Gżira United F.C.

Gżira United

Full name	Gżira United Football Club
Nickname(s)	Maroons
Founded	1947; 75 years ago (1947)
Chairman	Sharlon Pace
Manager	[1]
League	Maltese Premier League
2020–21	Maltese Premier League, 3rd
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Gżira United Football Club is a Maltese professional football club from the small harbor town of Gżira in central Malta, which currently plays in the Maltese Premier League.

History[]

The club was founded in 1947, won the FA Trophy in 1973 and First Division league Champions. Often plays in Maroon with light blue sleeves on the shirt, with white shorts and white socks. Following the club's promotion to the Maltese Premier League, they signed a sponsorship agreement with JEEP, the global SUV brand, with the agreement of organizing events for the local community. For the 2016–17 season the Club played in BOV Premier League for the first time ever and finished 7th place. In the following year 2017–18 the maroons placed 3rd place and participated for the first time in the Uefa Europa League. The 2018–19 season was another successful one where again Gżira placed 3rd place and assured themselves to play again in the Europa League for another time.

The Hajduk miracle[]

On 18 July 2019, Gżira were facing the big Croatian club Hajduk Split at Split for the second leg of the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. Gżira had lost the first leg match at home 0–2, a result which was considered normal, due to the big budget differences between the two clubs. The match in Split had the Croatians as strong favorites, offering odds of 1/15 (1.07 in decimal odds) for Hajduk to win the match. Hajduk went at half time winning 1–0. However, Brazilian forward Jefferson equalized for Gżira at the 57th minute, and Hamed Koné scored at the 69th minute making the score 1–2 for Gżira. This result was still not enough for the Maltese side, but found a final goal in the sixth and last minute of injury time, again with Hamed Koné, making the score 1–3 for Gżira, with the Maltese side advancing on away goals rule. This result was considered a major shock for the Croatians, with their manager Siniša Oreščanin being sacked shortly after.

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 19 February, 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  MLT Anthony Curmi 3 DF  BRA Gabriel Mentz 4 DF  CRO Marko Ćosić 5 DF  MLT Luke Tabone 6 MF  MLT Nikolai Muscat 7 MF  MLT Steve Pisani 8 MF  MLT Zachary Scerri 9 FW  CRO Toni Kolega 15 MF  MLT Hytem Kadar 17 MF  MLT Clive Gauci 18 MF  MLT Nashton Taliana

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF  CRO Antonio Pavić 20 MF  MLT Nevin Portelli 21 MF  MLT Jean Attard 23 MF  URU Ricardo Correa 24 GK  MLT Krassimir Zammit 30 GK  CRO Darijan Žarkov 91 FW  BRA Maxuell Samurai 93 DF  MLT Matthew Gauci 94 FW  BRA Jefferson Assis 98 MF  COL Jackson Mendonza

Former players[]

• Caio Garcia

Executive Board[]

Chairman Sharlon Pace

Vice Chairman Roberto Cristiano

Chief Executive Officer Edward Zammit Tabona

General Secretary Dr Ian Micallef

Chief Financial Officer Alexander Cassar

Personnel[]

Technical staff[]

Position	Staff
Coach
Team Manager
Assistant Coach	Andrew Cohen
Goalkeeper Trainer	Domenic Ellul
Physical trainer	Ian Tonna
Doctor	Dr.Pierre Sammut
Physiotherapist	Daniel Cluett
Physiotherapist	Kurt Farrugia Gouder
Kit manager	Jason Micallef
Kit manager	Anthony Busuttil

Major Honours[]

Maltese FA Trophy 1 1972–73

European record[]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1973–74	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	SK Brann	0–2	0–7	0–9[2]
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	PR	Sant Julià	2–1	2–0	4–1
		1Q	Radnički Niš	0–1	0–4	0–5
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Hajduk Split	0–2	3–1	3–3 (a)
		2Q	Ventspils	2–2	0–4	2–6
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Sant Julià	1–1 (a.e.t.)	0–0	1–1 (5–3 p)
		2Q	Rijeka	0–2	0–1	0–3

References[]

External links[]

• Soccerway profile