Opinion: Why Malta Should Join Forces With Italy And Greece To Host A Major Football Tournament
The World Cup has reached its denouement and our neighbours Morocco almost made it to the final – losing their test to France after knocking out the looks of Portugal and Spain.
With Morocco making history as the first African nation to reach the semi-finals, we should ask whether Malta could one day write some history of its own by reaching a major football tournament?
Qatar – this year’s controversial hosts – was the smallest nation in the World Cup in this year’s edition, with their population reaching just 2.9 million people. The smallest nation to ever qualify was Trinidad and Tobago, back in 2006. The Caribbean nation qualified for the quadrennial tournament losing to England, Paraguay and Sweden and were eliminated without scoring a solitary goal.
Trinidad set the record for being the smallest nation to qualify with a population of just 1.4 million. Then in 2018 in Russia, Iceland smashed the record.
As of 2021 the tiny frozen nation has a population of just 372,295 people. That’s nearly half the population of Malta. So why can’t Malta qualify? Well, land is an issue, so is obesity, but considering our proximity to Italy, you’d think our national team would be able to perform slightly better.
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Malta currently ranks 45th in the UEFA nations coefficients, beating the likes of San Marino, Montenegro, North Macedonia, World Cup qualifiers Wales, and even Iceland, but Malta has never finished anything better than bottom in its qualification group for an international competition.
It’s almost impossible to fathom – to think that Malta will ever qualify for a major football tournament.
So why don’t we join forces with the likes of Italy and Greece to become joint hosts of the European football championships? The recent European championships became a pan-European event, with cities such as Baku in Azerbaijan and Bucharest in Romania playing host.
Belgium hosted the tournament in 1972, whilst Belgrade in former Yugoslavia hosted the 1976 edition.
So what hurdles would Malta face in a joint bid to host the European Championships? Both Italy and Greece have hosted major tournaments – Greece hosted the 2004 Olympics while Italy have hosted several tournaments through the years.
Wouldn’t it be incredible to welcome the German or French national team to Ta’ Qali stadium for a Euros event? Yes, 16,997 is a pretty small capacity for a participating host stadium for a major tournament, but the 2022 Women’s European football championships saw Manchester City’s Etihad Academy Stadium play host.
The capacity of the Etihad Academy is 7,000. Not only was it comfortably the smallest stadium at this summer’s tournament, but it was also the smallest capacity stadium used for any women’s European Championship or World Cup match since 1997. Given that attendances in that edition averaged at 2,382, and considering women’s football’s rapid rise since, it strikes as an extraordinary move.
Fast forward 25 years and this summer’s Women’s FA Cup final saw Chelsea beat Manchester City 3-2 in front of 49,094 fans at Wembley Stadium.
Tony Bezzina, Ta Qali, Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo, Stadio Olimpico in Rome, San Siro in Milan and the Olympic Stadium “Spyros Louis” in Athens. Could it happen? Well with the Malta Premier League undergoing reform, the appointment of former PM Joseph Muscat might just fast-track the ambitions of not only the league but our national team too.
Rumour has it that Malta is set to construct a new multi-purpose stadium for sports and live entertainment. Where that would be situated is a mystery. Hosting a major tournament would be a logistical challenge and potentially a nightmare. Picture thousands of football fans descending on our island nation. Thousands more in Paceville and pubs full to the rafters. It would certainly be a tourism boost but a major football tournament would highlight issues our island faces.
Tallinja ferrying fans across the island. Or even to the stadium in Gozo. Then again by the time we reach or host a major tournament maybe the transportation issue will be a thing of the past and we’ll all have flying cars or even a cable car system.
Do you think Malta could ever co-host an international football competition?
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