As part of a training camp in Austria, Malta will be playing a friendly match against Kazakhstan on June 7 at the Lavanttal Arena in Wolfsberg.

The two countries met only once, in a friendly match in February 2003 at Ta’ Qali, shortly after Kazakhstan joined UEFA after spending ten years as a member of the Asian Football Confederation. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

In the UEFA Nations League last year, Kazakhstan placed bottom of League C4 in a group which included Albania, Belarus and Lithuania and will therefore face the relegation play-offs. They are currently ranked 124th.

In the first matches from the European Qualifiers in March, Kazakhstan lost 0-2 to France but then held Ukraine in a 1-1 draw away from home. Malta, on the other hand, lost 1-3 to Russia at home, then held Slovakia in a 2-2 draw in Trnava before losing 3-0 to Croatia in Rijeka.

Malta plans to play another friendly match during this training camp which should serve as preparation for the three European Qualifiers in programme in September against Cyprus at Ta’ Qali on September 1 before two away matches against Slovenia and Russia on September 4 and 7 respectively.