Unlike Kosmos, which could not boast of frequent participation in European competitions, Sutjeska's next rival in the Conference League qualifiers (the first match is tomorrow at 21:XNUMX at "DG Arena"), every summer starts, but also quickly ends, the European adventure.
It is about Santa Coloma, the most trophy club from Andorra, which won the title 13 times, while it was the best in the Cup 10 times. Last season, Santa Coloma finished in third place, and it won participation in Europe thanks to its placement in the final of the Cup (in the final, Inter Escaldes was better, who qualified for the Conference League through the championship).
Although the most trophy-winning team, this team has been waiting for a cup for a long time - Santa Coloma won its last title in 2019, while in the Cup it reached the trophy in 2018.
The club was founded in 1986, and won its first title in 1995. Santa Coloma is one of the founding clubs of Primera, Andorra's first football division.
Santa Coloma participated for the first time in Europe in 2001, when in the first round of the qualification for the then Uefa Cup, they easily lost to Partizan. In the first match, Damir Čakar's goal was the deciding factor, while in the second leg it was 7:1 for the "black and white". Čakar then scored two goals, and Andrija Delibašić also entered the list of scorers.
Apart from Partizan, Santa Coloma also played against other clubs from the former Yugoslavia. Three years after the double match with the Belgraders, the team from Andorra was eliminated by Modriča (1:0 and 3:0) in the same competition, while 11 years ago Osijek was better in the qualifiers (1:0 and 3:1). Santa Coloma also played against Kosovo clubs Drita and Feronikeli in the Champions League qualifiers (in 2018 and 2019), but were defeated both times.
Three years ago, Iskra was also a guest in Andorra, playing in a European competition for the first time in history with Aleksandar Nedović. The team from Danilovgrad won in the preliminary phase of the qualification for the Europa League after a penalty shootout (4:3, 0:0 after 120 minutes).
Santa Coloma recorded its first victory in Europe in 2007, when it sensationally defeated Maccabi from Tel Aviv in the first round of qualifying for the Uefa Cup. And the first time she passed to the second round of a competition was in 2014, when she eliminated the then champion of Armenia, Banants (today's Urarta), in the first round. The representative of Andorra also reached the second round of the Conference League last summer, where he was eliminated by the Scottish Hibernian. At the start of this year's adventure, he was better than the Welshman Penybont, and he has never played in the third round of any European competition.
The team is made up of players from Andorra, Spain, Venezuela, and Ukraine. The only Ukrainian is the defender Andrij Markovič, who before Santa Coloma played in his homeland and in Estonia, and was a young Ukrainian representative.
Midfielder Daniel Toribio played for Murcia, Villarreal, Alaves, Malaga and Racing Santander in his career. He started his career in the younger categories of Barcelona, and played for the B team of "Blaugrana".
Stopper Sergio Rodríguez played in the Spanish Ponferadina, and he built his career in the Mexican clubs Tepatitlan and Mineros de Zacatecas. Last year he also played in Surhan from Uzbekistan.
Gerard Gomes, the stopper, who arrived in Santa Coloma last year, played for the younger categories of Rayo Vallecano and Barcelona.
Midfielder Mark Rebes and defender Moises San Nicolas are standard members of the Andorran national team, while offensive player Eloj Hila played for Albacete, Betis B team and Gimnastic.
Interestingly, the midfielder from Venezuela, Octavio Paes, played for the junior categories of Croatian Istria in 2018, and he also made his debut for the first team. He left Croatia three years ago.
The coach is Russian Dmitri Cheryshev. In his playing career, he played for Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiva Nizhny, Gijon and Burgos.
He was a coach in the younger categories of Real, and in the 2015/2016 season. was assistant to Unai Emery in Sevilla.
In 2021, he was appointed coach of Swedish Eskilstuna, and left after only three hours. He held only one training session, and he left because of the language barrier.
His son is Denis Cheryshev, a Russian national team player.
Bonus video:
