Davide Gualtieri is a retired Sammarinese

San Marino

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino , is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino...

 footballer.

He is most well-remembered for scoring the fastest ever goal in FIFA World Cup qualification

FIFA World Cup qualification

The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals. The FIFA World Cup is a global event, so qualification is required to reduce the large field of participants from about 200 to 32.Qualifying tournaments...

 history. He achieved the record in a qualifier that took place on 17 November 1993. The opposition was England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

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In the match, which took place in Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, San Marino had the kick-off, and the ball was quickly played through the inside-right channel. England defender Stuart Pearce

Stuart Pearce

Stuart Pearce OBE is an English football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the England national under-21 team and the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team...

 attempted a back-pass to goalkeeper David Seaman

David Seaman

David Andrew Seaman MBE is a former English football goalkeeper who played for several clubs, most notably Arsenal. He retired from the game on 13 January 2004, following a recurring shoulder injury...

. Pearce's pass was under-hit, and Gualtieri ran on to touch the ball past Seaman. The goal was timed at 8.3 seconds, and still remains the quickest World Cup-related goal ever scored. England took over 20 minutes to equalise, but eventually finished up winning the match 7–1. Both England and San Marino failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup

1994 FIFA World Cup

The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

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The England manager, Graham Taylor resigned shortly after the game took place, and this was to be his last game in charge. Gualtieri continued to play for the San Marino national team until 2000, when he retired due to injury. He now works as a computer salesman in San Marino.