The Malta Futsal national team sealed their place in the Main Round of the Euro 2026 qualifiers when they crushed Gibraltar 8-0 in Bern, on Thursday.
It was another emphatic performance from Gabriel Dobre’s team who chalked up their second successive win in the Preliminary Round to all but assure themselves of a top two finish in the group and proceed to the next round of the competition with one match to spare.
Malta wrapped up the contest by the end of the first half when they managed to race into a three-goal lead.
In fact, the Maltese took the lead after one minute and 20 seconds of play when from a Celino Alves corner kick, Mark Sammut fired the ball home.
Alves was again the creator of the team’s second goal after five minutes, when from a set-piece action he teed up Maicon who saw his shot finishing into the net.
Alves finally put his name on the scoresheet with less than seven minutes to go till the end of the half when he fired a rising shot into the back of the net.
After the match, the Maltese kept control of the match and managed to add two more goals to seal the win.
The Maltese took little time to add a fourth goal after the break as 30 seconds into the restart, Marrwan Telisi poked the ball home from an Alves pass.
Mark Zammit added two more goals for Malta as first he finished off a quick transition from close in to make it 5-0 and then the forward picked up a loose pass from Alves to beat the Gibraltar goalkeeper.
Maikinho added a seventh goal for Malta with a firm low drive.
Gibraltar were desperate to pull one back and fielded a flying goalkeeper but it was Malta who struck again when Maikinho fired the ball home.
Malta will now play for top spot in the group today when they face Switzerland on Friday.
