Malta national football team

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	150
Highest FIFA ranking	66 (September 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking	154 (February 2009)
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)

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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 another fine draw against Turkey, the game finishing 2-2.

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

The team is sponsored by Diadora.

1 Competition history
- 1.1 World Cup and Euro record
2 Matches
- 2.1 Last Game
3 Players
- 3.1 Current Squad
- 3.2 Recent call-up
4 Players with 30 or more caps
- 4.1 Most capped Maltese players
- 4.2 Top Maltese goalscorers
5 Memorable Matches
6 FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 1)
7 Record Versus Different Opponents
8 Malta managers
- 8.1 Top 10 managers
9 See also
10 References
11 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

2008-09-06 20:00 UTC+2	Malta	0 – 4	Portugal	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali Attendance: 11,000 Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)
		Report	Said 26' (o.g.) Almeida 61' Simão 72' Nani 78'

2008-09-10 20:45 UTC+2	Albania	3 – 0	Malta	Qemal Stafa, Tirana Attendance: 7,400 Referee: Robert Schoergenhofer (Austria)
	Bogdani 45+1' Duro 84' Dallku 90'	Report

2008-10-11 19:45 UTC+2	Hungary	2 – 0	Albania	Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest Attendance: 18,000 Referee: Claudio Circhetta (Switzerland)
	Torghelle 48' Juhász 82'	Report

2008-10-11 20:00 UTC+2	Denmark	3 – 0	Malta	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Attendance: 33,124 Referee: Levan Paniashvili (Georgia)
	Larsen 10' 47' Agger 29' (pen.)	Report

2008-10-15 19:30 UTC+2	Malta	0 – 1	Hungary	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali Attendance: 4,797 Referee: Johannes Valgeirsson (Iceland)
		Report	Torghelle 23'

2009-02-11 19:30 UTC+1	Malta	0 – 0	Albania	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali Attendance: 2,041 Referee: Alexandru Deaconu (Romania)
		Report

2009-03-28 20:00 UTC+1	Malta	0 – 3	Denmark	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali Attendance: 6,235 Referee: Tomasz Mikulski (Poland)
		Report	Larsen 12' 23' Nordstrand 89'

2009-04-01 19:00 UTC+2	Hungary	3 – 0	Malta	Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest Attendance: 34,400 Referee: Stanislav Sukhina (Russia)
	Hajnal 7' Gera 81' Juhász 90+3'	Report

2009-06-10 19:00 UTC+2	Sweden	4 – 0	Malta	Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg Attendance: 25,271 Referee: Calum Murray (Scotland)
	Källström 22' Majstorović 52' Ibrahimović 56' Berg 58'	Report

[edit] Players

[edit] Current Squad

The squad selected to play Czech Republic and Sweden on June 8 - June 10, 2009.

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Andrew Hogg	March 2, 1985 (1985-03-02) (age 24)	6	0	Valletta
12	GK	Justin Haber	June 9, 1981 (1981-06-09) (age 28)	35	0	Sheffield United
	GK	Mario Muscat	August 18, 1976 (1976-08-18) (age 32)	67	0	Hibernians

2	DF	Jonathan Caruana	July 24, 1986 (1986-07-24) (age 22)	1	0	Hibernians
3	DF	Shaun Bajada	August 19, 1983 (1983-08-19) (age 25)	7	0	Birkirkara
4	DF	Andrei Agius	August 12, 1986 (1986-08-12) (age 22)	5	0	Igea Virtus
6	DF	Luke Dimech	January 11, 1977 (1977-01-11) (age 32)	63	1	Valleta
3	DF	Ian Azzopardi	August 12, 1982 (1982-08-12) (age 26)	37	1	Sliema Wanderers
11	DF	Alex Muscat	June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30)	4	0	Sliema Wanderers
16	DF	Emmanuel Muscat	December 7, 1984 (1984-12-07) (age 24)	1	0	Wellington Phoenix
17	DF	Kenneth Scicluna	June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30)	20	0	Valleta

5	MF	John Hutchinson	December 29, 1979 (1979-12-29) (age 29)	1	0	Central Coast Mariners
7	MF	Kevin Sammut	May 26, 1981 (1981-05-26) (age 28)	27	0	Marsaxlokk
8	MF	Roderick Briffa	August 24, 1981 (1981-08-24) (age 27)	36	0	Valletta
10	MF	Andrew Cohen	April 13, 1981 (1981-04-13) (age 28)	25	0	Hibernians
13	MF	André Schembri	May 27, 1986 (1986-05-27) (age 23)	24	3	SK Austria Kärnten
15	MF	Ryan Fenech	April 20, 1986 (1986-04-20) (age 23)	6	0	Ħamrun Spartans
18	MF	Jamie Pace	January 1, 1977 (1977-01-01) (age 32)	24	2	Valletta

9	FW	Daniel Bogdanovic	March 26, 1980 (1980-03-26) (age 29)	25	1	Barnsley
14	FW	Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza	November 20, 1981 (1981-11-20) (age 27)	1	1	Sliema Wanderers
	FW	Etienne Barbara	June 10, 1982 (1982-06-10) (age 27)	26	3	SC Verl

[edit] Recent call-up

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
DF	Brian Said	May 15, 1973 (1973-05-15) (age 36)	85	5	Marsaxlokk
MF	Gilbert Agius	February 21, 1974 (1974-02-21) (age 35)	114	8	Valletta
MF	Clayton Failla	January 8, 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 23)	2	0	Sliema Wanderers
FW	Michael Mifsud	April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17) (age 28)	64	20	No Club
FW	Terence Scerri	April 3, 1984 (1984-04-03) (age 25)	15	1	Hibernians

[edit] Players with 30 or more caps

[edit] Most capped Maltese players

No.	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	David Carabott	1987 - 2005	121	12
2	Gilbert Agius	1993 - Present	116	8
3	Carmel Busuttil	1982 - 2001	111	23
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	85	5
8	Michael Degiorgio	1981 - 1992	74	4
9	Hubert Suda	1988 - 2003	70	8
10	Jeffrey Chetcuti	1994 - 2005	69	0

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

[edit] Top Maltese goalscorers

No.	Name	Career	Goals	Caps
1	Carmel Busuttil	1982 - 2001	23	111
2	Michael Mifsud	2000 - Present	20	66
3	David Carabott	1987 - 2005	12	121
4	Gilbert Agius	1993 - Present	8	116
=	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	64
=	Brian Said	1996 - Present	5	85

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
February 11, 2009	2010 World Cup Qualification	Ta' Qali, Malta	- Malta -Albania	0 - 0

[edit] FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 1)

Team v • d • e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Denmark	6	5	1	0	13	2	+11	16
Hungary	6	4	1	1	8	2	+6	13
Portugal	6	2	3	1	8	4	+4	9
Sweden	6	2	3	1	6	2	+4	9
Albania	8	1	3	4	4	8	−4	6
Malta	8	0	1	7	0	21	−21	1


Albania	–	9 Sep	0 – 1	3 – 0	1 – 2	0 – 0
Denmark	3 – 0	–	14 Oct	3 – 0	5 Sep	10 Oct
Hungary	2 – 0	0 – 0	–	3 – 0	9 Sep	5 Sep
Malta	0 – 0	0 – 3	0 – 1	–	0 – 4	9 Sep
Portugal	0 – 0	2 – 3	10 Oct	14 Oct	–	0 – 0
Sweden	14 Oct	0 – 1	2 – 1	4 – 0	0 – 0	–

[edit] Record Versus Different Opponents

Tournament	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference
World Cup Qualifying	78	1	9	68	24	246	-222
Euro Qualifying	82	3	11	68	43	252	-209
International Tournaments	41	12	11	18	39	50	-11
Friendly	108	20	23	65	87	191	-104
Total	309	36	54	219	193	739	-546
Opponent	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference
Iceland	14	3	1	10	11	32	-21
Hungary	12	1	2	9	6	28	-22
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
Denmark	8	1	0	7	6	24	-18
Greece	8	1	2	5	4	18	-14
Norway	8	0	2	6	3	21	-18
Albania	7	2	2	3	6	9	-3
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
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
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
Andalusia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Belgium	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
England B	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2
Gabon	1	1	0	0	2	1	1
Gozo	1	0	0	1	3	4	-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
United States	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1

[edit] Malta managers

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

Manager	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	34	3	4	27	8.82

[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	Terrenzio Polverini	1974-1976	9	1	11.1
10	Tony Formosa	1966	10	1	10

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

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ "Malta's National Coaches Since 1957 - 2008". MFA.com.mt. 30 May 2008. http://www.mfa.com.mt/International/coaches.htm.

[edit] External links

v • d • e National football teams of Europe (UEFA)


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[0] "Malta's National Coaches Since 1957 - 2008". MFA.com.mt. 30 May 2008. http://www.mfa.com.mt/International/coaches.htm.

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