Now that the season is almost over, most national team players are out of competitive action for their respective club teams. However, the focus now turns to keeping them in trim in view of their respective national teams’ commitments later on this year. The players involved are those in the senior squad, the Under-21 and the Under-19 teams.

Pietro Ghedin’s national ‘A’ team will be engaged in two friendly matches over the next few days in what should be preparatory outings prior to their next Euro Championship match against Armenia away on 7 June.

After securing a place in the qualifying round of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the women’s national team, led by coach Pierre Brincat, paid a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat.

The officials, coaches and players spoke with the Prime Minister about the team’s achievement despite the fact that Malta has been competing at international level only just over a decade ago.

The St. Thomas More Fgura Primary School hosted Pierre Brincat, the women’s national team coach, Ylenia Carabott, a solid member of our national team who once was a student of the school together with youth coach Ernest Frendo.

During their morning stay, the three visitors carried out interesting training sessions for the schoolgirls which helped to further promote football among the young aspirants who dream to start a career in the game.

Malta was drawn in Group 3 together with Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Serbia and Israel in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying round. The draws were held on Tuesday in Nyon.

Denmark and Iceland are ranked 13th and 15th respectively in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking and are among the finalists for this summer’s UEFA Women’s EURO which will be played in Sweden in July.

Matches will be played from 20/21 September 2013 to 17 September 2014 on a home-and-away basis.

The women’s national team secured a place in the qualifying round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after winning the Group A Preliminary Round mini-tournament after beating Latvia 2-0.

This was a historic achievement for the team led by Pierre Brincat as it was the first time that the women’s national team won a mini-tournament.