Malta face Ireland in Eurohockey Championship opening match

The Malta Hockey national team will kick off their commitments in the Eurohockey Championship Qualifiers Men B in Ireland on Thursday.

The qualifying tournament will determine the placings for the EuroHockey Championships to be held in 2025.

The tournament is being held at the National Sports Campus located in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Coach Chris Attard selected a squad of 18 players which has been involved in intensive preparations and training sessions over the past few weeks.

Malta will open their campaign on Thursday with a tough assignment when they take on the home side Ireland.

The winner of the match will progress to Saturday’s semi-finals while the losers will have to settle for a place in the positional play-off matches that will start on Friday.

Apart from Ireland, the other teams in the tournament are Turkey, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Wales and Luxembourg.

The Maltese contingent arrived in Dublin on Wednesday and they were greeted by Malta’s Ambassador for to Ireland Giovanni Buttigieg who augured the team the best for the tournament and stated that the Maltese community in Ireland is fully supporting the team.

The Malta hockey national team is led by association president Gordon Mifsud.

The squad: Marvin Grixti (goalkeeper); Shamison Mifsud (goalkeeper); Thomas Degiovanni; Zack Degiovanni; Silas Plaehn; Lucas Plaehn; Charlo Sammut; Christ Agius; Alessandro Amore; Julian Zahra; Shawn Dimech; Nathan Pace Gasan; Karl Chircop; Anton Saliba; Andrea Curmi; Xandru Mifsud Bonnici; Luke Bajada; Keith Bajada.