Malta lost 1-3 to Bulgaria in the final match from Group 3 of the UEFA Under-17 Championship qualifiers at the NNC Brdo in Kranj, Slovenia on Tuesday.

Martin Petkov put Bulgaria ahead on the 41st minute and then doubled the score on the 73rd. Malta captain Karl Mohnani pulled one back on the 90th but Petkov made it 3-1 three minutes in added time.

Malta therefore finished at the bottom of the table after losing 0-7 to Austria and 1-2 to hosts Slovenia. Austria and Slovenia make it to the elite round with Bulgaria being among the teams who could reach the next stage as one of the four third-placed teams with teh best records against the leading pair.

MALTA Matthias Debono, Sheldon Mizzi, Ismael Borg, Matthew Ellul, Karl Mohnani, Emerson Camilleri (66′ Gianluca Sciberras), Mattia Veselji, Jake Bone (34′ Victor Emmanuel Degiorgio), Kurt Briffa (66′ Nikolai Farrugia Cross), Owen Spiteri, Jake Engerer (80′ Kurt Desira).

BULGARIA Svetoslav Vutsov, Stanislav Rabotov (60′ Martin Atansov), Hristiyan Petrov (60′ Aleks Lukanov), Martin Rusev, Krasimir Panchev, Ivaylo Hristov (81′ Stefan Popov), Martin Petkov, Stanislav Shopov, Ventislav Bogdanov (81′ Valentin Tsvetanov), Bogdan Kostov, Georgi Trifonov (46′ Ivo Kazakov).

Referee: Dejan Jakimovksi (MKD)
Assistant referees: Kushtrim Lika (MKD), David Gabrovec (SVN)
Fourth official: Aleksandar Matkovic (SVN)