The national team composed of players from the late 80s and early 90s era will be together again on Saturday when they play against their Italian counterparts in Modica, Sicily.

The event has been organised by the authorities in Modica and will form part of activities to inaugurate a brand new small stadium, to be named Stadio Vincenzo Barone. It will commence at 9pm.

The Malta team will be under the charge of former national coach Pippo Psaila and the group of players selected have been training for the past few weeks.

Most of the players, of course, are no longer active, but some of them have taken up coaching as a second career in football. Valletta’s Gilbert Agius is also among the selected players. He quit only a few weeks ago after leading Valletta to the club’s 20th league title. Next season, he will be helping new coach Mark Miller as his assistant.

The team captain will be Ray Vella. Forming part of the original selection were Martin Gregory and David Carabott, but both had to withdraw because of other commitments. Also missing from the list are John Buttigieg and Carmel Busuttil who are still involved in the settlement of a dispute with the Malta Football Association.

The president of the MFA, Norman Darmanin Demajo, and the association’s CEO, Bjorn Vassallo, are also attending the event.

The full squad of players making the trip is the following:

Goalkeepers: Reggie Cini, Ernest Barry.

Defenders: Silvio Vella, Richard Buhagiar, Joe Galea, Jesmond Delia, Jeffrey Chetcuti, Edwin Camilleri, Michael Woods, Dennis Cauchi.

Midfielders: Joe Camilleri, Raymond Vella, Nicky Saliba, Michael Degiorgio, Joe Brincat, Ivan Zammit, Jonathan Magri Overend, Joe Sant Fournier, Gilbert Agius.

Strikers: Stefan Sultana, Paul Zammit.

The Maltese contingent will be accompanied by around 60 supporters and some members of the press. It will be leaving Malta early tomorrow morning.