ASA Malta win bid to host European U-15 qualifying tournament

The Aquatic Sports Association of Malta has announced that it has successfully bid to host the qualification matches for the Men’s Under 15 European Championships.

These will take place in Malta between March 26 and 28.

The championships, which are a biennial event, will be held under the auspices of Ligue Européenne de Natation (LEN). 

Four Groups of qualifying events will take place in Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic and Malta.

The Maltese national team has been assigned Group C and will be competing against France, Ireland and Slovenia.   

The procedure applied for drawing the groups is based upon the ranking of the championships held in 2019, the ranking of the Qualification tournaments and as much as possible geographical positioning.

A group of 17 players who are vying for possible selection are currently undergoing intensive training under the guidance of National U-15 coach Anthony Farrugia.

Preliminary training includes early morning swimming sessions as well as strength and conditioning training. The final 15 will be selected by the national coach closer to the date.

“This is not an easy draw, particularly in the case of the previous edition’s hosts Slovenia, to which Malta lost 12-8 in 2019,” Anthony Farrugia, the Malta U-15 coach said.

“However, we have put this result well and truly behind us and our players are training hard to make Malta proud in March.”

Following the completion of the qualifying events, the top two teams from each of the groups will proceed to the finals which are scheduled to take place between July 4 and 11 in Loule, Portugal.