Mosta FC focused on youth investment, eye Cup success

Mosta FC are determined to continue to invest in their youth talent but are still harbouring hopes of challenging for a major domestic honour in the 2022-23 season.

The Blues have so far enjoyed a solid start to their Premier League campaign, winning two of their opening four league matches to sit in seventh place of the standings on six points and face Sirens when the championship resumes tomorrow.

President George Galea told a news conference that the club’s main vision has always been to invest heavily in their youth sector as it represents the future of the club.

“Here at Mosta FC we are always looking to invest in our young players,” Galea said.

“Our club boasts one of the best football nursery on the island and for us, it represents a good showcase of our club.

“Throughout the years, we have managed to groom some talented young players with some of them managing to play in the Premier League on a regular basis and others who have managed to make a career in the Challenge League.

“No doubt, managing to groom so many young players bodes well for the future of our club and is testament of the great work our coaches are doing at our nursery.”

The Mosta president thanked the club’s main sponsors, mainly PG Group, Simply Clean, Team Sport and Noel & Co for their constant support toward the club and he hoped that the Blues can continue to attract more financial assistance so that they will be able to survive the demands of playing top-flight football.

The Mosta FC president said that Maltese football can never take a step towards a higher level unless clubs are able to start operating on a professional basis.

Law for Commercialisation of Sports Facilities

He said that the Law for Commercialisation of Sports Facilities is crucial for Maltese football clubs to make a leap in quality.

“Every year, the amount of work each club is forced to do in terms of paperwork to secure a Premier League licence is similar to what other clubs abroad do,” Galea said.

“The only difference is that while foreign teams have a professional set-up, Maltese clubs have to move forward with a number of volunteers and if we continue on this trend, sport in Malta can never advance.

“Clubs are forking thousands of euros each year and their hopes of exporting young players to foreign leagues is very difficult unless you have a special talent who is very committed to the cause.

“Personally, I think that Maltese football has made little progress. For me the progress of a national team is not seen by winning one or two matches but if your reach higher objectives and so far, we failed.

“And that is why I firmly believe that the Law for Commercialisation of Sports Facilities could be a game changer in this sense as it will boost the development of Maltese football, increase business activity and would also provide huge commercial projects that will reap financial dividends for the clubs and help them to switch on a professional basis.

“From what I hear, it’s not too long before the first projects will be approved so hopefully things will soon be better.”

On his part, Mario Muscat, the club’s technical director, said that he is pleased that in his three-year spell at the club, he succeeded to reach the main objectives set.

“I am very proud to be part of this club,” Muscat said.

“After three years here, today I understand more the difficulties the club faces every season. As the president said, the Law of Commercialisation of Sport Facilities is crucial to transform the club into a professional set-up and is the only way forward.

“One major goal we set was to give a lot of importance to our youth players and in fact we managed to groom 16 players from our youth nursery. If you look at our first-team squad we have three home-grown players, namely Gianluca Sciberras, Nathan Agius, and Jake Vassallo, who have managed to establish themselves in our first-team squad.

Amalgamation with Nigerian side

“Added to that, we also had the goal of playing in UEFA club competitions, and we fulfilled that objective last summer when the club managed to play in the UEFA Europa League and also managed to win our first match against Spartak Trnava, of Slovakia.

“Still we are very ambitious to repeat this experience, and while we are aware that it is difficult for us to challenge for the league title, the FA Trophy is an honour that we are more than capable of winning and no doubt we will give it our best shot to bring the first major honour to our club.”

Muscat also announced that the club had agreed a partnership agreement with Panthers FC, which will see young Nigerian players from this club, who also boast a partnership with Serie A giants Roma, head to Mosta FC.

In fact, at present Mosta FC have five young players in their ranks through this agreement, namely Glamour Chibueze Eziefula, Baratuipre Richmond Hanson, Joseph Feargod Ibe, Victor Ifeanyi Mbata and Linus Tenebe Precious.

Also present for the news conference was Charles Borg, the PG Group CEO, who said that he is proud of his organisation to be supporting Mosta FC.

“We feel honoured to be commercial partners of Mosta FC,” Borg said.

“I was impressed by the set-up that the club has built over the years, with around 70 coaches working throughout all age groups of the club.

“I sincerely hope that the club will have the opportunity to embark on a commercialisation project as no doubt it can guarantee to the club a regular source of income which will help them to plan for the future.

“I hope that our partnership with Mosta FC will continue to flourish for many years to come.”