Maltese national football team (U-21 men)
Association | Malta Football Association | ||
confederacy | UEFA | ||
Technical sponsor | Diadora | ||
Head coach | Mark Miller | ||
FIFA code | MLT | ||
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statistics | |||
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Biggest win Syria 0-3 Malta ( Libya ; October 12, 1978) |
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Biggest defeat Italy 8-0 Malta (December 21, 1988) |
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(As of September 2008) |
The Maltese U-21 national soccer team is a selection team of Maltese soccer players . It is subject to the Malta Football Association and represents it on the U-21 level , in friendly matches against the national teams of other national associations, but also at the European Championships of the continental federation UEFA and the Football World Cup of FIFA . Eligible to play are players who have not yet reached the age of 21 and who are Maltese citizens . In tournaments, the age at the first qualifying game is decisive.
history
Malta's U-21s have not yet qualified for any UEFA-hosted tournament.
In qualifying for the 2006 European Championship , the team had to deal with Croatia , Hungary , Sweden , Iceland and Bulgaria in qualifying round 8 . Five points were scored with a goal difference of 3:16. This represented the sixth and thus last place in this group. The team achieved the only victory on October 8, 2004 against the Icelandic selection 1-0. On the Icelandic island, the red and whites got another point. The fifth point was scored against Bulgaria on the last day of qualification. Apart from 6-0 in the first leg against Sweden, no game with a higher goal difference of 2 goals was lost. Against the winner of this group, Croatia, both games were only just lost 1-0.
For the European Championship 2007 , the European U-21 teams had to qualify in a fast-track process. In a preliminary round for, according to statistics, worse teams, the Maltese had to qualify for the short group stage. On April 12 and 24, 2006, the team faced the team from Georgia . The first and second leg were each lost 1: 2.
For 2009 , the familiar mode was again played with several groups. Malta faced Wales , France , Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group 10 . The island footballers managed only one victory and in the end had a goal difference of 3:24. The only success came against Bosnia-Herzegovina on November 20, 2007 at home. The team achieved remarkable success in the 2-0 first leg against France and the 0-1 defeat against Romania on June 5, 2007.
Former and known players (selection)
See also
- Maltese national football team
- Maltese National Football Team (U-17 Juniors)
- U-21 European Football Championship