The Malta Futsal national team lost 4-6 to Sweden in their opening game from Group C of the UEFA Futsal EURO Preliminary Round at the National Sports School in Pembroke on Wednesday.

The Swedish took an early lead through Petrit Zhubi and Adnan Cirak doubled the score within the first five minutes. Two minutes later, Emilio Rossi made it 3-0. Karl Azzopardi reduced the gap for Malta but Fredrik Soderqvist restored a comfortable three-goal lead just past the 11th minute. Adnan Cirak scored Sweden’s fifth on the 17th and Malta hit back with goals by Jovica Milijic towards the end of the first half and Marwan Telissi early in the second half. Albert Hiseni put the Scandinavians 6-3 ahead on the 26th but Malta scoed a fourth goal on the 32nd thanks to George Frendo.

In the second game, Malta takes on Greece on Thursday. Greece lost 2-5 to Poland in another match on Wednesday.

SWEDEN Viktor Jansson, Petrit Zhubi, Yanku Marrah, Adnan Cirak, Fredrik Soderqvist. Subs: Martin Herlin, Hampus Furublad, Pascal Elon Olsson, Emilio Rossi, Donat Gashi, Albert Hiseni, Fehim Smajlovic, Nima Kadivar, Ayoub Abassi.
MALTA Clint Mifsud, Karl Azzopardi, Giancarlo Sammut, Andy Mangion, Marwan Telissi. Subs: Stefan Vella, Karl Sciortino, Dylan Musu, Jovica Milijic, George Frendo, Melvin Borg, Mark Zammit, Firas Aboulezz, Andre Ciancio.
Referees: Balazs Farkas (HUN), Veljko Boskovic (MNE), Igor Puzovic (BIH)