November 1999

Mon 29

• 47 teams have applied to take part in the Centenary Cup, which will be held next year to celebrate the 100th annivesary of the Malta Football Association. All Premier, First and Second Division clubs will be taking part together with clubs from the Third Division and from member associations.
• FIFA ordered Sliema Wanderers to pay Torpedo Moscow US$ 50,000 as a transfer fee for Augustine Eguavon. However since the agreement with the playercoach clearly indicated that in case of such a request, he would be released, Sliema will be releasing him. The player suffered a long-term injury and he had been replaced as a player by Cristiano Bergodi.
• Malta was drawn in Groups 3 and 9 respectively in the UEFA Under 18 and Under 16 Championships 2001 respectively. The Under 18 side will be playing against Belgium, Switzerland and Liechtenstein while the Under 16 will be playing against Turkey and Ukraine.
• The ban to negotiate transfers on Floriana was lifted. Now SLiema are banned from negotiating after failing to pay Valletta Lm10,000, part of the transfer fee for Lino Galea.

Sun 28

• Premier League Floriana vs Gozo and Naxxar L. vs Rabat A. postponed
• Division 1 Hamrun S. vs Zebbug R. and Lija A. vs Marsa postponed
• Division 2 Sta. Venera L. vs Mqabba 1-0, Dingli S. vs Attard 3-2
• Division 3 Gharghur vs Ta' Xbiex 5-0, Vittoriosa S. vs Senglea A. 1-1
• Gozo - Republic Cup SK Victoria W. vs Xewkija T. 0-0 (2-4 pen)
• Gozo - Division 2 St. Lawrence S. vs Kercem A. postponed, Munxar F. vs Oratory Y. 1-7

Sat 27

• Premier League Zurrieq vs Sliema W. 2-7, Valletta vs Hibernians 2-0
• Division 3 Birzebbuga SP vs San Gwann 0-1, Zejtun C. vs Luqa SA 1-2
• Women's First Division Mosta vs Birkirkara 0-2, Hibernians vs Mellieha 2-0
• Gozo - Republic Cup Victoria H. vs Nadur Y. 0-0 (2-4 pen)
• Gozo - Division 2 Gharb R. vs Qala SJ 1-1

Fri 26

• The MFA announced that the match Naxxar vs Gozo FC, which was postponed on the 21st November, will be played on December 1st. Two matches have been anticipated by two days from the 13th to the 11th December. These matches are Zurrieq vs Pietà and Valletta vs Naxxar.
• UEFA Under 18 Championship - Group 14 Malta vs Liechtenstein 1-2. Goal from a penalty by Michael Mifsud

Thu 25

• The fixtures of the Rothmans Trophy First Round and the Super 5 Competition semi-finals were drawn at the MFA Headquarters. The Rothmans Trophy fixtures, which will be played on the 26th December and 2nd January, are: Floriana vs Gzira U., Marsa vs Gozo FC, Rabat A. vs Mosta, Lija A. vs Zurrieq, Pietà H. vs Tarxien R., Zebbug R. vs Naxxar L., Hamrun S. vs St. Patrick, Xghajra T. vs St. Andrews. The Super 5 semi-finals, which will be played on the 26th December, are: Hibernians vs Valletta, Sliema W. vs Birkirkara. The finals of the competition will be played on the 2nd January.
• The MFA Disciplinary Commissioner suspended another three players from the Premier League. These are Keith Fenech and Michael Micallef (Rabat) and Edmond Lufi (Pietà).
• Valletta made a formal request to have Saturday's match against Hibernians postponed because seven of their players were forming part of the national squad which travelled to Lebanon. The Citizens are claiming that their players would not have enough time to rest after their arrival back in Malta.

Wed 24

• The MFA Disciplianry Commissioner suspended three Sliema players for one match: Sandro Zammit Fava, Massimo Grima and Karl Bonnici. Ivan Vassilev of Floriana was also suspended for one match.
• Friendly Match Lebanon vs Malta 0-0
• UEFA Under 18 Championship - Group 14 Malta vs Republic of Ireland 0-1

Tue 23

• Premier League Rabat A. vs Pietà H. 2-2

Mon 22

• UEFA Under 18 Championship - Group 14 Republic of Ireland vs Liechtenstein 2-0

Sun 21

• Premier League Naxxar L. vs Gozo and Rabat A. vs Pietà H. postponed. Rabat-Pietà is now scheduled for Tuesday at the Centenary Stadium. Naxxar-Gozo will be played at a later stage since Naxxar's Digger Okonkwo is forming part of the national squad which travelled to Lebanon.
• Division 2 Melita vs Pembroke A. 4-0, St. George's vs Sta. Lucia 0-0
• Division 3 Fgura U. vs Gudja U. 1-2, Sirens vs Kirkop U. 0-2
• Gozo - Republic Cup Victoria H. vs Sannat L. 2-1 (golden goal), Ghajnsielem vs SK Victoria W. 2-5 (pen)

Sat 20

• Premier League Sliema W. vs Valletta 1-3, Floriana vs Birkirkara 0-1
• Division 3 Senglea A. vs Mgarr U. 1-0, Balzan Y. vs Msida SJ 2-0
• Women's First Division Melita vs Floriana 4-0, Racoons vs Raiders 2-2
• Gozo - Republic Cup Kercem A. vs Nadur Y. 1-5, Xewkija T. vs Zebbug R. 3-2 (golden goal)
• The MFA admitted committing a mistake in suspending Pietà's Sacho Anguelov for one match. In fact he had only recieved two yellow cards while the other Bulgarian Slavtcho Pavlov received the other two. He will therefore be eligible to play against Rabat.

Fri 19

• National coach Josif Ilic named an 18-man squad for the friendly match against Lebanon which will be played next Wednesday in Beirut. Included are five new players: Edward Azzopardi, Stefan Giglio and Nenad Veselji of Valletta, George Mallia and Jonathan Holland of Floriana. The complete squad is made up of: Barry, Busuttil and Camilleri (Sliema); Muscat and Carabott (Hibs); Azzopardi, Buttigieg, Debono, Giglio, Theuma, Agius and Veselji (Valletta); Okonkwo (Naxxar); Brincat, Zahra and Nwoko (B'Kara); Holland and Mallia (Floriana).

Wed 17

• The MFA Disciplinary Commissioner suspended three Premier League players for one match: Sacho Anguelov (Pietà), Mark Buttigieg (Gozo) and Roger Walker (Hibs).
• Malta is still in the 120th place in the FIFA World Rankings. Among European countries Malta lies in the 47th place behind countries like Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and the Faroe Islands but in front of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino.

Mon 15

• Premier League Naxxar L. vs Floriana 3-0, Birkirkara vs Zurrieq 2-0

Sun 14

• Premier League Pietà H. vs Gozo 2-3, Hibernians vs Rabat A. 3-0
• Division 2 Qormi vs Ghaxaq 3-0, Marsaxlokk vs Siggiewi 2-1
• Division 3 Luqa SA vs Gharghur 5-0, Ta' Xbiex vs Vittoriosa S. 1-6
• Women's First Division Mellieha vs Racoons 2-0, Birkirkara vs Hibernians 0-3
• Gozo - Republic Cup Gharb R. vs Victoria H. 0-3, Sannat L. vs Oratory Y. 1-0, Kercem A. vs Munxar F. 1-0, Xaghra U. vs Nadur Y. 1-5

Sat 13

• Division 3 Kirkop U. vs Birzebbuga SP 0-5, San Gwann vs Zejtun C. 3-0
• Gozo - Republic Cup SK Victoria W. vs Qala SJ 2-1, St. Lawrence S. vs Zebbug R. 0-1

Fri 12

• After Chucks Nwoko who was fined Lm100 by Birkirkara FC for failing to attend a training session, now Hubert Suda has been suspended for four weeks and fined another Lm100 by the club.

Wed 10

• The Premier League matches between Naxxar L. and Floriana, Birkirkara and Zurrieq have been postponed once again. They are now scheduled for the 15th November at the Centenary Stadium.
• Inter may visit Malta to play a friendly match against a selection made up of players of a number of clubs or an MFA selection following contacts established by Sliema president Robert Arrigo.

Tue 9

• National coach Josif Ilic called Roger Walker and Stefan Giglio after that Nicky Saliba has been ruled out due to a surgery.
• Tha MFA is finding it difficult to attract a 'medium-sized' to take part in the next edition of the Rothmans International Tournament. In fact Slovenia and Poland did not accept the invitation. So far only Azerbaijan and Andorra have confirmed their participation. The remaining team will therefore be one among Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and San Marino.
• Floriana striker Rufin Oba was voted Rothmans Player of the Month for October 1999.
• Nicky Saliba is back in Malta after being successfully operated at the CONI Centre in Rome.

Sun 7

• Premier League Naxxar-Floriana and Birkirkara-Zurrieq postponed
• Division 2 Dingli S. vs Sta. Venera L. 2-3, Attard vs Mellieha 1-3
• Division 3 Fgura U. vs Balzan Y. 1-2, Gudja U. vs Sirens 3-3
• Womens's First Division Raiders vs Melita 0-3, Floriana vs Mosta 0-3
• Gozo - Division 1 Xaghra U. vs Nadur Y. 0-0, Victoria H. vs SK Victoria W. 3-0

Sat 6

• Division 2 Sta. Lucia vs Melita 1-3, Mqabba vs St. George's 1-0
• Gozo - Division 1 Zebbug R. vs Sannat L. 1-2, Ghajnsielem vs Xewkija T. 0-1

Wed 3

• HSBC will be sponsoring the Malta Football Association. The sponsorship includes the Youth League and the Women's League. HSBC will also be financing the new East Stand which is being demolished and which is expected to be built in a year's time. Rumours have it that in the agreement between the two parties, there will be a loan of Lm 1 million by the bank which will be repaid over 12 years. Part of the sum will be forming part of the sponsorship.
• As for next season, some important changes are expected to take place in the Youth League. So far teams were divided in four sections according to the league in which the senior side was playing. So the Youths' teams of Premier clubs played in Section A, those of Division 1 clubs played in Section B and so on. If these changes take place, clubs will be playing in a league which includes relegation and promotion regardless the position of the senior sides.

Tue 2

• The Malta Football Association are looking for a technical director for the MFA Technical Centre at Ta' Qali. A number of foreign coaches have been approached. According to a report by the programme Extra Time on NET TV, one of these is the former Hungarian international and former national coach Gyorgy Mizey.
• Valletta midfielder Nicky Saliba will be undergoing a surgery next Saturday at the CONI centre in Rome. The player suffered an injury in the cruciate ligament during the match against Birkirkara. The player is expected to miss the rest of the season.