Neptunes Vodafone and Exiles Pender Gardens will clash in the opening fixture of the Wilkinson Sword summer league organized by the ASA.
The match will be played on Friday and will be followed by the Sirens Hard Rock Café-Otters ASC clash. On Saturday, San Giljan Zara will face Marsaxlokk Freeport, Sliema McDonald’s play against Ta’ Xbiex Mermaids Paradise and Neptunes Vodafone will play against Marsascala Breakers.
Nine teams will be taking part in this year’s competition which will be played on the usual format.
The matches on 29 June, that is, Sliema-San Giljan and Neptunes-Sirens, apart from being league matches in connection with the first round, will also be played for the Ghaqda Kittieba Sports Cup and for the President’s Cup.
In the final round, which starts on 23 July and lasts till 25 August, the teams will be allocated the number according to their placing in the preliminary round.
On Fridays matches will be played at 6pm and 7.15pm while matches on Saturday and Sunday will start at 5pm, 6.15pm and 7.30pm.
ASA president Robert Ebejer thanked Wilkinson Sword for their continued sponsorship and went on to announce that there will be a stoppage in July to allow for the national team’s participation in the European B championships in which Malta will be playing in a group alongside the strong Montenegro, Turkey, Belgium, Macedonia and Belarus.
He said Paul Privitera will be the new national team captain after the resignation of former captain Joe Caruana Dingli.
Privitera said he was honoured to have been made captain and will be looking forward to emulate those before him. Later he was presented with the award for having been selected as the 2006 player of the year.
Ebejer added that apart from Montenegro, who will be in a class of their own, there will be stiff competition for the remaining places, as the other five teams, including Malta, were more or less of the same level. Malta starts its commitments in the group on 8 July with a match against Belgium at 1pm.
Ebejer also said that the Youths will be taking part in the European Youth championships which are being held in Malta. This has become possible as they would have had to take part in the qualifying rounds, but with Malta winning the bid to stage the finals, the host country is given one of the 16 places. Forty teams have applied to take part in the qualifying round.
Ebejer said that despite their limiations, this would be a great opportunity for the local boys to play against foreign teams. In preparation for this event, the team will be taking part in a tournament in Turkey in late August.