Malta national football team

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Malta

Nickname(s)	Knights of St John
Association	Malta Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Dušan Fitzel
Asst coach	Michel Striz
Captain	Gilbert Agius
Most caps	David Carabott (122)
Top scorer	Carmel Busuttil (23)
Home stadium	Ta' Qali Stadium
FIFA code	MLT
FIFA ranking	133
Highest FIFA ranking	66 (September 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking	144 (September 2006)
Elo ranking	T152
Home colours Away colours
First international
Malta 2 - 3 Austria (Gżira, Malta; February 24, 1957)
Biggest win
Malta 7 - 1 Liechtenstein (Ta' Qali, Malta; March 26, 2008)
Biggest defeat
Spain 12 - 1 Malta (Seville, Spain; December 21, 1983)

The Malta national football team is the national football team of Malta and is controlled by the Malta Football Association. It has never advanced to the finals of any major international competition and as of 12 October 2006 has won only four competitive matches. The first two wins were victories of 2-0 and 2-1 at home to Greece and Iceland in European Championship qualifiers in 1975 and 1982 respectively, and the third came with a 1-0 victory away to Estonia in a 1993 World Cup qualifier.

On 11 October 2006, Malta managed a fourth competitive victory - a 2-1 triumph over Hungary in the European Championship qualifying with Andre Schembri scoring twice.

Other important results were the two draws, 1-1 and 2-2, against Hungary during the qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

During 2005 the Malta national football team obtained some home positive results. Both were 1-1 draws against Croatia and Bulgaria. Another positive result was the 1-1 home draw in a friendly match against Northern Ireland . In 2006, in a friendly against Japan, played for the World Cup Finals preparation in Germany, managed to keep the score to 0-1 despite conceding an early goal.

On 7 February 2007, Malta managed another prestigious draw against one of the hosts of Euro 2008, Austria. The game was played to commemorate the 50th. anniversary of the first international match played by the Maltese national team. The final result was 1-1.On 8 September 2007 Malta managed a very wonderful result against Turkey.The game finished in a 2-2 draw.

The ever continuing signs of progress were once again witnessed on March the 26th 2008 when Malta thrashed Liechtenstein 7-1 at Ta' Qali, with Michael Mifsud scoring an amazing 5 goals.

The team is sponsored by Diadora.

Contents 1 Competition history 1.1 World Cup and Euro record 2 Matches 2.1 Last Game 2.2 Next Game 3 Players 3.1 Current squad 3.2 Recent Call-Ups 3.3 Famous past and present players 3.4 Most capped Maltese players 3.5 Top Maltese goalscorers 4 Memorable Matches 5 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 1) 6 Record Versus Different Opponents 7 Malta managers 7.1 Top 10 managers 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Competition history

[edit] World Cup and Euro record

World Cup	Euro
1974 - Finished 4th (out of 4) in Qualifying group	1964 - Lost 6-1 and 3-1 against Denmark
1978 - Finished 4th (out of 4) in Qualifying group	1972 - Finished 4th (out of 4) in Qualifying group
1982 - Finished 3rd (out of 3) in Qualifying group	1976 - Finished 4th (out of 4) in Qualifying group
1986 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group	1980 - Finished 4th (out of 4) in Qualifying group
1990 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group	1984 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group
1994 - Finished 5th (out of 6) in Qualifying group	1988 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group
1998 - Finished 6th (out of 6) in Qualifying group	1992 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group
2002 - Finished 6th (out of 6) in Qualifying group	1996 - Finished 6th (out of 6) in Qualifying group
2006 - Finished 6th (out of 6) in Qualifying group	2000 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group
2010 -	2004 - Finished 5th (out of 5) in Qualifying group
	2008 - Finished 7th (out of 7) in Qualifying group

[edit] Matches

Main article: List of official matches of the Maltese national football team

[edit] Last Game

World Cup Qualification

September 6, 2008 20:00	Malta	vs	Portugal	Ta' Qali Stadium (Ta' Qali, Malta) Attendance: 11,000 Referee: Kevin Blom
		Report	Said  25' (o.g.) Hugo Almeida  61' Simao  71' Nani  78'

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[edit] Next Game

World Cup Qualification

September 10, 2008 18:45	Albania	3-0 vs	Malta	Qemal Stafa (Tirana, Albania) Attendance: TBA Referee: Robert Schoergenhofer

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[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

The current team squad, to play Albania on September 10, 2008.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club Goalkeepers 1 GK Justin Haber June 9, 1981 (1981-06-09) (age 27) 30 0 Sheffield United 12 GK Mario Muscat August 18, 1976 (1976-08-18) (age 32) 65 0 Hibernians Defenders 2 DF Aaron Xuereb October 3, 1979 (1979-10-03) (age 29) 5 0 Hibernians 4 DF Brian Said May 15, 1973 (1973-05-15) (age 35) 84 5 Marsaxlokk 6 DF Luke Dimech January 11, 1977 (1977-01-11) (age 31) 60 1 Valletta 8 DF Roderick Briffa August 24, 1981 (1981-08-24) (age 27) 33 0 Sliema Wanderers 17 DF Kenneth Scicluna June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 29) 19 0 Valletta Midfielders 3 MF Shaun Bajada October 19, 1983 (1983-10-19) (age 24) 6 0 Birkirkara 7 MF Gilbert Agius February 21, 1974 (1974-02-21) (age 34) 111 8 Valletta 10 MF Kevin Sammut May 26, 1981 (1981-05-26) (age 27) 28 0 Marsaxlokk 11 MF George Mallia October 10, 1978 (1978-10-10) (age 29) 60 5 Birkirkara 15 MF Ryan Fenech April 20, 1986 (1986-04-20) (age 22) 4 0 Ħamrun Spartans 16 MF Cleaven Frendo July 1, 1985 (1985-07-01) (age 23) 8 1 Valletta 18 MF Jamie Pace January 1, 1977 (1977-01-01) (age 31) 24 2 Valletta Forwards 5 FW Etienne Barbara June 10, 1982 (1982-06-10) (age 26) 25 3 SC Verl 9 FW Michael Mifsud April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17) (age 27) 60 20 Coventry City 13 FW André Schembri May 27, 1986 (1986-05-27) (age 22) 20 3 Carl Zeiss Jena 14 FW Terence Scerri April 3, 1984 (1984-04-03) (age 24) 12 1 Hibernians

[edit] Recent Call-Ups

The following players have also been called up to the Malta squad in 2008.

Goalkeepers

Name	Date of birth	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Omar Borg	February 12, 1981	Birkirkara	0 (0)	v. Estonia, 20 August 2008
Andrew Hogg	March 2, 1985	Valletta	5 (0)	v. Austria, 30 May 2008

Defenders

Name	Date of birth	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Ian Azzopardi	August 12, 1982	Sliema Wanderers	35 (1)	v. Estonia, 20 August 2008
Jonathan Caruana	July 24, 1986	Hibernians	1 (0)	v. Austria, 30 May 2008
Josef Mifsud	September 7, 1984	Valletta	6 (0)	v. Estonia, 20 August 2008
Stephen Wellman	31 August 1982	Marsaxlokk	22 (1)	v. Estonia, 20 August 2008

Midfielders

Name	Date of birth	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Udo Nwoko	October 15, 1984	Leixões	7 (0)	v. Austria, 30 May 2008
Peter Pullicino	June 17, 1976	Marsaxlokk	22 (0)	v. Estonia, 20 August 2008
Gareth Sciberras	April 17, 1981	Marsaxlokk	13 (0)	v. Belarus, 6 February 2008

Strikers

Name	Date of birth	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call up
Andrew Cohen	May 13, 1981	Hibernians	22 (0)	v. Liechtenstein, 26 March 2008
Ivan Woods	December 31, 1976	Sliema Wanderers	38 (1)	v. Portugal, 6 September 2008

[edit] Famous past and present players

The following players have been capped 30 or more times for Malta.

Gilbert Agius Alex Azzopardi Ian Azzopardi Roderick Briffa Joe Brincat Richard Buhagiar Carmel Busuttil John Buttigieg David Camilleri Edwin Camilleri Joseph Camilleri

David Carabott Jeffrey Chetcuti David Cluett Darren Debono Michael Degiorgio Luke Dimech Edwin Farrugia Emanuele Farrugia Joseph Galea Stefan Giglio

Martin Gregory John Holland Kristian Laferla George Mallia Michael Mifsud Mario Muscat Chucks Nwoko Brian Said Nicky Saliba Charles Scerri

Hubert Suda Stefan Sultana Daniel Theuma Noel Turner Raymond Vella Silvio Vella Ivan Woods George Xuereb Raymond Xuereb Antoine Zahra

[edit] Most capped Maltese players

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	David Carabott	1987 - 2005	121	12
2	Carmel Busuttil	1982 - 2001	111	23
3	Gilbert Agius	1993 - present	108	8
4	Joe Brincat	1988 - 2004	103	5
5	John Buttigieg	1984 - 2000	95	1
6	Silvio Vella	1988 - 2000	90	1
7	Brian Said	1996 - present	82	5
8	Michael Degiorgio	1981 - 1992	74	4
9	Hubert Suda	1988 - 2003	70	8
10	Jeffrey Chetcuti	1994 - 2005	69	0
11	Raymond Vella	1984 - 1992	67	1

• Players in bold denote the player is still available for selection.

[edit] Top Maltese goalscorers

#	Player	Career	Goals (Caps)
1	Carmel Busuttil	1982 - 2001	23 (111)
2	Michael Mifsud	2000 - present	20 (57)
3	David Carabott	1987 - 2005	12 (121)
4	Gilbert Agius	1993 - present	8 (108)
=	Hubert Suda	1988 - 2003	8 (70)
6	Kristian Laferla	1986 - 1998	6 (65)
=	Raymond Xuereb	1971 - 1985	6 (43)
8	Joe Brincat	1988 - 2004	5 (103)
=	George Mallia	1999 - present	5 (61)
=	Brian Said	1996 - present	5 (82)

• Players in bold denote the player is still available for selection.

[edit] Memorable Matches

Date			Tournament			Place			Match	Score
February 16, 1994			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Belgium	1 - 0
April 19, 1994			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Azerbaijan	5 - 0
August 16, 1994			Friendly match			Bratislava, Slovakia			Slovakia - Malta -	1 - 1
October 12, 1994			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Czech Republic	0 - 0
April 26, 1995			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Minsk, Belarus			Belarus - Malta -	1 - 1
January 27, 1999			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Bosnia and Herzegovina	2 - 1
December 15, 1999			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Lebanon	1 - 0
January 20, 2000			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Qatar	2 - 0
October 11, 2000			2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Czech Republic	0 - 0
November 14, 2001			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Canada	2 - 1
March 27, 2002			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Andorra	1 - 1
April 17, 2002			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Azerbaijan	1 - 0
February 12, 2003			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Kazakhstan	2 - 2
August 19, 2003			Friendly match			Luxembourg, Luxembourg			Luxembourg - Malta -	1 - 1
September 10, 2003			UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying			Antalya, Turkey			Israel - Malta -	2 - 2
October 9, 2004			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Iceland	0 - 0
August 17, 2005			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Northern Ireland	1 - 1
September 7, 2005			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Croatia	1 - 1
October 12, 2005			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Bulgaria	1 - 1
October 11, 2006			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Hungary	2 - 1
February 7, 2007			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Austria	1 - 1
March 24, 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Chişinău, Moldova			Moldova - Malta -	1 - 1
September 8, 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Turkey	2 - 2
March 26, 2008			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Liechtenstein	7 - 1

[edit] FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 1)

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Albania 2 1 1 0 3 0 +3 4  Denmark 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 4  Sweden 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 4  Portugal 2 1 0 1 6 3 +3 3  Hungary 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1 1  Malta 2 0 0 2 0 7 −7 0

– 9 Sep '09 28 Mar '09 3 – 0 6 Jun '09 0 – 0 1 Apr '09 – 14 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 5 Sep '09 10 Oct '09 11 Oct '08 0 – 0 – 1 Apr '09 9 Sep '09 5 Sep '09 11 Feb '09 28 Mar '09 15 Oct '08 – 0 – 4 9 Sep '09 15 Oct '08 2 – 3 10 Oct '09 14 Oct '09 – 28 Mar '09 14 Oct '09 6 Jun '09 2 – 1 10 Jun '09 11 Oct '08 –

[edit] Record Versus Different Opponents

Tournament	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference
World Cup Qualifying	72	1	8	63	24	233	-209
Euro Qualifying	82	3	11	68	43	252	-209
International Tournaments	41	12	11	18	39	50	-11
Friendly	107	20	23	64	87	190	-103
Total	302	36	53	213	193	725	-532
Opponent	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference
Iceland	13	3	1	9	11	31	-20
Hungary	10	1	2	7	6	24	-18
Tunisia	10	4	3	3	9	11	-2
Austria	9	0	1	8	6	30	-24
Libya	9	3	2	4	6	9	-3
Portugal	9	0	1	8	5	24	-19
Sweden	9	0	0	9	2	37	-35
Bulgaria	8	0	2	6	2	24	-22
Greece	8	1	2	5	4	18	-14
Norway	8	0	2	6	3	21	-18
Moldova	7	1	2	4	6	9	-3
Republic of Ireland	7	0	0	7	2	24	-22
Cyprus	6	1	2	3	4	8	-4
Czech Republic	6	0	2	4	3	16	-13
Denmark	6	1	0	5	6	18	-12
Finland	6	1	2	3	4	7	-3
East Germany	6	0	0	6	2	22	-20
Israel	6	0	2	4	5	11	-6
Netherlands	6	0	0	6	0	28	-28
Northern Ireland	6	0	1	5	1	11	-10
Spain	6	0	0	6	3	28	-25
Switzerland	6	0	1	5	3	17	-14
Turkey	6	0	1	5	4	15	-11
West Germany	6	0	1	5	2	26	-24
Albania	5	1	1	3	3	9	-6
FYR Macedonia	5	0	0	5	1	14	-13
Scotland	5	0	1	4	4	11	-7
Slovakia	5	0	1	4	2	14	-12
Belarus	4	0	1	3	1	8	-7
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	1	0	3	4	9	-5
Croatia	4	0	1	3	3	10	-7
Estonia	4	2	1	1	7	4	3
Georgia	4	0	1	3	2	7	-5
Italy	4	0	0	4	2	15	-13
Luxembourg	4	0	2	2	2	4	-2
Poland	4	0	0	4	0	13	-13
Slovenia	4	0	1	3	1	7	-6
Wales	4	0	0	4	2	15	-13
Yugoslavia	4	0	0	4	1	18	-17
Algeria	3	0	1	2	1	3	-2
Armenia	3	0	0	3	0	3	-3
Azerbaijan	3	3	0	0	9	0	9
England	3	0	0	3	1	8	-7
Faroe Islands	3	0	0	3	4	7	-3
Latvia	3	2	0	1	3	3	0
Andorra	2	0	2	0	2	2	0
Canada	2	2	0	0	4	1	3
Czechoslovakia	2	0	1	1	0	4	-4
Egypt	2	0	0	2	2	8	-6
France	2	0	0	2	0	10	-10
Germany	2	0	0	2	1	9	-8
Indonesia	2	2	0	0	4	0	4
Italy C	2	0	0	2	0	5	-5
Jordan	2	2	0	0	5	2	3
Lebanon	2	1	1	0	1	0	1
Liechtenstein	2	1	1	0	8	2	6
Lithuania	2	0	1	1	2	5	-3
Korea Republic	2	0	1	1	2	3	-1
United Arab Emirates	2	0	2	0	1	1	0
Belgium	1	1	0	0	1	0	0
England B	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2
Gabon	1	1	0	0	2	1	1
Italy U21	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1
Italy U23	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Japan	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1
Kazakhstan	1	0	1	0	2	2	0
Qatar	1	1	0	0	2	0	2
Russia	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2
South Africa	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1
Thailand	1	1	0	0	2	0	2
Tunisia B	1	1	0	0	1	0	1
USA	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1

[edit] Malta managers

Correct as of May 30, 2008.^[1]

Manager	Nationality	Malta career	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
Joe A. Griffiths		1957 - 1961	6	2	2	2	33.3
Carm Borg		1961 - 1964	9	0	2	7	0
Janos Bedl		1966	2	2	0	0	100
Tony Formosa(1 match with Janos Bedl)		1966	10	1	1	8	10
Joe Attard		1969	1	0	0	1	0
Saviour Cuschieri		1970	1	0	1	0	0
Victor Scerri		1973	2	1	0	1	50
Terrenzio Polverini		1974 - 1976	9	1	2	6	11.1
John Calleja		1976 - 1978	11	2	1	8	18.8
Victor Scerri		1978 - 1983	26	3	3	20	11.5
Guentcho Dobrev		1984 - 1987	21	1	4	16	4.7
Horst Heese		1988 - 1991	36	3	8	25	8.3
Pippo Psaila		1991 - 1993	17	5	4	8	29.4
Pietro Ghedin		1993 - 1995	24	4	5	15	16.6
Robert Gatt		1996	3	0	1	2	0
Milorad Kosanović		1996 - 1997	15	0	2	13	0
Josif Ilić		1997 - 2001	41	5	4	32	12.1
Sigfried Held		2001 - 2003	21	4	5	12	19.04
Horst Heese Carmel Busuttil		2003 - 2005	15	1	2	12	6.7
Horst Heese		2005	4	0	3	1	0
Dušan Fitzel		2006 - present	27	3	3	21	11.1

[edit] Top 10 managers

Based on win % in all competitions'

	Manager	Years	Played	Won	Win %
1	Janos Bedl	1966	2	2	100
2	Joe A. Griffiths	1957-1961	6	2	33.3
3	Pippo Psaila	1991-1993	17	5	29.4
4	Sigfried Held	2001-2003	21	4	19.04
5	John Calleja	1976-1978	11	2	18.8
6	Pietro Ghedin	1993-1995	24	4	16.6
7	Victor Scerri	1973 1978-1983	28	4	14.2
8	Josif Ilic	1997-2001	41	5	12.1
9	Dusan Fitzel	2006-present	26	3	11.1
10	Terrenzio Polverini	1974-1976	9	1	11.1

^{* Stats correct as of June 25, 2008}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site of the Malta Football Association
• www.maltasport.com
• www.maltafootball.com
• RSSSF archive of results 1957-
• UEFA.com
• A football tournament for the Small Nations of Europe

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