by Swieqi United launched their upcoming season over the weekend. The Sporting Fan visited the Owl’s event to get inside look at what the club stands for and what it aims to achieve next.
Who Is Swieqi United?
Walking into the venue, you are met with a wave of strikingly bright orange and a significant number of blue shirts, players and coaches donning the colours of Swieqi United, all awaiting the launch to start. However, there is also a diverse group of people sat in the front rows, all of whom are invested in the club, despite not having their name labelled on a t-shirt or included in a match-day team sheet. Committee members, partners and investors.
President Dr Justin Fenech opens the launch with a few succinct words into the mission of the club, “At Swieqi we wanted to try something new. Our principles have not changed. We had a love for sport but wanted to run a club in a way that develops players in a different way to what is already done in Malta. This is why Swieqi United exists. Our aim remains to challenge and push the boundaries of how things are done locally. We want to win silverware, but in a sustainable way, and that includes having a strong structure and sound finances.”
According to Fenech, the philosophy extends into how all club squads are amalgamated within the club. He continues, “Swieqi United has representation at every level: youth, women, men and futsal. In this way we have the largest growing community. We are the only club with a structure that brings everyone together.” In relation to this wide range of representation, there is also however the caveat that, in doing so, resources are spread among more entities which requires further effort to ensure a financially sound structure.
Both President Fenech and CEO Timmy Gingell note that the priority for Swieqi United is to invest in land to develop the club’s own facilities. A request to the government has been made and though it is unclear what plans are in place, one clear factor is that currently the club must rent out pitches for its teams to conduct training. It means that there are limitations as to how and when this training is carried out, and a lack of control over the quality of the said facilities.
Beyond physical resources, the duo also indicate the need for strong human resources to raise the bar of football in Malta. Secretary Dr Matthew Borg presents the technical coaching staff, which consists of a benchmark of UEFA A licensed coaches. These include Billy Mock as technical director, Saviour Darmanin as assistant technical director and head coach of the senior women’s football team, Pablo Doffo as head coach of the senior men’s football team and Marko Glumac as head coach of the academy.
Other lead coaches presented include Dylan Micallef as the senior’s futsal coach, Dorianne Theuma as coach of the U19 women squad, Justin Pace as coach of the U19 men squad, Marko Glumac as coach of the U17 and U15 men squads, and Giulia Borg as coach of the U16 Women Squad. The club states that this is the level of coaching they want to set, which they believe is critical to be able to develop players into the calibre desired to challenge Maltese and foreign outfits.
A Focus On Youth Development
CEO Timmy Gingell presented the youth squads. Gingell highlighted the prioritisation of investing in the youth academy, saying “we made the conscious decision to focus on developing our own players”.
One of the key new strategies mentioned, was that the club has decided to introduce a UEFA Pro licensed coach for the youth football academy, Antonio Sevillano Lopez. He brings over ten years of experience with Real Betis in Spain and will be focusing on the U11 to U13 sector of the Academy. In relation to this, President Fenech noted that this was decided in collaboration with the coaching staff and technical director, “we believe the best coaches should be at youth level and this is one way of how we want to continue raising the bar here in Malta.”
Another of the key plans mentioned include the promotion of the KHS Cup which was inaugurated last year and will be continued with seven events expected to be organised during the upcoming season. The cup gathers local and foreign academies in a tournament that exposes each youth age group to different styles of play, both from other local academies and abroad. The top foreign academies mentioned who participated in last year’s events include Manchester United, Liverpool, Sparta Prague, Juventus, Torino, Sporting Lisbon, Blackburn Rovers and Parma. It sets competitive fixtures for mixed boys’ and girls’ teams between U9 and U15, while the U17 are separated by gender as is done in the leagues.
Pushing Beyond The Boundaries Of Malta
Underlying the opening President’s speech is the awareness of Malta’s limitations in resources, which according to Fenech sets the basis for the number of partnerships being forged between the club and those abroad who are willing to collaborate. Fenech introduces this with the words, “We have managed to bring a love for the sport locally and we have now also met with people abroad who are willing to collaborate with us, beyond the borders of Malta.”
The President also notes that many of these partnerships were brought about following obstacles faced locally, which prompted the team to look beyond the shores of Malta to explore a different way of how things could be done. One of those include the recent partnership with German manufacturer Erima, who supply the club’s kits for football, as well of the sister club, Phoenix Handball Club.
Among the more prominent partnerships are those with Nigeria’s Ilaji FC. Chief Engineer Sanusi of Ilaji FC and the Chief of Operations Prince Adesnia Arroyo both noted the warmth and the strong ties being developed between the two clubs. The partnership sets a two-way structure where Swieqi United’s coaches deliver coaching seminars in Nigeria, while opening a route for promising Nigerian athletes wishing to make the adventure into European clubs. Their next conjoint project involves the organisation of an international tournament at the ILAJI Hotel and Sport Resort in Nigeria, where three European clubs and five African clubs will be competing – Swieqi United FC being one of the European clubs.
However, the panel of personnel representing these partnerships extend further. Also in the panel was Babak Afshar, the scout and player agent from Sports Supreme, who brings his own experience in owning and managing the Estonian club Tartu JK Tammeka. In his address, he spoke of challenging the limited perspective in Estonia during his time with the club. He noted that Estonia, with 1.5 million inhabitants, was also embroiled in a small-country limited mindset, thus sharing Swieqi United’s philosophy of challenging the idea of what is deemed to be a limitation of Malta.
Additionally, Haija Habiba was also present, the Ghanaian scout responsible for the arrival of Cynthia Konlan, who has since been loaned out to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia based on her strong displays in the Assikura Women’s League. She spoke of her own hurdles in rising to prominence in her own country, being the first female FIFA licensed scout in Africa, and how she views Swieqi United as a club that she deems could develop stars of the future.
Closing Thoughts
In hearing these people speak, you get the sense that they truly share a philosophy, which ultimately is the point of forming a club. Just as the prominent clubs of Europe have roots in politics and working backgrounds, so do they seek to find those beyond their shores who embrace those same values in effort to expand their reach.
Sitting at the launch imparts the understanding that Swieqi United and its partners seem to be embracing this idea. As they venture into the next season, it will be interesting to see how this materialises into action, both in Malta and abroad.
Images Credit: Andrew Cutugno
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