Malta

Nickname(s)	Knights of St John
Association	Malta Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	John Buttigieg
Asst coach	Carmel Busuttil
Captain	Gilbert Agius
Most caps	David Carabott (122)
Top scorer	Carmel Busuttil (23)
Home stadium	Ta' Qali Stadium
FIFA code	MLT
FIFA ranking	146
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)

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 1–0 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 five goals.

On September 9, 2009 Malta showed progress by almost holding a 0–0 result against Sweden and also being close to scoring 1–0, only losing in the end by a own goal in the 83rd minute of the game.

The team is sponsored by Diadora.

[edit] Competition history

[edit] World Cup and Euro record

[edit] Matches

[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 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

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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

---

2009-09-09 18.30 UTC+1	Malta	0 – 1	Sweden	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali Attendance: 4,705 Referee: Adrian McCourt (Northern Ireland)
		Report	Azzopardi  82' (o.g.)

---

2009-10-14 19:45 UTC+2	Portugal	4 – 0	Malta	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimarães Attendance: 29,350 Referee: Alan Kelly (Republic of Ireland)
	Nani  14' Simao  45' Miguel Veloso  52' Edinho  90'	Report

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

The following players were named in the squad for the friendly match against Georgia on 12 August 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 Mario Muscat August 18, 1976 (1976-08-18) (age 33) 67 0 Hibernians DF Andrei Agius August 12, 1986 (1986-08-12) (age 23) 5 0 Cassino 3 DF Ian Azzopardi August 12, 1982 (1982-08-12) (age 27) 37 1 Sliema Wanderers DF Alex Muscat June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30) 4 0 Sliema Wanderers 17 DF Kenneth Scicluna June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30) 20 0 Valletta 4 DF Brian Said May 15, 1973 (1973-05-15) (age 36) 20 0 Floriana 8 MF Roderick Briffa August 24, 1981 (1981-08-24) (age 28) 36 0 Valletta 16 MF Ryan Fenech April 20, 1986 (1986-04-20) (age 23) 6 0 Sliema Wanderers 18 MF Jamie Pace January 1, 1977 (1977-01-01) (age 32) 24 2 Valletta 6 MF Shaun Bajada August 19, 1983 (1983-08-19) (age 26) 7 0 Birkirkara 13 MF Clayton Failla January 8, 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 23) 2 0 Sliema Wanderers 7 MF Gilbert Agius February 21, 1974 (1974-02-21) (age 35) 111 8 Valletta 14 MF Kevin Sammut May 26, 1981 (1981-05-26) (age 28) 29 0 Valletta 5 MF John Hutchinson December 29, 1979 (1979-12-29) (age 29) 3 0 Central Coast Mariners 9 FW Michael Mifsud April 17, 1981 (1981-04-17) (age 28) 64 20 Free agent 10 FW Andrew Cohen April 13, 1981 (1981-04-13) (age 28) 25 0 Hibernians FW André Schembri May 27, 1986 (1986-05-27) (age 23) 24 3 Austria Kärnten FW Ivan Woods December 31, 1976 (1976-12-31) (age 32) 38 1 Sliema Wanderers

[edit] Recent call-ups

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club DF Manny Muscat December 7, 1984 (1984-12-07) (age 24) 2 0 Wellington Phoenix[1] FW Terence Scerri April 3, 1984 (1984-04-03) (age 25) 15 1 Valletta

[edit] Players with 30 or more caps

Gilbert Agius Alex Azzopardi Ian Azzopardi Etienne Barbara 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 Justin Haber John Holland Kristian Laferla George Mallia Michael Mifsud Mario Muscat Chucks Nwoko Brian Said Nicky Saliba Kevin Sammut

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

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
16 February 1994			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Belgium	1 - 0
19 April 1994			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Azerbaijan	5 - 0
16 August 1994			Friendly match			Bratislava, Slovakia			Slovakia - Malta -	1 - 1
12 October 1994			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Czech Republic	0 - 0
26 April 1995			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Minsk, Belarus			Belarus - Malta -	1 - 1
27 January 1999			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Bosnia and Herzegovina	2 - 1
15 December 1999			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Lebanon	1 - 0
20 January 2000			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Qatar	2 - 0
11 October 2000			2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Czech Republic	0 - 0
14 November 2001			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Canada	2 - 1
27 March 2002			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Andorra	1 - 1
17 April 2002			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Azerbaijan	1 - 0
12 February 2003			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Kazakhstan	2 - 2
19 August 2003			Friendly match			Luxembourg, Luxembourg			Luxembourg - Malta -	1 - 1
10 September 2003			UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying			Antalya, Turkey			Israel - Malta -	2 - 2
9 October 2004			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Iceland	0 - 0
17 August 2005			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Northern Ireland	1 - 1
7 September 2005			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Croatia	1 - 1
12 October 2005			2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Bulgaria	1 - 1
11 October 2006			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Hungary	2 - 1
7 February 2007			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Austria	1 - 1
24 March 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Chişinău, Moldova			Moldova - Malta -	1 - 1
8 September 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Turkey	2 - 2
26 March 2008			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Liechtenstein	7 - 1
11 February 2009			2010 World Cup Qualification			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Albania	0 - 0
12 August 2009			Friendly match			Ta' Qali, Malta			- Malta -Georgia	2 - 0

[edit] FIFA World Cup qualification (Group 1)

Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Denmark 10 6 3 1 16 5 +11 21  Portugal 10 5 4 1 17 5 +12 19  Sweden 10 5 3 2 13 5 +8 18  Hungary 10 5 1 4 10 8 +2 16  Albania 10 1 4 5 6 13 −7 7  Malta 10 0 1 9 0 26 −26 1

Albania  – 1 – 1 0 – 1 3 – 0 1 – 2 0 – 0 Denmark  3 – 0 – 0 – 1 3 – 0 1 – 1 1 – 0 Hungary  2 – 0 0 – 0 – 3 – 0 0 – 1 1 – 2 Malta  0 – 0 0 – 3 0 – 1 – 0 – 4 0 – 1 Portugal  0 – 0 2 – 3 3 – 0 4 – 0 – 0 – 0 Sweden  4 – 1 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
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

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*		1966	10	1	1	8	10
Joseph 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**		2003 - 2006	15	1	2	12	6.7
Dušan Fitzel**		2006 - 2009	34	3	4	27	8.82
John Buttigieg**		2009 - present	0	0	0	0	0

 * 1 match with Janos Bedl ** Assisted by Carmel Busuttil 

[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] Fifa ranking

	Rank	Date
Worst Ever Rank	154	February 2009
Best Ever Rank	66	September 1994
Current Rank	146	August 2009

[edit] See also

• Malta national under-21 football team
• Malta women's national football team

[edit] References

1. ^ "Muscat gets the call from Malta". WellingtonPhoenix.com. 2009-05-11. http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=27370. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 

[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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