‘We want to make our supporters proud’ says Malta women’s coach Tesse ahead of friendlies

Malta to face Faroe Islands and Belarus in double-header

Two months on from a historic promotion to the UEFA Women’s Nations League B, Manuela Tesse’s Malta women will be playing two friendlies this month when the VisitMalta Women’s International Friendlies take place between February 22-25.

Playing at the Tony Bezzina Stadium, Malta will face the 110-ranked Faroe Islands and world number 53 Belarus.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Malta coach Tesse thanked Clayton Bartolo, Minister for Tourism and Public Cleanliness, and Qmedia representative Helmut Amhof for the opportunity to prepare for the next edition of the Nations League.

“Of course, we are working and want to overcome the challenges we have ahead of us,” Tesse said.

“I want to thank Helmut (Amhof) and the minister. This tournament is a good opportunity to prepare for the future and the new Nations League campaign and for sure we have to fight. These matches will help us.”

The fourth edition of the VisitMalta Women’s International Friendlies will precede March 5’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 qualifying draw.

Asked by the Times of Malta how important facing higher-ranked opposition like Belarus, Tesse said it is the only way to grow and, at the same time, provide the kind of emotion that would bring people towards the local league.

“If you want to improve, you have to play against teams that are stronger than you because if you play every time teams of the same level, you cannot grow,” she said.

“So, for us, it is a challenge, but we want to work and improve so that we can make our supporters proud. I think when we won the last game against Latvia, we achieved our goal to go to League B. At the same time, I think the people who watched the game felt the emotion so for me, I aim to give this emotion to the people.

“In this way, the people will want to come and watch women’s football. If they enjoy watching our national team, for sure the local league will have more supporters. I think this is the way.”

The friendlies, which will also involve 73-ranked Albania within the three-day event, will take place where Manchester United faced PSV in another women’s friendly last month.

Malta Tourism Authority (MTA)  CEO Carlo Micallef added that the event highlighted their focus on women’s football.

“This is the fourth year that we are hosting these matches. This reflects our commitment to support women’s football as well as to facilitate opportunities for the women’s national team to play in international friendlies,” Micallef said.

Finally, Tourism minister Hon. Bartolo said the government’s efforts to push for more sports tourism is reaping rewards and that they working on doing more.

“Our efforts to strengthen sports tourism are producing encouraging results,” Hon. Bartolo explained.

“2023 was a record year in terms of the results achieved in the sports tourism niche, and thanks to the ongoing work of the Malta Tourism Authority, we are working to maintain and increase these initiatives.

“Sports tourism has socio-economic benefits and we are happy that we are also supporting our women’s national team through the organization of these friendlies.”

Malta’s matches will be broadcast on TVM Sport+ but supporters can attend with tickets sold at €5, while the concession price for children and seniors is €3.

PROGRAMME

FEBRUARY 22

Albania vs Belarus       14.00

Malta vs F. Islands       18.00

FEBRUARY 25

Albania vs F. Islands    14.00

Malta vs Belarus          18.00