As the first round of the Enemed Futsal League came to an end, five teams booked a place in the Enemed Futsal Premier League with the last six playing in the Challenger League.
Luxol St Andrews, Valletta, Ta’ Xbiex, University of Malta and Mellieħa will be playing in the top flight while Naxxar Lions, St George’s, Żurrieq, Siġġiewi, Qormi and Marsaskala will battle it out in the second tier of the league.
Following the Premier and Challenger rounds, there will be the play-offs to decide the respective champions of each division.
In the last round of matches from the first phase, Valletta registered a great 6-3 win over University of Malta to make sure of the second place in the table.
It was a match full of emotions with both teams giving their all during the whole 40 minutes. In the end, the Citizens took the three points at stake as they had Zvezdan Vukovic hitting the target three times with Andre Ciancio, Jhonn Anderson and Emerson Molina who were also on the mark.
University of Malta adopted a never-say-die attitude as they responded well to their opponents although goals from Cleaven Portelli, Javier Perez and Mohammed Elamari were not enough to salvage a point.
Luxol St Andrews maintained their hundred per cent record as they obtained a handsome 7-1 win over Siġġiewi.
The champions were in dominant mode with Emil Raducu scoring a brace and Marwan Telisi, Mark Zammit, Matthew Attard, Andy Mangion and an own goal completing the score for their team. Juan Sebastian reduced the score for Siġġiewi.
Ta’ Xbiex registered a massive 10-0 win over Naxxar Lions. Stefi Cale, George Frendo and Matthew Fenech were twice on the mark while Glenn Bonello, Christian Wismayer, Joshua Tonna and Dexter O’Brien scored Ta’ Xbiex’s other goals.
Mellieħa had to sweat to overcome the stiff opposition of Żurrieq Futsal, beating them 3-2. It was a well-fought match with Żurrieq who confirmed the progress made in recent matches and with Mellieħa who were determined to play in the Premier Futsal League. The latter had Dusan Petrovic scoring a brace with Chris Cardona netting another one. Gabriel Ghigo scored Żurrieq’s two goals.
Finally in the battle between two teams who will be playing in the Challenger League, St George’s saw off Qormi 5-2. Emerson Amaira, Ismael Buhagiar, Tiago Rodrigues, Karl Luke Schembri and Clayton Micallef were on target for the Cottonera side while Craig Pickard netted a brace for Qormi.
STANDINGS – ENEMED FUTSAL LEAGUE:
Luxol 30, Valletta 27, Ta’ Xbiex, University of Malta 21, Mellieħa 18, Naxxar Lions 15, St George’s 12, Żurrieq 7, Qormi, Siġġiewi 6, Marsaskala 1.
Maicon da Silva Gaiewski is the Enemed Futsal Player of the Month of January.
The 26 year old Brazilian striker had a very positive month as he scored decisive goals and provided various assists to keep his team’s perfect record of the season. He scored a brace in the direct clash against Valletta which Luxol won 7-1.
Maicon joined Luxol four years ago and established himself as one of the best foreign players playing their trade in the national futsal competitions. He used to play with the Azeri side Araz Naxcivan who ironically met Luxol in the UEFA Futsal Champions League a few years back. He helped his team achieve various successes including the championship and knock-out competitions.
Ing. Philip Borg, Chief Operations at Enemed and FMA President Mark Borg presented the award to Maicon, together with vouchers sponsored by Enemed and Tutto Sport.