108
AIR MALTA NEWS
Malta – The Home of Football Champions
M
alta has proved to be a 'lucky' training camp venue for three major European clubs this winter.
PSV Eindhoven returned to the Netherlands after their January break in Malta with an impressive run of form, to be crowned Champions of the Netherlands on the last day of the season. Viktoria Plzen did the same in the Czech Synot Liga winning the title with a few games to go in their regular season and Legia Warsaw managed a packed schedule brilliantly in February and March, to win their 11th Polish Ekstraklasa title and the prestigious Polish Cup. All three clubs took part in the in first ever training camp season in Malta
organised by Malta Football Camps Ltd. in which a total of 16 teams participated including top teams from the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Norway, Slovenia and the USA. In March, a number of national teams also visited Malta for training and friendly matches as a result of the MFC’s marketing efforts. Most northern and central European football competitions have their winter break between January and March, and, at this tim,e clubs are in search of milder climates to hold their training camps. It is the first time that Malta hosted such a large scale training camp season and, by all accounts, this was a great success. This would not have been possible without the close cooperation of
the Malta Football Association and Hibernians FC, who provide the football pitches. Match officials from the MFA were kept busy with a packed schedule of friendly matches offering them a unique opportunity to officiate international games. Norman Darmanin Demajo, President of the Malta Football association said “in the last few years, the number of requests from top European clubs to hold their training camps in Malta has soared. In response to this, the MFA decided to step up its efforts to upgrade its facilities to be in a better position to attract more teams and further develop this market. With this in mind, various projects were undertaken, including the installation of a new flood lighting system at the Ta’Qali