by The Stripes will be participating in the competition for the tenth time this year, which they will be hosting in Malta next week. In honour of this anniversary, it is worth taking a trip down memory lane to understand just how far the team has come, as they set sights on this year’s competition.
Maiden Participation
The team’s first taste of European football came in the 2007/08 season under the leadership of Kenneth Costantino. They landed in Slovenia with the task of competing against Italian side Bardolino, Spaniards Athletic Club Neskak and the Slovenian KRKA Novo Mesto.
The opening two matches against heavy-weights Bardolino and Athletic Club Neskak proved a tough mountain, with both sides scoring sixteen goals against the Stripes. On the other hand, the team fared better against the Slovenian hosts KRKA Novo Mesto, losing by 5-1. Ruth Steer-Chetham came on from the bench to get the club’s first ever goal in the competition. She was not the only player to feature for Birkirkara then and also currently form part of the squad that will feature in this edition. Current club captain Stefania Farrugia has been with the Stripes since then, as has goalkeeper Tonina Dimech.
Improvement in Brondby
The club returned to the competition at the beginning of the 2009/10 season. The hosts Brondby, topped the group by winning all three matches, including a 6-0 victory over Birkirkara. Meanwhile, the Stripes suffered a 10-0 defeat against the Portuguese giants of the time, Sociedade União 1º Dezembro. Cardiff City won the encounter by 10-1, with debutant Rachel Cuschieri getting on the scoresheet for the Stripes at seventeen years old. Her goal enabled the Stripes to maintain a scoring record in their second participation.
Hosting and Back-to-Back Appearances For The First Time
The club’s next participation was in August of 2012, which also marked the first time that Birkirkara hosted the tournament. Led by Johann Scicluna, the team featured a number of current players including first-choice goalkeeper Janice Xuereb, Gabriella Zahra, Kim Parnis, and current captain Stefania Farrugia.
That year, they welcomed Olimpia Cluj and also competed against Glentoran WFC (back then known as Glentoran Belfast United) for the first time. Though the team suffered an 8-0 defeat at the hands of the group’s best team Olimpia Cluj, they fared slightly better against Glentoran but were still defeated by 3-1. That year it was Kirsty Feasey who netted a late goal for the Stripes to reduce the deficit to two. Finally, Birkirkara showed a drastic improvement in their rematch against Sociedade União 1º Dezembro, this time just losing by 1-0 on home soil.
The following year the team travelled to the Netherlands, to face hosts Twente, Scottish giants Glasgow City and Croatian side Osijek. Still under the leadership of Johann Scicluna, the team was captained by Rachel Cuschieri in her last appearances for the club in the competition. Meanwhile, that year current Stripes players Raina Giusti and Alishia Sultana also made their debuts in the competition.
Matches against Twente and Glasgow City ended in tough 6-0 and 9-0 defeats. However, the team found a way to maintain their scoring record in the match against Osijek, with Gabriella Zahra ensuring that record for another year to end the match 7-1.
Return and Start of Regular Appearances
The club was shut out from the competition by Hibernians who won three consecutive league titles between 2013 and 2016. However, the Stripes returned in 2017 and have been present in each edition since then. That year saw the team travel to Slovenia once more, ten years on from their first participation. It marked the first appearance under the leadership of Melania Bajada and also first appearances for Ann-Marie Said, Samantha Zarb and Michela Felice.
There they faced hosts Olimpia Ljubljana, a game which almost saw the team secure their first points in the competition, but for a late goal in injury time. FC Minsk proved tough to handle, handing the Stripes a 8-0 defeat. That year also saw the team rub shoulders against Zurich for the first time, which the Swiss team won 5-0. Despite having come close to securing the first points and also the edition marking the start of a consecutive string of appearances, that year was one which saw the team also lose their goalscoring record in the competition.
First Points in the Competition
However, having come so close that year, the team was rewarded with their first point in the following one, 2018, becoming the second Maltese team to register points in the competition following Hibernians’ previous feat. Still under the leadership of Melania Bajada, the team travelled to Ukraine where they faced locals Kharkiv for the first time.
The hosts topped the group by winning all three matches, including a 8-0 victory over Birkirkara. The rematch with Olimpia Cluj ended in a 6-1 defeat, with Kim Parnis setting the Stripes back into goalscoring form in the competition. Elation ensued in the final match against Cardiff Met, where the team secured a 2-2 draw to earn their first points, thanks to goals by Raina Giusti and Ylenia Carabott. Highlights may be watched here.
The following year the team travelled to Lithuania where they were narrowly defeated by hosts Gintra Universitetas by 1-0 in front of a home crowd of 620 people. Amongst the debutants that year was also current first-team player Veronique Mifsud. The team also held their own against Albanian giants Vllaznia, who also won the fixture by 1-0. However, they were dealt another rough defeat by Wexford Youths who won 7-2. Goals by Raina Giusti and Ylenia Carabott saw the two maintain their scoring pattern from the previous year and ensure another goalscoring appearance for the Stripes.
Covid-19 and a Change in Competition Format
The year 2020 marked a strange appearance in a Covid-19-stricken Europe. The team travelled to Cluj under the leadership of current coach Jose Borg. There they competed against Olimpia Cluj for the third time, in what was the only match played in the competition. The team led by 1-0 thanks to Alishia Sultana who netted her first goal in the competition at the stroke of half-time. However, the Romanians clawed their way back, ultimately winning the fixture by 2-1, and thus the maiden victory eluded the Maltese side once more.
The following year marked the first one under the new competition format, which stands to this day. The Round 1 mini-tournament features three or four teams who compete in a knockout semi-final fixture. In the case of four teams, the winners of the semi-finals compete against each other in a final, with the winner progressing into the next stage of fixtures. The losers of the semi-final compete against each other for a fourth-place finish. If the group is formed of three teams (as is in this year’s case in Group 11), then the team with the best seeding is given a bye to the final. This year that team is FC Zurich, who await the winner between Birkirkara and ZFK Breznica.
In the summer of 2021, the team travelled to Scotland, where they were handed a semi-final match against hosts Glasgow City, whom they met for the second time. It still ended in a defeat, but with an improved scoreline of 3-0. Glasgow eventually progressed into Round 2 where they were narrowly ousted by Swiss team, Servette Chenois, in a two-legged tie by an aggregate score of 3-2. Meanwhile, Birkirkara were narrowly pipped to third-place by Slovan Bratislava after conceding a goal in extra-time.
The Long-Awaited Victory
Last year the team returned to Romania, where they competed against SFK 2000 Sarajevo for a chance to reach the final of Round 1. The latter won the semi-final tie by 4-0 and went on to progress to Round 2 after also defeating hosts Olimpia Cluj in the final fixture.
However, the Stripes ended their commitments in the best possible way by winning their third-place match against Glentoran W.F.C by 2-1. Raina Giusti equalised minutes into her appearance in the second half, becoming the club’s top-scorer in the competition. Charlene Zammit lifted the party to the next level by netting home the winning goal ten minutes later. The team held on to their one goal lead to secure their first ever three-points, which also marked the first victory by any Maltese team in the competition. It also evened the teams in their head-to-head, with the Irish side having won their previous encounter in 2012 in Malta. The goals may be watched here.
The Road Ahead
There was a long journey between the first participation and first victory, marked by the small steps of scoring first goals and earning first points. Following their league title lift last April, the team will return in the competition once more.
Having won their first match last year, the Stripes will hope to be able to repeat that success by winning their opening match against ZFK Breznica, which will be held in Malta at the Centenary Stadium on Wednesday, 6th of September, at 6 pm. However, the Montenegrin champions come into the tie as the seeded team and with their own agenda of making their mark.
A win for Birkirkara would set them in a rematch against FC Zurich, who lie in waiting after receiving a bye into the final due to their seeding and draw. That match will be played on Saturday 9th of September, also at 6 pm at the Centenary Stadium.
Winning the two matches would not only mark the first time that the team has won two consecutive matches in the competition, but it would enable them to write another piece in Maltese history by sending them into Round 2. The competition offers a challenge of the highest orders and so that progression will be no easy task, but as the above shows, it never was.
Lead Image: Gabor Istvan-Gabor
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[…] highlighted in the review published earlier in the week, Ruth Steer-Chetham netted Birkirkara’s first goal in their maiden participation back in 2007. […]
[…] years, with Breznica coming in as the seeded team and thus the favourite based on ranking. However, Birkirkara come into the match having won their first fixture last year and with the home crowd on their […]