Malta on Sunday obtained a historic result by finishing in 13th place at the European championships, beating Slovenia 14-13 in a hotly contested match which saw the lead alternating all throughout.
This was the third consecutive victory in the second round of the competition. Milan had earlier beaten Israel and Slovakia, also by one goal.
The 13th position improves upon the 14th place obtained in 2022, and came in spite of situations off the field of play which could have caused disruption in the squad. In the first part of the competition, player Jake Muscat was sent home in a disciplinary action whereas, last Friday, right after Malta's win against Israel, news reports emerged regarding match-fixing allegations involving four players.
The game against Slovenia started well for Malta but Slovenia quickly picked up the pace and took a 4-3 advantage at the end of the first session. But Malta remained well in the match and by the midway mark the result was 8-8.
The lead continued to change between the two sides for the score to be 11-11 by the end of the third quarter. In the last session, Malta pulled away for a two-goal advantage which Slovenia did not manage to bridge for a final 14-13 score.
Ivan Nagaev was Malta's best scorer with five goals, with Liam Galea adding four, Stevie Camilleri three and one goal each was scored by Matthew Zammit and Alec Fenech.