SportMalta invested heavily to provide top match-day experience for fans
The Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, in collaboration with SportMalta, are currently gearing up to host the LEN Champions League Final Four for a second successive year at the National Pool Complex.
The prestigious competition will reach its apex on Friday, May 30 when the two semi-finals are played before the final showpiece will be held on Sunday, June 1.
This is the second year that Malta is hosting this competition, and after last year’s success, which saw over 1,500 fans flocking to the National Pool and over 3,000,000 viewers of the event, SportMalta and the ASA have invested heavily to ensure they provide an even better spectacle.
“SportMalta’s main strategy over the years has been to work hand-in-hand with national associations to attract major international events to Malta,” Cutajar said.
“In the past few years, Malta hosted the Special Olympic Games as well as the Games of the Small States of Europe, where our athletes managed to place first overall.
“The Champions League Final Four is a major event that we have been working on for the last three years. This organisation will put Malta at the heart of aquatic sport in
the world, since Europe is the top continent in this discipline.”
Cutajar then spoke about the sound financial investment made to ensure a perfect venue for this major event.
“We took the same approach for the Champions League Final Four, and our main priority was to improve the lighting system at the pool to ensure the best possible television production,” Cutajar said.
“To this end, we forked out €135,000 on a new lighting system of the highest technology. We invested in a new system of highly energetic heat pumps for a cost of €200,000. The walls of the University of Malta and the Maltese Olympic Committee that surround the venue have also been refurbished, while we will have an extra seating area, increasing the crowd capacity to 3,500 fans.”
Cutajar said that a month after last year’s edition, a new organising committee was set up, and it made a shortlist of what had to be done to have an even better event this year.
“As part of the promotion of the event, we made sure that we increased the exposure of Malta on the European Aquatics social media platforms,” Cutajar said.
“We created videos promoting the beauty of our country, and I am pleased to announce that we have managed to sell tickets to fans from over 20 countries around Europe, thus boosting our hopes of turning our country into an ideal sporting destination.”
On his part, Karl Izzo, the president of the ASA, said that his governing body is proud to be hosting such a major event in Malta.
“As an association, we are proud to be hosting the Final Four event once more,” Izzo said.
“The feedback we had from last year’s edition was very encouraging as the European Aquatics was delighted with the level of organisation from a small European country which is not being represented in the Final Four tournament.
“The LEN Champions League Final Four is no the only top waterpolo event that will be hosted in Malta this summer as we have also been entrusted to organise the European Championship qualifiers in June, that will feature our national team and that is a clear sign of the trust we enjoy from the continental governing body.”
As a curtain-raiser, the ASA will be hosting the second edition of the SportMalta Cup, with the semi-finals scheduled for Wednesday, and will feature San Ġiljan vs Sirens and Sliema vs Neptunes.
The winners of these two semi-finals will meet in the final on Saturday.
This tournament will be the perfect occasion to test all the equipment and make sure that everything will be in place for Friday’s Final Four semi-finals.
Izzo said that the main goal of the association is to use this major event to inspire more youngsters to the sport.
“I hope that many children will come and watch these world-class players here and I am sure that they will inspire youngsters to start playing waterpolo,” Izzo said. “To this end, we have decided to provide free entrance for all club nurseries.
“Added to that, this will also turn out to be a great experience for our table officials and line judges to help them make the grade and eventually officiate in European competitions.”
Carlo Micallef, the Malta Tourism Authority CEO, emphasised the importance for our country’s sport tourism sector to host such top-class events.
“Sports Tourism is an integral chain in our strategy to attract more tourists to our country,” Micallef said.
“A spectator sport like the LEN Champions League Final Four brings to Malta the participating teams as well as their supporters who are keen to watch their team’s matches.
“With the Final Four being staged at a time of the year when tourism is not at its peak, it allows promoting Malta in the four participating countries while also ensuring that we work hand in hand with the organisers to provide the best possible promotion for our country during live coverage of the event.”
