An exciting week of futsal action is on the cards as the 2018-19 Malta FA Futsal League kicks off on Monday while Valletta FC Futsal, the current champions, will be involved in the Main Round of the UEFA Futsal Champions League.
A total of 10 teams will play each other in the first round of the 2018-19 Malta FA Futsal League with the top six-ranked sides thereafter forming the Elite Futsal League. The participating teams are Birkirkara FC Futsal, Luxol St Andrews FC Futsal, Luxol St Andrews FC Futsal Under-19, Pietà Hotspurs FC Futsal, Swieqi United FC Futsal, Swieqi United FC Futsal Under-21, Tarxien Rainbows FC Futsal, University of Malta Students Futsal Team, UM Futsal Academy and Valletta FC Futsal. Now under the direct competence of the Malta Football Association, this years’ futsal competitions will include a number of important changes, most notably that only one match will be played on every programme date. “This move is aimed at improving conditions for all involved. For it to happen, two venues will be used - Corradino and the National School of Sport,” Dr Matthew Paris, the Malta FA Vice-President who heads the futsal sector, said. The new league format will group together the elite teams, thus the level of competition is expected to be strong week in week out. The championship will be decided in a best-of-five play-off series between the two teams collecting most points. Dr Paris urged the local futsal clubs to give due importance to local talent as every effort is being made to increase the pool of homegrown players to strengthen our national team. “Domestic competitions are also intended to help the national team,” Dr Paris said. “Therefore, our clubs are encouraged to recruit, train and field as many local players as possible during their games while also fielding high-level foreign players who help to raise the bar. “While taking this opportunity to thank all the administrators, clubs, coaches, players, referees and journalists involved in futsal, I urge them to support our efforts to raise the level of Maltese futsal.” The first game on Monday is between Swieqi United FC Futsal and Pietà Hotspurs FC Futsal.On Tuesday, Birkirkara FC Futsal, formerly Mrieħel ESS, will make their futsal debut against title hopefuls Luxol St Andrews FC Futsal. On Thursday, Luxol St Andrews FC U-19 face Tarxien Rainbows FC Futsal while the final fixture of Matchday 1 is an ‘academic’ derby between UM Futsal Academy and University of Malta Students Futsal Team. The matchday one matches will take place at the Corradino Indoor Hall, kicking off at 20.15. OPENING FIXTURES (Corradino Indoor Hall) Monday – 20.15 Swieqi United vs Pietà HotspursTuesday – 20.15 Luxol St Andrews vs Birkirkara FC FutsalThursday – 20.15 Tarxien Rainbows vs Luxol U-19Friday – 20.15 UM Futsal Academy vs UOM Students Futsal VALLETTA HEAD TO SLOVAKIAValletta FC Futsal will not launch theit title defence this week as they will be competing in the Main Round of the UEFA Futsal Champions League following their qualification from the Preliminary Round. Their opening Group 8 match is on Wednesday against Slovakian hosts Lucenec. On Thursday, the Citizens, who began their domestic season by winning the Super Cup, take on Araz Naxcivan, of Azerbaijan, and their closing group match is on Saturday against Lithuanian side FK Vytis. All matches will be played at the Športová hala Arena in Lucenec, Slovakia.