January 2000

Sun 30

• Premier League Zurrieq vs Floriana 1-2, Valletta vs Birkirkara 1-1
• Division 1 Xghajra T. vs Lija A. 4-0, St. Andrews vs Gzira U. 2-1
• Division 2 Dingli S. vs Siggiewi 2-3, Sta. Venera L. vs Ghaxaq 2-0
• Division 3 Gudja U. vs Luqa SA 0-7, Ta' Xbiex vs San Gwann 0-6
• Women's League Racoons vs Hibernians 0-1, Floriana vs Mellieha 0-2
• Gozo - Division 2 Munxar F. vs Kercem A. 0-4, Qala SJ vs St. Lawrence S. 0-1

Sat 29

• Premier League Hibernians vs Naxxar L. 3-3, Sliema W. vs Gozo FC 4-1
• Division 3 Gharghur vs Msida SJ 0-3, Vittoriosa S. vs Mgarr U. 3-0

Thu 27

• The Malta Football Association announced a three-year kit sponsorship with Italian brand Kronos represented in Malta by Tuttosport.

Wed 26

• English Premiership side Liverpool FC arrive in Malta on Wednesday evening for a short training camp at the MFA Training Grounds in Ta' Qali. Thousands of loyal Liverpool fans from Malta and Gozo will be flocking to the Malta International Airport to give the squad a warm welcome. On Thursday, supporters will have an opportunity to meet their heroes at the Corinthia San Gorg, St. George's Bay. The only disappointment for local supporters is the absence of the two internationals, Robbie Fowler and 'golden boy' Michael Owen, both injured.
• The MFA Disciplinary Commissioner suspended the following players: Mario Caruana and Rufin Oba (Floriana), Cristiano Bergodi (Sliema); Neil Camilleri and Mark Farrugia (Zurrieq) for one match. William Camenzuli (Floriana) was suspended for two matches.

Mon 24

• A Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving was held at the St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta as part of the MFA Centenary celebrations. In a homily, the celebrant, Archbishop Mgr Guzeppi Mercieca urged all those involved in the local game to maintain the tradition of football as a clean game.

Sun 23

• Premier League Floriana vs Pietà H. 2-2, Birkirkara vs Rabat A. 4-0, Naxxar L. vs Sliema W. 2-3, Zurrieq vs Valletta 0-6
• Division 2 St. George's vs Mellieha 1-1, Melita vs Qormi 1-2
• Division 3 Birzebbuga SP vs Balzan Y. 0-1, Zejtun C. vs Fgura U. 4-2
• Women's First Division Raiders vs Hibernians 0-5, Mellieha vs Mosta 0-2
• Gozo - Division 1 Ghajnsielem vs SK Victoria W. 4-2, Xaghra U. vs Sannat L. 2-0

Sat 22

• Division 1 St. Patrick vs Gzira U. 1-1, Tarxien R. vs Hamrun S. 1-3
• Division 2 Sta. Lucia vs Mqabba 1-2, Attard vs Marsaxlokk 1-2
• Gozo - Division 1 Zebbug R. vs Xewkija T. 4-4, Victoria H. vs Nadur Y. 3-0
• Valletta midfielder Stefan Giglio was suspended for one match after being reported by the match inspector for making obscene gestures during the match against Floriana.

Fri 21

• English Premier side Liverpool will arrive in Malta next Wednesday for a four-day training camp on the island. The team, which will be made up of 20 players, will have training sessions at the Training Grounds, Ta' Qali on Wednesday evening, Thursday morning and Friday morning.

Thu 20

• Friendly Match Malta vs Qatar 2-0

Wed 19

• Former national coach Horst Heese has just been appointed Technical Director at the MFA Technical Centre in Ta' Qali. Heese was sacked back in 1991 after three years guiding the national team. He sued the MFA but now the two parties have reached an out-of-court settlement.
• The MFA Disciplinary Commissioner suspended the following Premier League players: Louis Azzopardi (Pietà - 2 matches) and Gordon Camenzuli (Naxxar); Michael Farrugia (Rabat); Daniel Theuma, Gilbert Agius and Reggie Cini (all Valletta), Martin Cremona and Djebriel Sylla (both Gozo) and Jonathan Holland (Floriana) for one match.
• The fixtures of the World Cup 2000 European Qualifiers Group 3 have been fixed following a meeting between officials from the Football Associations of Malta, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland and Northern Ireland. Malta will be playing the first match on the 2nd September 2000 in Northern Ireland and the last one also against Northern Ireland at Ta' Qali on the 6th October 2001. The other matches are: Bulgaria-Malta (7/10/00), Malta-Czech Republic (11/10/00), Malta-Denmark (24/3/01), Malta-Iceland (25/4/01), Iceland-Malta (2/6/01), Denmark-Malta (6/6/01), Malta-Bulgaria (1/9/01) and Czech Republic-Malta (5/9/01)

Tue 18

• Division 1 St. Andrews vs Tarxien R. 2-4, Mosta vs Marsa 1-0

Mon 17

• Premier League Hibernians vs Pietà H. 4-1, Birkirkara vs Gozo 2-0
• The protest filed by Naxxar Lions against the result of the match against Birkirkara was not upheld.

Sun 16

• Division 2 Siggiewi vs Sta. Venera L. 1-2, Pembroke A. vs Dingli S. 1-3
• Division 3 Kirkop U. vs Ta' Xbiex 9-0, Sirens vs Senglea A. 5-1
• Gozo - Republic Cup Xewkija T. vs Nadur Y. 2-0

Sat 15

• Premier League Valletta vs Floriana 2-1, Rabat A. vs Zurrieq 1-3
• Division 3 Mgarr U. vs Gudja U. 2-2, San Gwann vs Luqa SA 2-2
• Women's First Division Birkirkara vs Mellieha 3-0, Mosta vs Raiders 2-0
• Gozo - Division 2 Gharb R. vs St. Lawrence S. 2-3, Qala SJ vs Oratory Y. 1-4
• National coach Josif Ilic named the squad for the friendly match against Qatar which will be played on Thursday 20th. The only changes are the inclusion of Carmel Busuttil who will be playing his 99th match for the national team and the exclusion of Antoine Zahra injured. The full squad is made up of: Barry, Busuttil (Sliema); Muscat, Carabott, Ciantar, Mifsud (Hibs); Azzopardi, Buttigieg, Chetcuti, Agius, Giglio, Veselji (Valletta); Okonkwo (Naxxar); Holland, Mallia (Floriana); Brincat, Nwoko (Birkirkara).
• National Team physical trainer Dusko Tomas and Youth Development Officer Velimir Sargic have left the national team to go to work in other countries. Meanwhile Gyorgi Mezey who has been offered the job of Technical Director has not accepted the offer after the Hungarian FA convinced him to stay in Hungary.

Fri 14

• Valletta goalie Reggie Cini was voted Player of the Month for December 1999.
• The MFA announced the programme for the Centenary celebrations. These celebrations include a number of friendly matches, several seminars and activities dedicated to women's and youths' football. Among the friendly matches is the one against England at Ta' Qali on the 3rd June.
• The participants in this year's edition of the Rothmans International Tournament are Albania (FIFA ranking 83), Andorra (ranked 145) and Azerbaijan (ranked 97). Malta have already played against Albania twice (2-1 and 1-1) and once against Azerbaijan (5-0) but it will be the first time against Andorra. The tournament will be played between the 6th and 10th February.
• The draws of the Centenary Cup were held today. In this preliminary round, only Second and Third Division clubs, plus Victoria Hotspurs were included. Meanwhile four teams which were due to take part have either withdrawn from the competition or have been excluded. Senglea Youngsters who were due to represent the Inter-Amateur Soccer Competition have withdrawn while the District League selection, the Governmental & Parastatal selection and Valletta St. Pauli (who were due to represent the Swan League) have been excluded after failing to inform the MFA whether they were going to participate or not.
• The draws of the Second & Third Divison Knock-Out quarter-finals were held and resulted as follows: Vittoriosa S. vs Marsaxlokk, Melita vs Zejtun C., Attard vs Mellieha and Sta. Venera L. vs St. George's. These matches will be played on the 6th and 10th February.
• The MFA announced that Valletta defender Darren Debono was suspended for two matches and not one as announced earlier.
• The MFA will be investigating the current situation of the Sliema Wanderers administration. In fact, MFA vice-president John Farrugia will be attending the Extraordinary General Meeting which will be held on Saturday.
• The MFA has banned Valletta and Floriana from negotiating any transfer of players as Valletta failed to pay their former defender Drasko Braunovic and Floriana failed to pay Rabat player Nicky Bilocca. A similar ban on Birkirkara has been lifted as they have paid former coach Vlado Pejovic.

Wed 12

• Ten Premier League players were suspended for one match by the MFA Disciplinary Commissioner. These are Beppe Pace and Kevin Polidano (Zurrieq), Darren Debono (Valletta), Cedric Caruana (Rabat), Digger Ifeanyi Okonkwo, Victor Bellia and Joe Sant Fournier (Naxxar), Ivan Woods (Pietà), Roger Walker (Hibernians) and Zoran Antic (Sliema).

Sun 9

• Premier League Gozo vs Zurrieq 1-0, Sliema W. vs Pietà H. 2-3, Birkirkara vs Naxxar L. 5-2.
  Naxxar Lions have filed a protest against the result of the match against Birkirkara following an incident when a stone was thrown by some Birkirkara supporter in the direction of Naxxar players which allegedly hit Joe Sant Fournier.
• Division 1 Hamrun S. vs Lija A. 2-2, Xghajra T. vs Zebbug R. 3-0
• Division 2 Ghaxaq vs St. George's 0-4, Mellieha vs Melita 1-4
• Division 3 Fgura U. vs Gharghur 2-0, Msida SJ vs Vittoriosa S. 0-3
• Gozo - Division 2 Gharb R. vs Kercem A. 1-3

Sat 8

• Premier League Valletta vs Rabat A. 2-1, Floriana vs Hibernians 2-0
• Division 3 Senglea A. vs Birzebbuga SP 1-4, Balzan Y. vs Zejtun C. 2-0
• Women's First Division Racoons vs Floriana 0-0, Hibernians vs Melita 0-0
• Gozo - Division 2 St. Lawrence S. vs Oratory Y. 0-1

Wed 5

• Four Premier league players were suspended for one match. These are Clint Micallef (Birkirkara) and Massimo Grima (Sliema) who were sent off in Super 5 Competition matches and Andrea Bonnici (Naxxar) and Jesmond Delia (Pietà) who were sent off in Trophy matches.

Tue 4

• Malta will be playing a friendly match against Northern Ireland at Ta' Qali despite the fact that further on this year or next year, Malta will be playing against the Irish in the World Cup qualifiers. Meanwhile the three countries which will be taking part in the Rothmans International Tournament will probably be Andorra, Azerbaijan and Albania. A friendly match in Qatar is also possible. Qatar will be playing in Malta on the 20th January.
• Winter International Youth (U/17) Tournament - Israel Belgium vs Malta 3-0

Sun 2

• Super 5 Competition Valletta vs Sliema W. 3-1, Hibernians vs Birkirkara 2-2 (6-5 pen)
• Rothmans Trophy Hamrun S. vs St. Patrick 2-0, Pietà H. vs Tarxien R. 2-0, Xghajra T. vs St. Andrews 2-1, Zebbug R. vs Naxxar L. 2-3 aet
• Division 2 Mqabba vs Attard 0-0, Qormi vs Marsaxlokk 0-1
• Division 3 Luqa SA vs Kirkop U. 1-2, Ta' Xbiex vs Sirens 3-5
• Gozo - Division 1 Ghajnsielem vs Sannat L. 2-1, Victoria H. vs Xewkija T. 3-1
• Winter International Youth (U/17) Tournament - Israel Russia vs Malta 6-0