Santa Lucia FC’s Christian Spiteri wins inaugural BOV ePremier League

Christian Spiteri has led Santa Lucia FC to the title in the inaugural edition of the BOV ePremier League, played on EA Sports FIFA 20.

After establishing a strong advantage before the championship was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Spiteri sealed his success on the final matchday on Thursday. He obtained the two wins he needed to secure top spot after Ħamrun Spartans’ Shaun Galea dropped points in his opening match of the evening.

The Santa Lucia FC representative completed his league campaign undefeated, amassing a total of 72 points after going on an impressive run of 22 consecutive wins. He finished 14 points ahead of Ħamrun Spartans’ Galea with Tarxien Rainbows’ Ryan Cauchi third on 49 points.

Tarxien’s Cauchi and Gżira United’s Brandon Galea had endured a difficult start but recovered to climb up the standings with Hibernians, represented by midfielder Dunstan Vella, finishing fifth on 43 points.

Meanwhile the top Maltese players were also active in friendly matches and competitions against foreign opponents.

FIFA organised the FIFA eNations StayAndPlay Friendlies, with nations from across the world competing in EA SPORTS FIFA 20. Each nation nominated two players to battle it out against representatives from other countries in their respective region. Many famous eSports and football players took part in this unique event. Teams consisted of two players: one footballer – or celebrity – teaming up with a FIFA eSports player.

Malta surprised everyone by enjoying a fantastic run in which they beat Portugal (5-1 and 5-3), Spain (2-2 and 1-0), Wales (4-0 and 7-0) and Germany (0-0 and 3-1), losing to Saudi Arabia (1-1 and 0-1). FIFA eClub World Cup participant Christian Spiteri teamed up with Malta international midfielder Dunstan Vella, and emerged with the scalps of several sides – including a Portugal team featuring Diogo Mendes and Diogo Jota.

In a series of friendly matches towards the end of March and the beginning of April, Malta played a series of friendly matches. Malta defeated Azerbaijan (2-2, 2-1, 0-0 and 3-0) and Gibraltar (2-1, 2-1, 4-0 and 1-3) but then lost to the Faroe Islands (2-2, 1-1, 1-2, 0-3)

Earlier in March, Malta, represented by Gianluca Sant and Christian Spiteri, took part in the qualifying round of the UEFA EURO 2020 eTournament qualifying round – an official UEFA etournament. Following a great start thanks to a 1-1 draw against Ireland and a 5-1 win over San Marino in the first two matches, Malta lost the remaining matches to end at the bottom of group I which included the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, San Marino and Ireland, apart from Malta.

One has to note that in this tournament, the Maltese duo had to adjust to playing on eFootball PES as in the other tournaments, they played on FIFA.