Silvio Vella

Silvio Vella
Personal information
Date of birth	8 February 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
1985–1994	Rabat Ajax
1994–2002	Hibernians
International career‡
1988–2000	Malta
Managerial career
2010–2013	Rabat Ajax
2014–2021	Malta U21
2023-	Hibernians
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 February 2010; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 February 2010

Silvio Vella (born 8 February 1967) is a former professional footballer who played for Rabat Ajax and Hibernians as a defender. Born in Canada, he represented the Malta national team.

Career

Born in Canada, Vella has dual nationality, Maltese and Canadian. His family moved to Malta in 1970. He started playing football with Rabat Ajax and when he was promoted to the senior team, he soon became an invaluable asset, and rarely missed a game.

Silvio Vella was chosen as Malta's Footballer of the Year in the 1993–94 season, in spite of Rabat Ajax' relegation as the first (and to date only) player from a relegated team to win that award. This was at the height of his career, and to keep on playing in the Premier Division he joined Hibernians. Although it was initially a loan deal, it became a permanent transfer later on, and he remained a Hibernians player for the rest of his career.

After his retirement in the summer of 2002, he joined the Malta Football Association's coaching staff for the various national teams. He served as assistant coach for the Maltese U21 national team until October 2009, when he became U19 national team coach. In June 2010 Vella joined his former club Rabat Ajax as their new manager. He became head coach of the U21 team in March 2014, and held that position until January 2021, when he was replaced by Gilbert Agius.^[1]