Saviour Darmanin: “Success is Silverware and Youth Development”

Last Wednesday Swieqi United FC announced that Saviour Darmanin will be assuming the head coaching role for the senior women’s team, the Technical Director role for the Women’s sector and also working with the boys Academy. ‘The Sporting Fan’ spoke with Darmanin about taking on these roles, his objectives, and his philosophy. Darmanin replaces outgoing senior’s women head coach Judith Kuipers who delivered the club’s maiden trophy in the Assikura Women’s Knockout earlier this month.

Departures

The club formally announced Saviour Darmanin’s appointment as the senior women’s team head coach on Wednesday, whilst thanking outgoing Judith Kuipers for her tenure with the club. Kuipers’ departure does not come as a complete surprise as the coach had in fact been reluctant to confirm her future when probed by Sportsdesk’s Gianluca Lia, following the team’s victory in the cup.

Changes are also afoot in the men’s team. In a separate statement, the club also announced the departure of the senior’s men’s head coach Steve D’Amato and his assistant coach Paul Bugeja, however, no word was yet released about their replacements at the time of writing.

A Familiar Face

Though Saviour Darmanin’s presence in the leading chair of the dugout for the women’s team will be new, he has been involved with the club for several years. An FA Trophy winner with Birkirkara FC and league champion with Valletta FC as a player, Darmanin made the transition to coaching following his playing career retirement. In fact, Darmanin is known for his accomplishments in specialized goalkeeping training, and has spent seven years developing goalkeepers with Swieqi United, including developing the men’s senior team goalkeepers Jean Claude Debattista, Mike Micallef and Gosef Mizzi.

Darmanin will now take on the role of Senior Women Head Coach whilst also acting as Assistant Technical Director to Billy Mock in relation to the general running of the club, and assuming the Technical Director role in the Women’s section. The club also announced that Darmanin will also be supporting the club’s boys Academy, drawing from his past experiences with nurseries.  

Darmanin’s Perspective and Vision

On Choosing Swieqi United and His Definition of Success

Speaking with The Sporting Fan, Darmanin expressed that he was interested in transitioning from a specialized goalkeeping coach to a wider role for some time. He added that though he had enticing offers from other clubs, he preferred to take on the role with Swieqi United. He attributed this to having a good relationship with the club having already built a strong goalkeeping section, and because of sharing the club’s philosophy and principles which he believes are integral to the work.

“I am very content to work with Swieqi United, which I believe is truly united in its vision based on my previous work with the club. There is a lot of respect between me and the club President Dr. Justin Fenech, which I believe allows me to work in a more comfortable way.”

On the challenge of taking the roles of Head Coach and also Technical Director of the Women’s sector within the club, he expressed, “It is challenging, but I look at this with optimism because there is talent and a solid foundation on which to build. From a personal point of view, it will require a lot of work from me and it is a challenge to keep growing the team that is already very talented, but I am determined to do so.”

“The Objective is To Win The League”

Having worked with the senior team as a goalkeeping coach, Darmanin is already familiar with the existing senior women’s squad. Asked about his objective for next season as a coach, he did not hesitate, “The objective is to win the league, which is definitely easy to say but difficult to achieve. It requires effort from everyone to put all the pieces together, the technical staff, the players, the whole club. I believe we can do this, but we need to keep our feet on the ground, to take a collective approach because ultimately one person by themselves cannot achieve this aim.”

It is also evident that he wants to achieve this while also playing an attractive brand of football, “We want to not only win and win by big margins, but by playing as a team and with a style that is attractive to watch.”

The Importance of Embracing a Shared Philosophy

Taking a holistic view as technical director, Darmanin said, “We need to put into practice the philosophy we hold as a club throughout all levels of the women’s sector and this is how we will achieve this aim. Everyone is important in the dressing room, the players, kit manager, team manager, physical trainers, assistant coaches and specialised coaches such as goalkeeping coaches. Together we need to keep building on the existing foundation while keeping our feet on the ground.”  

It is evident that Darmanin is also placing an emphasis on developing the younger players within the club. He remarked, “There are several talented youngsters who I believe will have important roles this year, which they perhaps have not even imagined they will be entrusted with, but I believe that they are ready to take this step.”

Additionally, Darmanin spoke of the importance of the link between players and coaches, suggesting that the main mantra that he would like to instill across all departments under his care would be that, “We win as a team. The coaches prepare players during training, but on matchday, it is the players that make the coaches, as they set aside individualism and play together with a common goal.”

Defining his outlook on a successful tenure, Darmanin added, “I hope this will be a success not only in terms of silverware but also in the development of young players. It is not only about training but about coaching young players. I would like to have the best coaches at the youth level to set the best possible foundation, which is crucial for growth as the game of football continues to develop. I believe that this will allow Swieqi United to achieve our ultimate objective.”