Challenge League side Mgarr United have appointed Andrea Agostinelli as their new head coach.
Agostinelli started his coaching career at Cisco Lodigiani as assistant coach but then went on to lead Latina, Astrea, Mantova, Pistoiese, Ternana, Piacenza, Napoli, Crotone, Triestina, Salernitana, Portosummaga and Varese before moving to Albania where he coached FK Partizani Tirana and KF Skenderbeu.
With Partizani, he finished second in the Kategoria Superiore – Albania’s top division in season 2015/16. Following a short spell with KF Skenderbeu, he had a spell at Daring Club Motema Pemba in Congo. Agostinelli returned to Italy to serve as technical director at Livorno before moving to Malta in summer 2022 to join Gudja United but towards the end of the season, he moved to Italy to join Benevento. Agostinelli led Flamutari in the Albania last season and last March, joined FC Paradiso in the Swiss third division.
Addressing a press conference at the Cavalieri Hotel on Monday, Andrea Agostinelli said “I came here to Mgarr because, first of all, I have a great passion for my job. Otherwise, one stops at a certain age, and above all, you can’t do this job without a great passion.”
The former player of Lazio, Napoli, Pistoiese, Modena, Atalanta, Avellino, Lecce, Genoa, Mantova and Lodigiani said first contacts with a representative of the club started around one and a half years ago with talks being held in Malta and Italy.
“Why are there teams – even small ones that don’t have a great history – that can’t achieve something important? But it can be done. It can be done, although obviously, it’s not easy. This isn’t the case where you just show up and say yes. You have to work and you have to have the ambition to do it and the desire to do it.
Agostinelli was impressed with the enthusiasm being shown by everyone at the club. “I see the thing I like most—seeing your great enthusiasm, which doesn’t necessarily mean winning, but the enthusiasm you have is contagious for everyone, for the players, for everything, for the entire environment. I’m very enthusiastic, and if I see the enthusiasm I saw today around me, we’re already at an important starting point. More than that, it’s hard to say.”
“I’m grateful, because I don’t have to thank a big club. When Napoli called me, it was easy to thank them, right? A presentation to 60,000 people; here, even if there are 10 of us, football is the same. So for me, it’s the same satisfaction I get when one person calls me, or when 100,000 people call me. Football is the same everywhere.”
“Of course, we will aim to win. The important thing is that we’re starting with a project, not just staying in this league and just getting by. I didn’t come to Malta to take a dip or two in the beautiful sea. I’m here for a personal challenge. I don’t have to be a coach by profession, I’ve already done that, I don’t have to make a career out of it, I came here to help you win with me and it’s a gamble I’ve made.”
The new Mgarr coach said that the main objective is to be among the two or three teams in the Challenge League to challenge for promotion to the Malta Premier. He said that creating the right group and teamwork were of utmost importance. He stressed that choosing to move to Malta after leading Flamutari to promotion and Paradiso to retain their status was because he believed in the project of Mgarr.
When asked what changes will he bring to the squad, Agostinelli said that he will rely on his technical staff to take care of the transfer market while promising that his teams are known for showing the right attitude, treating each game as the match of their lives.
The technical staff has been strengthened with the appointment of Anthony Gafa as team manager along with Kurt Baldacchino and Duncan Micallef as assistant coaches, Eddie Bartolo as goalkeepers coach and Patrick Curmi as technical director.
Baldacchino, who led the youths team to two consecutive promotions while remaining unbeaten, had taken over the senior team as coach mid-way through last season, leading them to securing their Challenge League status early in the season.
Anthony Gafa joins the club after working with clubs like Marsa, Fgura United and Floriana said Mgarr United have clear ambitions to the a competitive side although the Challenge League was not an easy competition. He added will be working hard to strengthen the squad in time for the start of the pre-season.
Meanwhile club president Manuel Zarb said that he was not happy for the team to miss out on the Challenge League Top 8 by a point after defeating teams who were challenging for promotion like Birzebbuga St. Peter’s and Swieqi United. However, he admitted that the fact that Brazilian forward Cristhyan sustained an injury which ruled him out for a number of weeks made its mark on their campaign.
Zarb added that by appointing Andrea Agostinelli as their coach, the club is aiming to make the necessary step to make it to the Malta Premier.
