearances on the national team bench and the one with the highest percentage of victories.
| Vegno Managers | ||||
| Manager | Period | Matches Played | Wins | wins/matches |
| Agostino Conti
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2022 | 5 | 2 | 0,4 |
| Fortunato Bongiovanni
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2022–incumbent | 33 | 16 | 0,48 |
Honours
- FMF Confederations Cup: 0
- 2024 – Fourth place
Other titles
Flag
Vegno has used the following flag during the entirety of its FMF affiliation:
| 2022– |
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