Malta champions Birkirkara were yesterday drawn to meet Slovenian champions Maribor in the second qualifying round of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League.
It is the second time the two clubs will be meeting in a UEFA Club competition, In 2007, they met in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Intertoto Cup and Maribor triumphed with two wins – 2-1 at home and 0-3 in Malta - advancing to the next round on a 5-1 aggregate.
Contacted yesterday, Stripes president Joe Zammit, in Nyon for the draws, said it was evident this was a difficult tie for his side. “We had met Maribor five years ago and advanced on a 5-1 aggregate. Last year was a very positive one for our opponents. They advanced to the Group stage where they had good results against Tottenham, Panathinaikos and Lazio. We are aware that they are well organised.
“But we are preparing our squad for these two matches against our Slovenian opponents. We are now expecting to have all the players back by 2 July. These should include some new faces, especially foreigners, even if we expect to retain defender Nikola Vukanac and striker Shola Shodiya,” he said.
Zammit also said that it was possible that former Valletta strikers Frank Temile and Demba Toure will also form part of the Stripes squad. “It is a possibility, but negotiations are still ongoing.
Maribor FC
Maribor is one of the biggest sports clubs and the most successful football clubs in Slovenia.
The club was founded in the year 1960, after five years of playing in the then first Yugoslav league at the end of the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1970s it achieved its greatest success precisely at the turn of the century.
Seven successive state champion titles and five challenge cup laurels in an independent Slovenia brought FC Maribor recognition as the best club in the present history of Slovenia.
For all the inhabitants of Maribor the year 1999 will remain unforgettable when the“vijolicasti“, as the FC Maribor team is called, sensationally took their place in the Champions League and were inscribed on the football map of Europe.
They play in the Volksgarten Stadium which is all seated and has a capacity of just under 13,000. The stadium also hosts national team matches.
Maribor's tally of 11 Slovenian Championships and eight Slovenian Cup titles is the highest in Slovenian football. Maribor holds the record for most consecutive league titles (7), ahead of Olimpija Ljubljana (4) and ND Gorica (3).
They are also the only team in the country that has achieved the Slovenian Championship and the Slovenian Cup 'doubles' on more than one occasion (4). In addition, they are the only club who has won the Slovenian version of the 'treble', having won the league, cup and supercup during the 2012–13 season.
Their coach is the recently appointed 60-year-old Ante Cacic. He is a Croatian football manager who graduated on the Faculty of Physical Education at the University of Zagreb. He was one of the first ten football coaches in Croatia to get the UEFA Pro Licence.
During his career, he successfully achieved promotion to the top division with Inter Zaprešic and Dubrava. He also coached Zadar, Osijek, Slaven Belupo, Kamen Ingrad, Croatia Sesvete and Lokomotiva.[1]