New national head coaches presented to the media

New national head coaches Michele Marcolini and Manuela Tesse were yesterday officially presented to the media after their recent appointment. In a press conference held at Ta’ Qali Marcolini and Tesse were intro‐ duced by MFA President Bjorn Vassallo.

Vassallo said that three years ago the MFA started this project and although we changed the head coach with the departure of Devis Mangia, this project continues. He said that the se‐ lected candidates to carry out this project both in the men’s and also the women’s team, were selected because of their young age, strong personality on and off the field and hard work, which should be the base of all success.

He stressed that Malta’s next targets are a good Euro 2026 qualifying round and an even‐ tual promotion to category C in the UEFA Nations League. Vas‐ sallo said that both Marcolin and Tesse will be involved in the overall development of all the national teams.

New head coach Michele Mar‐ colini said that it is an honour to him guide the Malta national team. It will his first experience with a national team but he is looking forward to it. He said that Malta made a lot of im‐ provement under Mangia as re‐ gards mentality and tactical discipline and he wants to im‐ prove on that without making any radical changes.

He said the three‐man defen‐ sive set‐up will be maintained as this gave good results. Ironically one of his first commitments will be against Italy at Ta’ Qali in March. He sid that this will be an honour to face his native coun‐ try but he will be fully commit‐ ted to the Malta team.

Women’s coach Mauela Tesse said that coming from an Island like Malta, Sardegna, made her immediately feel at home. She said the Malta’s women team made great strides forward in the last years and advanced a lot in the world rankings.

She said that she will expect hard work and determination from all the players and is look‐ ing forward to work with the local girls.