Women’s team to face Northern Ireland at Windsor Park.
The wait is over as the Malta women’s national team will make history when they step onto the field of Belfast’s Windsor Park to take on Northern Ireland and launch their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign on Friday night (kick-off: 8pm).
After a strong League C campaign in the newly-launched Nations League, Malta will now face a tougher challenge in Europe’s second-tier, League B, as they face Northern Ireland, Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A lot has been said about the growth of the senior women’s team after dominating Latvia, Andorra and Moldova in the third-tier.
Now, the League B campaign will serve as a perfect gauge to measure the competitiveness of a side that has seen some improvements under the guidance of coach Manuela Tesse.
The team has adopted a more attacking approach based on defensive solidity, midfield rotations and attacking space which were reflected in the League C matches – 13 goals scored and just one conceded, in the final game against Latvia.
Now, Tesse will be eager to put her philosophy into practice against some of Europe’s strongest nations as the Italian is determined to stick to her football principles.
“We don’t want to change our philosophy but instead, we want to add new principles and expand the football knowledge of our players,” Tesse told the Times of Malta.
“We want them to be able to solve game situations by choosing the best solution on their own.”
To be able to start this League B campaign on a positive note, Tesse will need every player to be on board with her ideas.
The former Italy player, on her part, heaped praise on the group as she described the dressing room atmosphere to be very positive thanks to “an amazing group inside and outside the pitch.”
Asked whether she had doubts on the starting formation, Tesse said that while all players are available she does have some question marks on who to deploy from the start.
However, Tesse specifically explained that she is more than happy to have these dilemmas because that means that every single player is ready to take a starting role.
Northern Ireland, ranked 46th in the world, will be eyeing a second straight qualification to the European Championships after their 2021 appearance.
Although not considered a European powerhouse and some of their players are starting just now to become professional, the Northern Irish side boasts important talented figures such as Simone Magill.
The 29-year-old forward is currently on the books of Aston Villa in the prestigious English Women’s Super League.
Relegation play-off
Previously, she played over 100 matches for Everton with whom she became the first Northern Irish women player to sign a professional contract in football.
Included in their squad, are also players from Northern Ireland’s giants Glentoran who had lost to Birkirkara in the 2022-23 Women’s Champions League qualifiers.
Northern Ireland are on the back of relegation/promotion play-off in which they defeated Montenegro 3-1 after placing third in their League B group.
“Northern Ireland are a very strong team, they are swift and attack with lots of players too,” Tesse pointed out.
“They are physically strong but their power can be their weakness as well.
“We can find a lot of space to attack if we are smart and try to do what we are practising in our training sessions.”
If their previous campaign numbers are anything to go by, Northern Ireland conceded 14 goals in eight matches including eight on home soil.
As part of their commitment to the women’s game, Northern Ireland are playing their home games in the national teams’ home venue – Windsor Park.
This stadium that does bring happy memories to Maltese football after Floriana’s memorable
1-0 victory over Linfield in the 2020-21 Europa League qualifiers.
Over 4,000 people attended their play-off against Montenegro and certainly that number can be even bigger once Northern Ireland kickstart their campaign today.
“In my experience in women’s football as a player and as a coach, seeing a lot of people in the stadium can give the players more motivation,” Tesse explained.
“I think in modern football, the mental aspect is very important. I think the players are even more confident after all these matches together.”
The European qualifications for women’s teams work differently than the men’s as the qualified teams are determined through a Nations League format rather than the traditional qualifying system used in their counterparts.
For qualifying itself, the top two teams in each League A group will gain places in the July 2025 finals alongside hosts Switzerland (who will compete in League B although their automatic qualification is assured).
The remaining seven spots will be decided by two rounds of play-offs in October and Novem-ber/December.
In the first round of the play-offs, the four group winners and the two best-ranked runners-up in League B will play against the remaining two runners-up and the four third-placed teams of the same tier.
World Cup News
Winter Olympics
Watch: Geisenberger wins sixth Olympic medal to tie luge record
