Over the next weekend, Malta International Airport will be hosting the 15th European Airports Football Championship (EAFC) which will be held at the Malta Football Association’s Complex at Ta’ Qali.
Apart from the team from Malta Airport, there will be 13 other airports represented:
Reigning Champions London City (UK); Bratsk, Moscow Domodedovo and Moscow Aeromar Sheremetyevo (Russia); Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich and Münster / Osnabrück (Germany); Lyon and Nice Côte d’Azur (France); Kraków (Poland) and Vienna (Austria).
The games are spread over a period of three days between Friday 1 June and Sunday 3 June, with the finals to be played on Sunday at the Ta’ Qali National Stadium.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee, Reuben Sciberras, said that the Company has tried its best to make this tournament not only about sport, but most of all about friendship. He thanked all those involved in the organisation to ensure that the 350 participants have a wonderful experience during their stay in Malta. “Other crucial stakeholders were the Maltese Council for Sport (KMS), the Malta Tourism Authority as well as sponsors like Farsons plc and Catermax,” he concluded.
The EAFC first edition was held in 1984. The concept behind the tournament was to organise a sport and social event for airport employees on the same lines of similar tournaments which were then very popular among airline employees. Apart from the rivalry and competition on the field, the EAFC sought to further develop relations between European airports and their employees.
The tournament grew in stature and established itself as the main football event for European airports. It has been held uninterruptedly every two years since the first edition in Dublin, starting from a modest six teams and growing to 18 teams in Munich in 2008 and 16 teams in London in 2010.
The event has been held in Dublin (1984, 2002), Paris (1986), Manchester (1988), Amsterdam (1990), Rome (1992), Shannon (1994), Vienna (1996), Copenhagen (1998), Malta (2000) , Salzburg (2004), Antalya, Turkey (on behalf of Moscow - 2006), Munich (2008) and the last edition (2010) was held in London, when it was hosted by London City Airport.
Malta International Airport first participated in the 1994 edition which was held in Shannon, Ireland. After the first experience, MIA geared up for the future editions and in spite of being the smallest airport, the MIA team has managed to reach the final eight in all editions, except for the one held in Munich, reaching the final on two consecutive editions in 2002 and 2004.
MIA had the honour to host the 2000 edition, which still ranks as the most popular event ever with a record 20 airports taking part. For the past 10 years, MIA had one of its representatives sitting on the European Airports Football Association’s Board.