Travel chaos: Ħamrun Spartans squad stranded in Norway, clash against Runavik could be moved to Friday

Ħamrun Spartans’ preparations for Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie against NS Runavik were thrown into chaos as the whole contingent is currently stranded at the Bergen Airport, unable to complete their trip to the Faroe Islands.

Officials from Ħamrun Spartans have spoken to representatives from UEFA who have not excluded the possibility that the match could be switched to Friday.

The Maltese side were originally scheduled to leave for the Faroe Islands on Tuesday evening, but bad weather has forced the aeroplane’s captain to postpone the flight until the early hours of Wednesday morning due to the poor visibility caused by bad weather in the Nordic country.

The Ħamrun Spartans players and officials returned to the Malta International Airport on Wednesday morning and their flight finally took off at 7am.

During the flight, they were informed that weather conditions in the Faroe Islands have not improved and that the captain had decided to land in the Norwegian city of Bergen.

The aeroplane landed at the Bergen airport at 1.30pm, but the Ħamrun Spartans players and officials have not been permitted by the airport authorities to leave the plane.

They have been asked to wait on the plane until the conditions improve in the Faroe Islands and be able to continue their trip to Vagar Airport.

However, an hour later, the Ħamrun Spartans contingent were informed that they will be unable to travel to the Faroe Islands on Wednesday and that they needed to find accomodation in Norway until conditions improve.

“We were just informed that today we will not be traveling to Faroe Islands,” club official Eric Saliba told Times of Malta.

“We need to find accommodation for our players in Norway, and it remains to be seen if tomorrow we will be able to make the trip to the Faroe Islands.”

On Wednesday evening, coach Stefano Sanderra was due to hold his pre-match press conference before leading the team’s final training session.

Ħamrun Spartans officials contacted the UEFA delegate responsible for the match to inform him of the situation and see whether the match will be played normally on Thursday.