Malta national football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Malta
Shirt badge/Association crest
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 Malta 2 - 3 Austria Austria
(Gżira, Malta; February 24, 1957)
Biggest win
Malta Malta 7 - 1 Liechtenstein Liechtenstein
(Ta' Qali, Malta; March 26, 2008)
Biggest defeat
Spain Spain 12 - 1 Malta 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.

Contents

[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 - Finished 6th (out of 6) in Qualifying group 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 Goal 26' (o.g.)
Almeida Goal 61'
Simão Goal 72'
Nani Goal 78'
2008-09-10
20:45 UTC+2
 Albania  3 – 0  Malta Qemal Stafa, Tirana
Attendance: 7,400
Referee: Robert Schoergenhofer (Austria)
Bogdani Goal 45+1'
Duro Goal 84'
Dallku Goal 90'		 Report
2008-10-11
20:00 UTC+2
 Denmark  3 – 0  Malta Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
Attendance: 33,124
Referee: Levan Paniashvili (Georgia)
Larsen Goal 10' Goal 47'
Agger Goal 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 Goal 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 Goal 12' Goal 23'
Nordstrand Goal 89'
2009-04-01
19:00 UTC+2
 Hungary  3 – 0  Malta Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest
Attendance: 34,400
Referee: Stanislav Sukhina (Russia)
Hajnal Goal 7'
Gera Goal 81'
Juhász Goal 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 Goal 22'
Majstorović Goal 52'
Ibrahimović Goal 56'
Berg Goal 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 Goal 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 Goal 14'
Simao Goal 45'
Miguel Veloso Goal 52'
Edinho Goal 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 Malta Valletta
12 GK Mario Muscat August 18, 1976 (1976-08-18) (age 33) 67 0 Malta Hibernians
DF Andrei Agius August 12, 1986 (1986-08-12) (age 23) 5 0 Italy Cassino
3 DF Ian Azzopardi August 12, 1982 (1982-08-12) (age 27) 37 1 Malta Sliema Wanderers
DF Alex Muscat June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30) 4 0 Malta Sliema Wanderers
17 DF Kenneth Scicluna June 15, 1979 (1979-06-15) (age 30) 20 0 Malta Valletta
4 DF Brian Said May 15, 1973 (1973-05-15) (age 36) 20 0 Malta Floriana
8 MF Roderick Briffa August 24, 1981 (1981-08-24) (age 28) 36 0 Malta Valletta
16 MF Ryan Fenech April 20, 1986 (1986-04-20) (age 23) 6 0 Malta Sliema Wanderers
18 MF Jamie Pace January 1, 1977 (1977-01-01) (age 32) 24 2 Malta Valletta
6 MF Shaun Bajada August 19, 1983 (1983-08-19) (age 26) 7 0 Malta Birkirkara
13 MF Clayton Failla January 8, 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 23) 2 0 Malta Sliema Wanderers
7 MF Gilbert Agius February 21, 1974 (1974-02-21) (age 35) 111 8 Malta Valletta
14 MF Kevin Sammut May 26, 1981 (1981-05-26) (age 28) 29 0 Malta Valletta
5 MF John Hutchinson December 29, 1979 (1979-12-29) (age 29) 3 0 Australia 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 Malta Hibernians
FW André Schembri May 27, 1986 (1986-05-27) (age 23) 24 3 Austria Austria Kärnten
FW Ivan Woods December 31, 1976 (1976-12-31) (age 32) 38 1 Malta Sliema Wanderers

[edit] Recent call-ups

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

[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] 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 Denmark Hungary Malta Portugal Sweden
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 Malta 1957 - 1961 6 2 2 2 33.3
Carm Borg Malta 1961 - 1964 9 0 2 7 0
Janos Bedl Hungary 1966 2 2 0 0 100
Tony Formosa* Malta 1966 10 1 1 8 10
Joseph Attard Malta 1969 1 0 0 1 0
Saviour Cuschieri Malta 1970 1 0 1 0 0
Victor Scerri Malta 1973 2 1 0 1 50
Terrenzio Polverini Italy 1974 - 1976 9 1 2 6 11.1
John Calleja Malta 1976 - 1978 11 2 1 8 18.8
Victor Scerri Malta 1978 - 1983 26 3 3 20 11.5
Guentcho Dobrev Bulgaria 1984 - 1987 21 1 4 16 4.7
Horst Heese Germany 1988 - 1991 36 3 8 25 8.3
Pippo Psaila Malta 1991 - 1993 17 5 4 8 29.4
Pietro Ghedin Italy 1993 - 1995 24 4 5 15 16.6
Robert Gatt Malta 1996 3 0 1 2 0
Milorad Kosanović Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1996 - 1997 15 0 2 13 0
Josif Ilić Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1997 - 2001 41 5 4 32 12.1
Sigfried Held Germany 2001 - 2003 21 4 5 12 19.04
Horst Heese** Germany 2003 - 2006 15 1 2 12 6.7
Dušan Fitzel** Czech Republic 2006 - 2009 34 3 4 27 8.82
John Buttigieg** Malta 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 Hungary Janos Bedl 1966 2 2 100
2 Malta Joe A. Griffiths 1957-1961 6 2 33.3
3 Malta Pippo Psaila 1991-1993 17 5 29.4
4 Germany Sigfried Held 2001-2003 21 4 19.04
5 Malta John Calleja 1976-1978 11 2 18.8
6 Italy Pietro Ghedin 1993-1995 24 4 16.6
7 Malta Victor Scerri 1973
1978-1983		 28 4 14.2
8 Yugoslavia Josif Ilic 1997-2001 41 5 12.1
9 Italy Terrenzio Polverini 1974-1976 9 1 11.1
10 Malta 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

[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

v • d • e
Football in Malta
MFA - GFA
Malta Island
Gozo Island
List of clubs · Maltese football transfers Summer 2009 • Maltese football transfers Winter 2009-10
v • d • e
International football
FIFA · World Cup · Confederations Cup · U-20 World Cup · U-17 World Cup · Olympics · Asian Games · All-Africa Games · Pan American Games · Minor tournaments · World Rankings · Player of the Year · Teams · Competitions · Federations · Codes
Asia
Africa
North America
South America
Oceania
Europe
Non-FIFA
v • d • e
National football teams of Europe (UEFA)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_national_football_team"