Watch: Ħamrun Spartans to be presented with the Premier League trophy on July 1

Ħamrun Spartans will be presented with the Premier League trophy on Thursday, July 1, the newly-crowned champions announced in a press conference on Friday.

The Spartans ended a 30-year-wait to win the Premier League championship last April but they were unable to receive the coveted trophy due to COVID-19 restrictions.

However, it has now been confirmed that the Spartans will be presented with the trophy in a ceremony at the Tedesco Stadium on July 1.

“These are very challenging times for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we at Ħamrun Spartans did everything we could to ensure that the club and their supporters will be able to celebrate this triumph in the best possible way and in according to the health regulations,” Bernard Pace, Head of Operations at Ħamrun Spartans.

“In the last few weeks we worked hard to reach an agreement with the Malta Football Association to organise the trophy presentation and with it include a number of initiatives to celebrate the club’s title success.”

“We felt that the first days of July was the best timeframe for us to hold these celebrations. The most-awaited event will surely be the trophy presentation that will be held on July 1 at the Tedesco Stadium.”

Pace said that unfortunately the fans will not be able to attend the trophy presentation at the Tedesco Stadium

“Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this event will not be open for our fans,” Pace said.

“The event will be open for the players, members of the technical staff and the club management. However, the fans will still be able to wathc proceedings as for the first time the three national TV stations will join forces to broadcast the event on their respective stations. The event will start at 8.30pm.”

 Pace said that as part of the club’s title celebrations, a new website will be launched. He also announced that the team and the club committee will also be received by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech on July 9.  The club’s title celebrations will come to a close with a gala dinner that will be organised in July.

On his part, Marcel Bonnici, the club’s chief executive officer, said that when the new administration, spearheaded by president Joseph Portelli, came to the club a year ago, they never thought that they would win the league title in their first season.

“When we took over at the club, we never planned to start afresh as we always had great respect for what was done in the past,” Bonnici said.

“Past administrations brought a lot of success to the club and although some bad decisions were made, we made sure to learn from these mishaps and ensure that we won’t repeat such mistakes.

“Our vision for the future is very clear. In our first year we have won the title, but now the challenge is to remain successful, year after year. Our plan is to put the club on a solid foundation and our goal is to ensure the club remains successful even when this current administration is no longer part of the club.”

Bonnici said that the club’s vision is to transform itself from a sporting club into a commercial brand.

“The idea is that when it comes to the commercial aspect, the club will become a marketing vehicle that will be used by other companies to portray their message.

“Our commercial partners believe a lot in our project and that is mirrored that all of them have already confirmed themselves to form part of our club for the upcoming season, and hopefully we can attract more companies to our club.”

Bonnici also said that the club is also working on the Tedesco Stadium project and he announced that in the next four to six weeks, all necessary paperwork will be ready and will be presented to the media.

The Spartans are currently awaiting for the verdict of their case in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) where they are contesting UEFA’s decision to exclude the club from this season’s Champions League.

“On Wednesday, we are awaiting the verdict from the CAS,” Bonnici said.

“We had four legal teams to choose from and I can say that I am really pleased with the choice we made. I don’t want to look too far ahead but I have no doubt that our case will be heard and evaluated in the right manner by the CAS.

“We firmly believe that the club has already paid the price for what they committed. We surely condemn what was done in the past and I can assure everyone that until we are at the helm of the club such mistakes will not even be considered.

“I believe that we will have a very strong case and that CAS will rule in our favour.”