Haley Bugeja wins October Atlas Youth Athlete of the month award

Malta women’s national team player Haley Bugeja has been named as the winner of the October 2020 Atlas Youth Athlete of the month award.

During the month of October, Bugeja distinguished herself with her club, US Sassuolo, in the Italian Serie A Femminile where she secured the starting lineup jersey in all of her team’s games played in October.

Additionally, she managed to score again in the League’s Match Day 6 against Florentia San Gimignano which saw US Sassuolo emerge 3-1 winners.

Bugeja had made a huge impact in the Italian Serie A Femminile when on her debut on September 5 she has netted a brace in in a 3-1 home win against Napoli Femminile.

After the win against Napoli she was again on the scoresheet in a similar 3-1 win away to Fiorentina.

Bugeja, who turned 16 earlier this year, managed to establish herself as one of the best ‘foreign players’ in the Italian’s women top-flight league this season.

Last week she added her tally by netting another goal against Hellas Verona in a 4-1 victory at the Stadio Comunale Enzo Ricci in Sassuolo to make them five goals so far this season.

Bugeja was named by national team coach Mark Gatt for Malta’s UEFA Women’s EURO qualifiers away double header against Georgia and Israel on November 26 and December 1, respectively.

This was the tenth award being awarded to a local youth athlete in the series of this joint initiative by Atlas Insurance and the Malta Sports Journalists Association to recognise the efforts by young sports athletes and thus encouraging them to continue to train harder in their respective sports disciplines.

The previous winners were: Kayden Lagana (Tenpin Bowling) September 2020, Sacha Gatt (Swimming) August 2020, Richard Shulthies (Sailing) July 2020, Matthew Magro (Tenpin Bowling) June 2020, Thomas Borg (Para swimming) May 2020, Jake Vella (Swimming) April 2020, Tenishia Thornton (Weightlifting) March 2020, Dejan Grech (Pool) February 2020, and Rachela Pace (Athletics) January 2020.

Each month, the Malta Sports Journalists Association and Atlas Insurance encourage athletes under the age of 21 and their respective associations and federations to submit nominations for this award. Nominations can be submitted via email on info@maltasportsjournalists.com.