Few people expected an Andorran club to reach the league phase of a European competition. On Thursday, Inter Club d'Escaldes will do exactly that in the Conference League, and one of their players is Maurizio Pochettino, 25, whose father Mauricio now coaches the United States.
A dream built around Espanyol
Pochettino grew up watching Espanyol, where his father played and later managed. When Espanyol reached the 2007 Uefa Cup final, he dreamed of playing in Europe himself. "It feels like it hasn't sunk in yet," he told BBC Sport, calling it a dream come true for such a small country and league. He came through the academies at Southampton and Tottenham, spent six months at Watford, then moved to Spain and played in the semi-professional third and fourth tiers before Inter came calling in 2025.
How Inter got there
The qualifying moment came on a late August evening. The first leg of their Conference League play-off against Drita in Kosovo finished 2-2. Inter dominated the return leg without scoring, so it went to penalties. Pochettino scored his, Drita missed one, and striker Faysal Chouaib finished the job, setting off wild celebrations at Andorra's national stadium.
The club was founded in 1991 and helped form the top flight four years later. They were relegated in 2015 and came back in 2017 under new ownership. Their first league title arrived in 2019-20, and they have won five in the past seven seasons. Manager Felip Ortiz, 49, spent much of his life connected to Barcelona, and says that background made him brave in his tactics and gave him a possession-based style.
The money, and what it means for Andorra
The reward is large for a club this size. Inter are projected to earn more than 3m euros (about £2.5m) from the league stage, roughly 2.5 times their annual budget. Andorra has about 90,000 people, and its national team has won only 14 of its 232 matches since joining Fifa in 1996. It sits 175th in the Fifa men's rankings.
Inter's run has pushed Andorra into the top 50 of Uefa's club coefficient rankings, which means four Andorran clubs will enter next summer's qualifiers for the first time. Ildefons Lima, the former defender who played for his country for 26 years, says it shows reaching the final stages is a realistic goal. First up is a trip to Swedish champions Mjallby on Thursday, followed by Red Star Belgrade, FC Copenhagen and Getafe.
Club facts: Inter Club d'Escaldes, founded 1991, are the first Andorran side to reach the league or group phase of a European competition. They beat Drita on penalties after a 2-2 first leg and a goalless second leg. Their league-phase opponents are Mjallby, Red Star Belgrade, FC Copenhagen and Getafe.
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