Eurosport Youth Football Festival comes to an end

During last weekend Birkirkara FC Youth Nursery, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority, the Maltese Council for Sport and Sports Park Malta, hosted the Eurosport International Youth Football Festival at the Infetti Training Grounds, in memory of Alfred Borg and Mario Borg.

The Festival, open for boys born in the year 2000, was enriched by the participation of two Italian Nurseries. These were Atalanta, who are twinned with the Stripes, together with U.S. Triestina. Besides Birkirkara, the other four local nurseries that took part in this Festival were Hamrun Spartans, Paola Hibs, Pieta’ Hotspurs and San Gwann.

The teams were split in two groups, with Atalanta having team in each. During the first day all the teams played each other in their respective groups on a round-robin system. The first and second placed in each group, Atalanta (Bianchi) and Paola Hibs from group A, Atalanta (Nero Azzurri) and U.S. Triestina from group B played each other on day two, whilst those ending third and forth, Pieta H. and Hamrun Spartans in group A, Birkirkara F.C. and San Gwann in group B, made up the second group, where the same system as the previous day was used. Over 130 boys took part in this Festival, each of them being gifted a small token for the occasion, while 24 matches were played during the weekend. It was pleasant to see that a good number of parents came down from Italy to follow their children, who were impressed with the level of organisation they found together with the Maltese Island in general. For them and their boys, this was their first trip to Malta and seems it will not be the last.

On Sunday 10th April at 7.00pm a ceremony was held in order to officially bring to an end the Festival and also hand out the awards. This was attended by foreign and local nursery delegates, the foreign players together with other special guests. A commemorative plaque was uncovered by Mrs Helen Borg, wife of the Late Mario Borg, with Mr John, Mr Chris and Ms Sonia Borg, children of the Late Alfred Borg. Hon. Tonio Fenech, Minister of Finance, Economy and Investment presented the Nursery with a donation which is to be used in order to embellish the Infetti Training Grounds. The Minister endorsed the smart work that is being done by the Birkirkara Youth Nursery and insisted that all work done with the kids will surely pay its dividend in the future.

A campaign called ‘Progetto Neonati Atalantini’ was launched by the Atalanta delegates. The original project, launched in Bergamo by Atalanta President Mr Percassi sees that every baby born in any hospital within the city is given an Atalanta shirt. Dejan Lagana’, Kailey Ancilleri and Loren Micallef were the first three Maltese to be gifted the blue and black strip of ‘La Dea’.

Birkirkara FC Youth Nursery would like to thank the Malta Tourism Authority, the Maltese Council for Sport, Eurosport, Sports Park Malta, U.S. Triestina Calcio Malta, the US Triestina Head of Youth Sector Mr Franco Schiraldi together with Mr Mino Favini from Atalanta B.C. Special thanks go to all those who, in some way or another, helped in organising this Festival. Without their input, the event would have never been a success.