Futsal Champions Luxol St. Andrews will be participating once again in the UEFA Futsal Champions League Main Round as they will be hosting the mini-tournament for the first time at University Sports Hall, Tal-Qroqq between Wednesday 27th and Saturday 30th October.
Luxol secured their rights to compete in this prestigious round after comprehensively outclassing their Preliminary Round opponents in Group A contested last August at the Sports Hall Gevgelija in North Macedonia, beating Welsh side Cefn Druids 5-0, mauling Israeli side Dolphins Ashdod in an 8-0 score-line, before putting host team KMF Proekt from North Macedonia also to the sword crushing them 5-0.
Therefore an impressive run of matches for the Maltese representatives in the Preliminary Round of competition resulted in maximum 9 points amassed, also summed up with 18 goals netted and none conceded.
Going forward, Luxol Futsal will now be aiming to continue with their impressive run also going to the next phase of competition as they pursue qualification to their first-ever Elite Round participation.
In this UEFA Futsal Champions League Main Round Group 5 in Malta, Luxol face Hungarian side Haladas on Wednesday 27, the following day they meet Swedish side Hammarby, ending their Main Round endeavours on Saturday 30 with a clash with strong Polish side Record Bielsko-Biała.
All Luxol matches kick-off at 20:00.
The team under the guidance of experienced Romanian coach Gabriel Dobre has been thoroughly performing regular training sessions in recent days to be well prepared for this daunting task ahead. The start of the domestic campaign recently and the 10-0 win over Naxxar Lions Futsal will surely help game time for the boys.
Moreover, the much-needed confidence boost Luxol players need to instil ahead of this competition as the boys will be vying to capitalise on home advantage wherein qualifying group will be contested in familiar surroundings.
This season Luxol St. Andrews have made a significant number of changes in their squad with hugely experienced Melvin Borg and Ryan Gatt both joining from Valletta along with goalkeeper Clint Mifsud who has re-joined the club after spending one season with the the Citizens.
Brazilian Hebberth Oliviera Souza is considered a key figure signed during this close season ahead of the start of this new campaign.
Other newly signed Brazilians for this task ahead are Herrick de Nascimento Oliveira and Jean Carlos Pereira Costa, who will surely enhance the quality of the team in their main target to accomplish this feat thus write history and Qualify to the Elite Round, paving the way for Luxol to join and for the first time ever for a Maltese side, the very best sixteen Futsal sides in Europe in the round that follows.
Missing from the squad is Malta international player Giancarlo Sammut who has recently become the first-ever homegrown who has taken his career further starting a new experience in Poland.
All Group 5 matches will be live-streamed on www.tvm.com.mt/sports.
Luxol St. Andrews squad for UEFA Futsal Champions League Main Round:- Celino Alves, Matthew Attard, Carl Azzopardi, Melvin Borg, Dale Camilleri, Bernard Camilleri, Maicon Da Silva, Everton Da Silva, Ryan Gatt, Andy Mangion, Clint Mifsud, Dylan Musu, Herrick De Nascimento Oliveira, Gia Nikvashvili, Hebberth Oliveira Souza, Jean Carlos Pereira Costa, Emil Andrei Raducu, Kenneth Rakvaag, Marwan Telisi, Stefan Vella, Mark Zammit
