June 2000

Fri 30

• The Malta Under 14 side won the first two games 5-0 and 9-0 in the Torneo Internazionale Giovani Promesse which is being held in Assemini, Sardinia.

Thu 29

• The Malta Under 14 national side under the guide of coach JoJo Bajada left Malta for Sardinia where the team will be taking part in the Assemini International Tournament.

Sun 25

• Gozo FC are forced to accept all the conditions being imposed by the MFA to take part in next season's First Division League and play the home matches at the Gozo Stadium. They were ready to accept all the other conditions except for the Lm100 deposit for each of the other nine clubs, that is, Lm900 in all. Therefore, Gozo FC have three options - either play al the 18 matches in Malta or play the home-matches in Gozo after accepting the conditions or drop out of the league.
• Four players of top Italian side Inter, Frey, Cauet, Simic and Ferrari, together with members of the technical staff, are currently in Malta for the first part of the pre-season training. Meanwhile, rumours have it that the whole squad will be visiting the island towards the end of August to play a friendly match against the national team or an other selection of local players.

Sat 24

• UEFA Intertoto Cup - First Round Second Leg Stabaek (NOR) vs Floriana 2-0 (Aggregate Score: 3-1)

Fri 23

• The draws of the qualifying rounds of the UEFA club competitions were held this afternoon in Geneva. In the UEFA Champions League, Birkirkara were drawn to meet Icelandic champions KR Reykjavík. The winner will meet Brøndby IF of Denmark. In the UEFA Cup, Sliema Wanderers and Valletta had tougher draws. Sliema Wanderers face Yugoslav FK Partizan Belgrade while Valletta meet NK Rijeka of Croatia.

Thu 22

• The Malta Football Association made it clear that for Gozo FC to take part in next season's Division One League, the deposit of Lm900 (lm100 for each club) is a necessary condition. In the counter-proposal by Gozo FC, the club claimed that this condition is unfair for them.
• Floriana FC leave Malta on Friday morning for Norway where they will be playing in the UEFA Intertoto Cup First Round second leg againt Stabaek on Saturday evening. The nineteen-man squad includes two players who were not included in the first leg - Antoine Zahra and former international Richard Buhagiar. On the other hand, Irishman Brian Crawley was dropped from the squad after failing to impress in the first leg.

Wed 21

• Sliema Wanderers and national team goalie Ernest Barry was voted Footballer of the Year 1999/2000. He obtained 45.98% followed by Stefan Giglio of Valletta with 43.22% and Michael Cutajar of Birkirkara with 39%. Two Sliema players placed fourth and fifth - Michael Mifsud obtained 38.61% points and Carmel Busuttil 34.19%. In the other categories, Malcolm Tirchett was voted Player of the Year in Division 1, Peter Hartshorne in Division 2, John Paul Muscat in Division 3, Tessie Agius in the Women's League, Michael Mifsud in the Under 21 League and Justin Haber in the Under 18 league. Balzan Youths won the Fair Play Award.
• Richard Buhagiar is expected to be forming part of Floriana's squad which will leave for Norway on Friday for Saturday's UEFA Intertoto Cup First Round second leg.

Mon 19

• The draws of the Qualifying Rounds of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup will be held on Friday. The local clubs which will be taking part are Birkirkara (Champions League), Sliema Wanderers and Valletta (both UEFA Cup). For this reason, the three presidents, Victor Zammit, Robert Arrigo and Joe Caruana Curran will be travelling to Geneva. The First Qualifying Round of the Champions League will be held on the 12th and 19th July while the Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup will be held on the 10th and 24th August.
• The visits of Manchester United and Inter have almost been confirmed. Some of the players of Italian side Inter will be visiting Malta between the 23rd and 30th June for the first part of the pre-season training. On the other hand, Manchester United will be visiting Malta for a friendly match against local champions Birkirkara on the 8th August - three days after taking part in a tournament in Germany with Bayern Munich, PSG and Galatasaray.

Sat 17

• UEFA Intertoto Cup - First Round First Leg Floriana vs Stabaek IF (Norway) 1-1
• The finalists for the Footballer of the Year Award are Stefan Giglio (Valletta), Michael Cutajar (Birkirkara), Ernest Barry (Sliema), Michael Mifsud (Sliema) and Carmel Busuttil (Sliema). In a preliminary vote, they obtained the following votes: Giglio 71, Cutajar 61, Barry 57, Mifsud 42, Busuttil 39. Considering that the winner will be declared after that a number of points is awarded according to the number of games played for the club and the national team and others deducted for yellow and red cards, it seems that Giglio and Barry stand a greater chance than the others. Giglio had seven yellow cards and one red while Barry had just one yellow card. As regards club appearances, Giglio missed eight matches between league and trophy matches while Barry played all. The Sliema goalie was also involved in all national team matches unlike Giglio.

Thu 15

• Assistant referee Emmanuel Zammit will be making his second appearance in EURO 2000 when he will be assisting Dutch referee Dirk Jol in the Group B game between Sweden and Turkey which will be played in Brussels, Belgium.

Mon 12

• Maltese assistant referee Emmanuel Zammit made his European Championships EURO 2000 debut assisting Swedish referee Anders Frisk in the Group A game between Portugal and England which will was held in Eindhoven, Holland.
• Floriana FC are preparing for their UEFA Intertoto Cup First Round match against Norwegian side Stabaek which will be held on Saturday. The Greens are expected to have five foreigners in squad following the addition of two new Congolese players, Reide Oba and Onu. Kim Wright (injured) and Richard Buhagiar are out of Saturday's game. All the other players are at the disposal of coach Traiko Sokolov.
• Valletta FC obtained a new sponsorship by Office Electronics, the local representatives of Konica. In the mean time, the club presented the new shirts by Nike.

Sat 10

• European Smaller Nations Cup Final Sliema W. vs Polisportiva Mistretta 2-2 (4-3 pens) (Carmel Busuttil and Joseph Farrugia) Final 3rd/4th places Al-Ahli vs Merthyr Tydfil 3-1
• During a press conference Birkirkara FC president Victor Zammit confirmed that Essadi Muammar Gaddafi has accepted the offer to become honorary president of the club and that he is willing to play for Birkirkara in the Champions League. However he still has to obtain permission from his father, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. There are plans of cooperation between Birkirkara and his club, Al-Ahli, the club from which the Stripes had signed goalkeeper Musbah Shangab in 1996. Gaddafi also confirmed that Italian side Perugia is interested in signing him on a full-time basis, a request he will have to turn down due to other commitments he has as president of the Libyan Football Federation and vice-president of the Libyan Olympic Committee. Meanwhile it was announced that the Libyan national team will visit Malta for a training camp.
• Floriana president Dennis Burke will be uncontested in the Floriana FC Annual General Meeting which will be held on Saturday. Most of the other persons holding the top posts since last season will also be confirmed but as a new vice-president there will be probably be Tony Zahra. Meanwhile the club a very good sponsorship by Elopack of Norway.

Fri 9

• Stefan Giglio scored a brace in his last league match with CSKA Sofia although they were defeated 3-2 by Litex Lovtech. In the four matches played, Giglio managed to score three in all. He returns Malta on Sunday and then the two clubs are expected to start negotiating the transfer. Valletta's request is that of Lm130,000.
• Maltese assistant referee Emanuel Zammit was given his first two appointments for the European Championships EURO 2000 which kick-off in Holland and Belgium on Friday. The appointments are for games Portugal-England (Group A) on Monday and Sweden-Turkey (Group B) on Thursday.
• Following a request by Gozo FC to play half of their First Division league matches next season at the Gozo Stadium, the Council of the MFA put forward a number of conditions which have already been described as discriminatory by the Gozo FA. According to these conditions, the Maltese club is to be paid Lm100 by Gozo FC, provided with 30 ferry tickets, breakfast for 30, transport between Mgarr, the restaurant/hotel and the stadium and back, besides being reponsible for paying any other expenses. Following a council meeting of the GFA, it was decided that although its target is to participate in the MFA competitions, Gozo FC should no longer be discriminated, the Gozo Stadium is being offered to the disposal of the MFA for free unlike the other stadiums, it is their right to have at least half the games played in Gozo - even by considering that that this will help the development of football in Gozo and finally that, in the the spirit of fair play, the other nine clubs should pay the expenses for just one game in Gozo while they pay the expenses incurred for the nine 'away' matches.

Thu 8

• European Smaller Nations Cup Sliema W. vs Al-Ahli 2-1 (Carmel Busuttil & Michael Mifsud), Polisportiva Mistretta vs Merthyr Tydfil 2-0
• After playing the friendly match against England, Malta is still in the 118th place in the FIFA World rankings. Among the other Euroepan countries, Malta is one place behind the Faroe Islands which are 117th but is well ahead of Luxembourg which are in the 133rd place.

Wed 7

• The European Smaller Nations Cup gets underway on Thursday with the two semi-finals. In the first one, Sliema Wanderers meet Libyan side Al-Ahli while in the other semi-final, Sicilian side Polisportiva Mistretta face Merthyr Tydfil of Wales. the finals will be held on Saturday.

Tue 6

• The son of Libyan President Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Saadi Gaddafi will be joining champions Birkirkara for their UEFA Champions League campaign which starts on the 12th July in the First Qualifying Round. Saadi is a midfielder who plays for Al-Ahli in Libya and his personal trainer is former 100 metres sprinter Ben Johnson. A curious fact is that besides being a player, Muammar Saadi Gaddafi is also the president of the Libyan Football Association.
• Maltese defender Darren Debono denied saying that Alan Shearer broke his nose on purpose. Interviewed by the Times of Malta, he said that the matter was blown out of proportion.

Fri 2

• In a friendly match, Libyan side El Ahli defeated Floriana 2-1. New Congolese striker Onu scored for Floriana.

Sun 4

• Maltese defender Darren Debono said Alan Shearer broke his nose on purpose during Saturday's friendly match between Malta and England. "You don't expect the England captain to go around busting people's noses on purpose." Darren Debono had to leave the pitch injured after 33 minutes.
• Youths Inter-Section Knock Out Final Floriana vs Valletta 1-1 (4-3 pen) ... Floriana Champions

Sat 3

• Friendly International Malta vs England 1-2

Fri 2

• The two coaches Josif Ilic and Kevin Keegan named the starting line-ups for tomorrow's friendly match between Malta and England. Malta - Barry, Said, Debono, Spiteri, Vella, Buttigieg, Turner, Busuttil, Agius, Brincat, Carabott. England - Wright, G. Neville, P. Neville, Campbell, Keown, Wise, Beckham, Scholes, Barmby, Shearer, Phillips.
• Nikolai Kirilov (Zurrieq) and Gilbert Agius (Valletta) won the Rothmans Footballer of the Month Awards for April and May 2000 respectively.
• In a friendly match, Floriana defeated Libyan side El Ahli 3-2. William Camenzuli, Todor Zaytzev and Mark Galea scored the three goals.

Thu 1

• England arrived in Malta on flight KM2207 from Luton at 18:42 for the friendly game against Malta which will be held on Saturday. The England squad is made up of the twenty-two players who will be taking part in the European Championship EURO 2000, under the guide of manager Kevin Keegan. The squad is made up of David Seaman, Nigel Martyn, Richard Wright, Phil Neville, Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Gareth Southgate, Gareth Barry, David Beckham, Dennis Wise, Paul Ince, Nick Barmby, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Steve McManaman, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey, Kevin Phillips and Robbie Fowler.
• FIFA president Josef Blatter arrives in Malta on Thursday evening. During his visit he will be meeting the members of the Executive Committee of the Malta Football Association and the President of the Republic, Prof Guido Demarco. Accompanying Blatter is UEFA vice-president Egidius Braun, president of the German FA. Also present in Malta are Bobby Charlton and Franz Beckenbauer.
• About seven players from top Italian club, Inter will be visiting Malta between the 23rd and 30th June for the first part of the pre-season training reserved for players who were injured in the last part of the season. These should include Christian Vieri who recently dropped out of the Italian national team due to an injury. They will be making use of the facilities of the MFA Techincal Centre at Ta' Qali.
• Birkirkara were fined the sum of Lm3110 following incidents in the games between Birkirkara and Sliema in the Rothmans Trophy final and Birkirkara and Valletta in the last Premier League match. Birkirkara were found guilty of having supporters damaging 290 seats at the National Stadium during the Trophy final. Besides that, supporters of Birkirkara had burned a Valletta flag in the last league match. Meanwhile eight persons are expected to be arraigned in court in connection with the incidents in the Trophy final.