Floriana F.C.

Floriana F.C.

Full name	Floriana Football Club
Nickname(s)	Tal-Irish, Greens
Founded	1894
Ground	Independence Ground, Floriana, Malta
Capacity	3,000
Chairman	Riccardo Gaucci
Manager	vacant
League	Maltese Premier League
2013-14	Maltese Premier League, 7th
Website	http://www.florianafc.com/
Home colours Away colours

Floriana Football Club is a Maltese football club in the town of Floriana that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. It has one of the largest fan followings on the islands and remains the most successful club in Maltese history, along with Sliema Wanderers. The club is well known for its magnificent history as one of the best clubs in Maltese football history, for the titles won and players produced. In all, Floriana F.C. has won 25 national leagues and 19 FA Trophies. It is also the only team from Malta to have qualified from the qualifying rounds to the first round proper of the UEFA Champions League, in the 1993-94 season.

History

Floriana Football Club was founded in 1894 and, together with St. George's FC, is one of the two oldest clubs in Malta. During that period, football in Malta was introduced by the British Servicemen who were stationed on the island, which was then a colony of the British Empire.

The club is affiliated to the Malta Football Association which in turn is a member of both UEFA and FIFA.

The team, which plays in green and white, is nicknamed The Irish, after having adopted its colours following a friendly match against the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were stationed in Floriana Malta at the time.

Floriana Football Club has won the major Maltese League championship 25 times and the U*BET FA TROPHY 19 times.

Floriana also have a futsal team which participates in Malta's top futsal league.

Formation

Football was introduced in Malta at the end of the 19th Century by the British troops stationed on the island. At that time Malta formed part of the British Empire and, the Island was the base of British forces in the heart of the Mediterranean.

The British forces in Malta were mainly stationed in Cospicua, Mtarfa, Tigne', St Andrews and in Floriana. The forces' barracks, which were strategically located around the Island, enjoyed large areas that were used as parade grounds, training areas and for sporting activities. The sports practised by the soldiers were mainly cricket, hockey and football.

The locals who were influenced by the soldiers stationed in the area were introduced to these sporting activities. The most popular sport amongst the residents of Floriana was football, however some also practised cricket and hockey. Floriana still has its hockey club, carrying the name Floriana Young Stars Hockey Club.

History of club colours and mascot

Between 1894 and 1905 the club's colours were green/red quartered shirts, black shorts with green and red socks. The official colours of the club as we know them today, green and white vertical striped shirts, white shorts and green/white horizontal striped socks, were introduced in 1905. At that time the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were stationed in Floriana. During that year, three friendly matches were held between this regiment and FFC. At the end of the final match both teams exchanged their shirts and the officials of the Dublin Fusiliers expressed their wish that FFC changed their official colours to their green and white shirts. Incidentally, this regiment left the Island in that same year.

The ties between Floriana and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were so strong that the people hailing from Floriana were nicknamed after the Irish, "Tal-Irish".

'THE LION' The club's mascot is the lion, which features prominently on the club's badge since 1936 together with the Latin motto "Ex Ludis Virtus", meaning "virtue out of the game". In this regard the club's badge represents the fierceness of the lion together with the virtues of sportsmanship. The lion was chosen as the clubs mascot for two general reasons attributed to Floriana civilization. First attribution is to the code of arms of Grandmaster of St.John Manuel De Vilhena which has the lion on it. Grandmaster Manuel De Vilhena was the mastermind behind the construction of a fortification suburg of Floriana (originally known as Borgo Vilhena) to defend the capital city of Valletta from land attacks. He even ordered the construction of a lion statue fountain, with his Grandmaster code of arms being held by the lions hand, in the center of Floriana main square St.Anne which is still there today. Second attribution to the lion is the statue of St.Publius who is the patron saint of Floriana. The St.Publius statue has the lion on it which shows how Publius was killed for his Christian preachings.

Domestic successes

Since the foundation of the Malta Football Association (1900) and local competitions the club won a total of 104 honours, which includes 25 league titles and 25 Cup knock out competitions. The club has also achieved a number of impressive feats, such as four consecutive league championships, ten doubles (League plus Cup) and a League title with maximum points.

UEFA competitions

Over the years FFC participated in the various competitions organised by the European football body, UEFA, such as the:

• UEFA Champions Cup
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
• Fairs Cities' Cup
• UEFA Cup
• Intertoto Cup

In 1962, the club was the first to represent Malta in UEFA competitions in its Cup Winners' Cup against the Hungarian side Ujpest Dozsa. Over the years, FFC had the opportunity to meet some renowned European football clubs, including the likes of:

• Ipswich Town
• Inter Milan
• Sparta Rotterdam
• Panathinaikos
• Ferencváros
• Dundee United
• FC Porto
• Borussia Dortmund

On two occasions FFC made it to the next round, 1993/94 Champions Cup and Intertoto Cup 1999/00.

Youth sector

In 1987 the club founded its youth sector, Floriana FC Nursery (FFCN), which is affiliated to the Malta Youth Football Association. The club's youth sector may also be considered as one of the most successful organisations of its type on the Island; not only has it produced a number of some of the finest footballers, but it has also managed to win a good number of league titles organised by the Association. The following are some of the major honours won by FFCN:

06 / 07 UNDER 14 Knock out competition

• U/14 League Champions – twice
• U/16 League Champions – six times, four of which in a row, 1993 to 1997
• U/18 League Champions – six times, four of which in a row, 1996 to 2000

Today all the major six Premiership clubs in Malta have at least two players forming part of their squad, which have been raised by the Floriana Youth Nursery.

Rivalries

During their history Floriana had two main rivals Sliema Wanderers and neighbors Valletta. The rivalry against Sliema is very old but today has lost much of its legacy. The rivalry was at its peak during the 1920s and till the late 1970s when the two sides dominated the Maltese football scene. Fighting between supporters direct conflicts were something usual. Today the rivalry has declined due to Floriana's lack of good performances in the domestic scene were in the last 30 years they won only two league titles, in 1977 and in 1993.On the other hand the rivalry against Valletta City is still alive. Despite the fact that it has been a long time since Floriana were in their hey days, the fact that the two cities are near each other's the rivalry continues to persist and it is one of the most classic derbies in Maltese football. The matches between the two sides always attract big crowds to the stadium and the fans treat these clashes as cup finals.

Colours

Floriana' s official colors at the beginning of the century were green and red quartered shirts with black shorts. Later on these were replaced with Green and white striped shirts and white shorts. Tradition has it that these colors were adopted after a game played at the Floriana Parade Ground against the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. This regiment of the British army was stationed at Floriana. The two sides played four times against each other in 1904–05. The Fusiliers won the first two games while the third one ended all square. A fourth game was organized between the two sides and this time Floriana won 2–1. As a symbol of friendship, the players swapped their shirts. From that moment onwards, Floriana Football Club adopted the colors of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, which are the green and white stripes and white shorts. The Florianites are still called 'Ta' l-Irish' meaning 'The Irish'. In the early 1920s which went something like this:

Tal-Irish minn dejjem hadid,
Jagħmel li jrid, deni jew gid.

In plain English, this translates as 'The Irish are always as strong as metal; they decide if to inflict harm or not'.

Honours

From 1900 to date, Floriana FC won 105 honours. 30 of them were won before the second war, that is, between 1900 and 1940. The other 75 honours were won from 1940 to date.Floriana FC holds the following records:*Won four consecutive championships – 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52 and 1952–53.*In 1961–62, Floriana FC won the league without losing a single point. Played and won 14 games, scored 43 goals and conceded 10 goals.*Made the League and Cup double for a record 10 times in seasons 1912–13, 1921–22, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1957–58 and 1992–93.*Between 15 February 1976 and 22 May 1977, Floriana played 37 consecutive games without losing a game. During this period, the Greens scored 99 goals and won seven major honours, which are the League, Trophy, Independence Cup, twice the Sons of Malta Cup and twice the Testaferrata Cup.During Season 1952-53 Floriana FC was the first Local Club to obtain SIX HONOURS in one season,League Champions-FA Trophy-Cassar Charity Cup-Infantile Paralyses Cup-Schembri Shield and Poppy Day Fund Cup (During this season another Cup was playeed the Coronation Cup but was won by Floriana FC arch rivals Valletta FC)

Maltese Football League: 25

1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1961–62, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1992–93

League Runners-up:

1922–23, 1925–26, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1975–76, 1993–94, 2010–11

First Division Champions:

1985–86

MFA Knock-Out Competitions (26 times)

National Ground Cup (MFA Cup):

1910–11

Gaelic Whisky Cup (MFA Cup):

1912–13

Cousis Shield:

1921–22, 1922–23, 1930–31

Empire Sports Ground Cup (MFA Cup):

1927–28, 1928–29

FA Trophy (19 times):

1937–38, 1944–45, 1946–47, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1980–81, 1992–92, 1993–94, 2010–11

FA Trophy Finalists:

1934–35, 1935–36, 1955–56, 1959–60, 1964–65, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1987–88, 1988–89, 2005–06

Super Cup (Once):

1992–93

Cassar Cup (10 times):

1920–21, 1922–23, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1949–50, 1951–62, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1957–58, 1960–61

Independence Cup (7 times):

1966–67, 1968–69, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79

Sons of Malta Cup (6 times):

1967–68, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78

Super 5 Cup (4 times):

1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98

Testaferrata Cup (3 times):

1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78

Schembri Shield (3 times):

1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55

Scicluna Cup (3 times):

1958–59, 1961–62, 1962–63

Poppy Day Fund Cup (3 times):

1952–53, 1.953–54, 1954–55

Christmas Cup (2 times):

1968–69, 1969–70

Malta Playing Field Association Shield – MPFA (2 times):

1951–52, 1953–54

Partisans Cup (once):

1909

Amateurs Cup (once):

1911

Mtarfa Cup (once):

1912

La Gloire Trophy:

1921

Prince of Wales Cup (once):

1921

Malaya Congress Cup (once):

1924

Marian Congress Cup (Once):

1949

Infantile Paralysis Cup (once):

1953

Lowenbrau Cup (Once):

1993–94

AME Cup (once):

2013

Players

Current squad

As of

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ITA	Valerio Senatore
2	DF	MLT	Andre Scicluna
3	DF	MLT	Darrell Baldacchino
4	DF	BRA	Rodrigo Aguiar
5	DF	BRA	Douglas Cobo
6	MF	BRA	Emerson Marcelina
7	MF	MLT	Steve Pisani
8	MF	MLT	Clyde Borg
9	FW	SVN	Vito Plut
10	FW	BRA	Igor Coronado
11	FW	ITA	Matteo Picciolo
12	GK	MLT	Andrew Zammit

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	MF	MLT	Conor Borg
15	DF	MLT	Steve Bonnici
16	MF	MLT	Manuel Briffa
17	MF	MLT	Joseph Borg
19	FW	MLT	Giovanni Galea
20	MF	MLT	Brooke Farrugia
22	MF	MLT	Isaac Galea
23	MF	SCO	Gary Muir
26	DF	MLT	Sasha Borg
27	GK	MLT	Matthew Calleja Cremona
28	FW	SEN	Amadou Samb
99	DF	MLT	Manolito Micallef

Non-playing staff

Administration

Position	Name
President	Riccardo Gaucci
Secretary	Dione Borg
Treasurer	Mark Frendo
Senior Vice President	Frank Agius
Vice President	Anthony Grech Sant Jnr
Club Director	Peter Agius
Assistant Secretary	Clive Schembri
Assistant Treasurer	Karl Azzopardi
Club Curator	Paul Xuereb
MFA Club Delegate	Riccardo Gaucci
Floriana FC Supporters Club Official	Clayton Galea
Committee Member	Anthony Stellini

Backroom staff

Position	Name
Manager	Giovanni Tedesco
Assistant Manager	Accursio Sclafani
Fitness Trainer	Antonio Romagnolo
Team Manager	Anthony Grech Sant Jnr
Team Doctor	Dr. George Grech
Team Doctor	Dr. Pietro Monachino.
Team Coordinator	Peter Agius
Physiotherapist	Matteo Ambrosini
Physiotherapist	Tonino Cianfoni
Physiotherapist	Karl Rizzo Naudi
Kit & Equipment Manager	Mark Frendo

Managerial history

Name	Nat	From	To
Karim Bencherifa		July 1, 2000	June 30, 2002
Ziya Yildiz		2002	2004
Jimmy Briffa		2005	2006
Joseph Grech		2006	2007
Danilo Dončić		July 1, 2007	June 30, 2008
Zoran Popović		July 1, 2008	Jan 9, 2009
Antonio Carlos Vieira		July 1, 2008	March 24, 2009
Roddy Collins		July 1, 2009	Dec 15, 2009
Zoran Popović		2009	2010
Todor Raykov		July 1, 2010	Feb 21, 2011
Michael Woods		2010	2012
Joe Brincat		March 20, 2012	2012
Mark Wright		Aug 18, 2012	Oct 18, 2012
Stephen Azzopardi		Oct 18, 2012	Jan 25, 2012
Iain Brunskill		Jan 29, 2013	May 8, 2013
Ian Dawes		May 9, 2013	April 8, 2014
Giovanni Tedesco		April 8, 2014

European Record

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1961–62	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Preliminary Round		Újpest	2–5	2–10	4–15
1965–66	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Borussia Dortmund	1–5	0–8	1–13
1966–67	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Sparta Rotterdam	1–1	0–6	1–7
1967–68	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		NAC Breda	1–2	0–1	1–3
1972–73	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Ferencvárosi	1–0	0–6	1–6
1976–77	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Śląsk Wrocław	1–4	0–2	1–6
1978–79	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Internazionale	1–3	0–5	1–8
1981–82	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Standard Liège	1–3	0–9	1–12
1988–89	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Dundee United	0–0	0–1	0–1
1994–95	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying Round		Sligo Rovers	2–2	0–1	2–3

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1995	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 11, game 1st		Tirol Innsbruck	0–4
		Group 11, game 2nd		Hapoel Petah Tikva		1–1
		Group 11, game 3rd		Strasbourg	0–4
		Group 11, game 4th		Gençlerbirliği		0–3
1997	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 12, game 1st		SV Ried	1–2
		Group 12, game 2nd		Tbilisi		0–5
		Group 12, game 3rd		Torpedo Moscow	0–1
		Group 12, game 4th		Iraklis		0–1
1999	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1. Round		Aberystwyth Town	2–1	2–2	4–3
		2. Round		Jokerit	1–1	1–2	2–3
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1. Round		Stabæk	1–1	0–2	1–3

Europa League

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1969–70	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1. Round		Dinamo Bacau	0–1	0–6	0–7
1991–92	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Neuchâtel Xamax	0–0	0–2	0–2
1992–93	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Borussia Dortmund	0–1	2–7	2–8
1996–97	UEFA Cup	Preliminary Round		Beitar Jerusalem	1–5	1–3	2–8
2011–12	Europa League	2. Round		AEK Larnaca	0–8	0–1	0–9
2012–13	Europa League	1. Round		Elfsborg	0–4	0–8	0–12

UEFA Champions League

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1962–63	European Cup	Preliminary Round		Ipswich Town	1–4	0–10	1–14
1968–69	European Cup	1. Round		Lahti	1–1	0–2	1–3
1970–71	European Cup	1. Round		Sporting CP	0–4	0–5	0–9
1973–74	European Cup	1. Round		Club Brugge	0–2	0–8	0–10
1975–76	European Cup	1. Round		Hajduk Split	0–5	0–3	0–8
1977–78	European Cup	1. Round		Panathinaikos	1–1	0–4	1–5
1993–94	UEFA Champions League	Preliminary Round		Ekranas	1–0	1–0	2–0
1993–94	UEFA Champions League	1. Round		FC Porto	0–0	0–2	0–2

External links

• Official Website