Michael Mifsud hits 300th career goal in Birkirkara win

Maltese football fans are accustomed to seeing Michael Mifsud score goals but his goal today in Birkirkara's 3-0 BOV Premier League win over Mosta was a special one. It was exactly his 300th official senior goal in his career a wonderful milestone for the Malta record international. Mifsud is only the second Maltese ever to hit 300 official senior career goals. The first player who still heads the scoring ranking is Dione Lautier with 306 goals. The Oratory Youths forward retired in 2013 and is also known for his periods with Victoria Hotspurs, Sannat Lions, Xagħra United, Qala St Joseph and Gozo FC, besides his short spells in Malta with Birkirkara and Naxxar Lions. The updated top five ranking senior career goals by Maltese players is as follows:306 Dione Lautier300 Michael Mifsud289 Johnny Camilleri274 Tony Nicholl266 Stefan Sultana Mifsud needs no introduction in Malta and is perhaps, together with Carmel Busuttil and Andrè Schembri, Malta's most high-profile player in terms of spells with overseas clubs.  The 37-year-old has enjoyed an illustrious career in five countries in which he established many goal-scoring records. He was voted Maltese Sports Person of the Year in 2001 and 2003. With 136 matches for Malta, Mifsud is the also most capped Maltese player in the history of the game, captaining the national team in no fewer than 50 matches.   Mifsud is mostly known for his spell in the English Championship with Coventry City (2006-2009). During this period, he reached great heights and is still remembered for his brace at Old Trafford in the third round of the 2007–08 League Cup, on 26 September 2007, to give Coventry City an unexpected 2–0 victory over Premier League champions Manchester United.  Mifsud made his senior debut for his nursery club Sliema Wanderers in 1997/98 and scored his very first senior goal just 12 days before his 17th birthday in a Premier Divison game against Xgħajra Tornados (5.4.98, 3-1), netting the opening goal of the match.  The diminutive striker has been part of the MFA youth sector and national team set-up from 1995 where he made a total of 32 youth appearances in all internationally approved sections (16 x U/21, 5 x U/18 & 11 x U/16), scoring three goals, one in each category. He was crowned top scorer of the Maltese league in seasons 1999-2000 and 2000/01.   By then, he had caught the eye of various European scouts. He joined 1FC Kaiserslautern in Germany, staying there for two-and-a-half seasons and becoming the first Maltese in the German Bundesliga. Halfway through season 2002/03 he re-joined his home club Sliema Wanderers and won the league championship with the Blues.   Mifsud then joined Norwegian team Lillestrom SK where he was voted best foreigner in the 2006 league. His success in Norway earned him a move to Coventry City where he stayed for two-and-a half years before joining Barnsley where he played for half a season. He scored 18 goals in the English Championship but decided to return to Malta, joining Valletta for six months... his first period with the Lilywhites.   Mifsud made a surprise move to Qormi during season 2010/11 and then rejoined Valletta, winning the BOV Premier League for the second time in his career (2011/12).   In 2013/14 he made one final trip abroad, joining Melbourne Heart in the Australian A-League. His stay down under lasted six months only and Mifsud returned to Malta, signing for Sliema Wanderers.  After one-and-a-half season, in January 2016, the experienced forwad returned to Valletta for his third stint with the Whites, helping them to win another league championship in 2017-18, his third in his career.  Last summer, he signed for his current club, Birkirkara FC.  Counting all official senior appearances in Malta, for the Maltese national team and U21 team and the matches he played abroad including European Cup games, the match today against Mosta was his 720th career appearance. He scored 98 official senior goals for Sliema Wanderers, good for a top-five ranking for the club, and 68 for Valletta.  Mifsud is the all-time top scorer for Malta with 41 goals and he also holds the record of being the Maltese all time top scorer in the European Champions Cup/Champions League Qualifiers with eight goals. Both records will most probably stand for a while. He made his first senior appearance for Malta, then under Josif Ilic, on 10th February, 2000 against Albania in the Malta International Tournament.  He is considered as one of the most prominent players Malta has ever produced and was instrumental in Malta's victory against Hungary in the Euro 2008 qualifers, Malta's first competitive home victory since 1982.  On 27th March 2008, Mifsud scored five goals for Malta in a 7–1 friendly win over Liechtenstein, completing a hat-trick within just 21 minutes of the kick-off.  On 3rd March 2010, he eclipsed Carmel Busuttil's long standing goal-scoring record with the national team, as Mifsud hit the back of the net for Malta in a friendly match against Finland.  Mifsud also scored the winning goal (1–0) in Malta's first away win in a World Cup qualifier in many years, against Armenia, on 7 June 2013.  A fantastic career for Michael Mifsud who has done Malta proud on several occasions throughout the years and is still going strong at 37.