The Centenary Stadium was bustling with activity on Wednesday May 10th as more than 400 kids from various primary schools in the Maltese College system took part in the Year 5 Football Festival.
This was one of the key events in the build-up to the forthcoming UEFA U19 championship final tournament, which will take place in Malta from July 3 to July 16.
This entertaining mini-tournament featured eight school teams representing the eight teams competing in the final U19 event. Each school squad donned a football shirt provided by one of the UEFA Final tournament’s participant nations.
The participating schools were:
Maria Regina College Qawra Primary School (Poland)
San Ġorġ Preca College Marsa Primary School (Norway)
St Thomas More College Żejtun Primary School (Malta)
St Nicholas College Rabat Primary School (Italy)
Maria Regina College Naxxar Primary School (Portugal)
St Theresa College Ħal-Lija/Ħal-Balzan/L-Iklin Primary School (Spain)
St Clare College College San Ġwann Primary School (Iceland)
St Ignatius College Qormi San Ġorġ Primary School (Greece)
Along with the school team, pupils from various schools sat in the stands to encourage them. These students were given a tour of the stadium and a visit to the Malta FA football museum.
Michael Mifsud and Joseph Mbong, the two tournament ambassadors, were accessible for the kids to meet and converse with. Football, playing abroad, and life in general were all topics of conversation.
The event was organised by the Malta FA in collaboration with the MEYR Centre for PE & Sport in Hamrun. In line with the efforts to reduce the use of single-use plastics, the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Enterprise supported this event through the use of a water dispenser and a reusable water bottles for all attendees. The water dispenser was provided by the Water Services corporation and the reusable water bottles were part of the ‘Saving Our Blue’ campaign.