With the recent successful exploits of the San Marino team in grabbing a 0-0 draw with Estonia which saw them rise from the pits of global football despair known as the foot of the FIFA world rankings to the giddy heights of somewhere not far above the bottom, also known as joint 180th, it seemed appropriate to reward the most prominent hero of that achievement in a Hall of Fame.
The inaugural inductee into the newly formed World in the World Hall of Fame is the San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini, whose string of fine saves that had kept scores low in previous matches now saw San Marino claim a first ever competitive clean sheet.
Simoncini, a 28 year old semi professional who also moonlights as an accountant, has something of an interesting back story. As a teenager he played for Modena in Italy’s Serie B, a level only the great Massimo Bonini once of Juventus has exceeded as a Sammarinese, and was highly rated. But his dreams of making it into the professional ranks were ended by a terrible car accident after which he was unsure of even playing the game again, let alone climbing to higher levels. At the time the doctors weren’t even sure he’d be able to walk normally again.
The inaugural inductee into the newly formed World in the World Hall of Fame is the San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini, whose string of fine saves that had kept scores low in previous matches now saw San Marino claim a first ever competitive clean sheet.
Simoncini, a 28 year old semi professional who also moonlights as an accountant, has something of an interesting back story. As a teenager he played for Modena in Italy’s Serie B, a level only the great Massimo Bonini once of Juventus has exceeded as a Sammarinese, and was highly rated. But his dreams of making it into the professional ranks were ended by a terrible car accident after which he was unsure of even playing the game again, let alone climbing to higher levels. At the time the doctors weren’t even sure he’d be able to walk normally again.
