Giovanni Tedesco is set to be appointed as the new coach of Valletta FC. Tedesco will be replacing Darren Abdilla whose contract was terminated on Tuesday following the heavy defeat to Birkirkara.

Tedesco takes over the team as they share the top spot with one of his former teams, Floriana, on the eve of a clash with Gzira United which he was coaching until a month ago.

Valletta will, in fact, be Giovanni Tedesco’s fifth Maltese club. He had served as coach of Floriana between April 2014 and June 2015, followed by a short spell with Birkirkara between June and December 2015. He returned to Malta to join Floriana in June 2016, staying until December 2017. Tedesco joined Hamrun Spartans in summer 2018 but then moved to Gzira United last May.

The Palermo-born coach had started his coaching career at Palermo at youth level and had coached Foligno before moving to Malta. After leaving Birkirkara, he had a short spell as coach of Palermo in the Serie A mid-way through season 2015/16.