Ħamrun Spartans president Joseph Portelli wants to invest in Italian Serie C club

His main goal is to help the club win promotion to Italian Serie A and reinvest profit in Malta champions

Ħamrun Spartans president Joseph Portelli announced that he is planning to take over an Italian Serie C side, but is making this move to boost Ħamrun Spartans’ ambitions in UEFA club competitions.

The Spartans supremo made the announcement during a celebration event that marked the club’s historic qualification to the League Phase of the UEFA Conference League.

Last month, Ħamrun Spartans became the first Maltese club to reach the League Phase of a UEFA club competition, knocking out Latvian side FC RFS 3-2 on aggregate in the UEFA Conference League.

In the build-up to the event, which saw a record 1,577 fans attend a celebration dinner to mark the achievement, Portelli had announced that he was set to announce an ambitious initiative to further boost the club’s ambitions.

During the event, Portelli announced that he is planning to take over an Italian Serie C team, with his primary goal being to help this club win promotion to the prestigious Serie A championship.

“It is an ambitious goal, but I firmly believe that I can fulfil this objective,” Portelli said.

“All the profit made with the Italian club will be reinvested in Ħamrun Spartans FC as my ultimate goal remains to see us qualify for the League Phase of a UEFA club competition every summer.”

Portelli admitted that his biggest challenge at the Italian club is to increase the value of the club and manage to attract talented players to their roster.

One advantage of this deal is that he could move players from the Italian side to Ħamrun Spartans and further bolster the team’s squad ahead of their European participation.

Portelli said that if, due to football regulations, he is forced to step down from his top post at Ħamrun Spartans, his son Triston is ready to fill his void.

But Portelli made it clear that he has no plans of leaving the Malta champions and is ready to lead the club to more ambitious goals in European football.

Through this venture, the Ħamrun Spartans president has set his sights on reaching the goal of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Conference League in five years’ time.

Investing in a foreign club has long been on the wishlist of Joseph Portelli.

Four years ago, the Ħamrun Spartans president had already revealed his ambition of investing in an Italian Serie C club, but nothing had come out of it.

After the Spartans’ historic achievement in Europe, Portelli is now ready to take the next step to not only fulfil his dream but also those of the Ħamrun Spartans fans who are keen to see their club remain at the top of Maltese football for many more years under the leadership of their beloved president.