Sliema Wanderers F.C.

Sliema Wanderers

Full name	Sliema Wanderers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Blues The Wanderers
Founded	1909
Ground	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta
Capacity	18,000
Chairman	Keith Perry
Manager	John Buttigieg
League	Maltese Premier League
2015–16	Maltese Premier League, 7th
Home colours Away colours

Sliema Wanderers Football Club are Malta's most successful football team hailing from the town of Sliema, which currently plays in the Maltese Premier League.

History

The club was founded in 1909. The club competed in the first ever Maltese Premier League season in 1909–10 and finished in second position to Floriana after the five game season came to an end.

Ten years down the line Sliema Wanderers finally made their mark in Maltese football by winning the Maltese Premier League title in the 1919–20 season, since then the team have gone on to win the title 26 times; a record for Malta; the last three being in 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Sliema Wanderers also hold the record for the most FA Trophy wins, with their first coming in 1935, when they overpowered Floriana with a 4–0 victory. The club have gone on to win this particular honour 20 times, the most recent three of which came in 2000, 2004 and in 2009; the last title being won against Valletta 7–6 on penalties after the match finished 3–3 following extra time.

With all these honours, Sliema Wanderers are currently the most successful team in the history of Maltese football with approximately 113 honours. Sliema Wanderers train at the Tigne Sports Complex, in Sliema.

Sliema Wanderers also have a futsal team, which participates in Malta's top futsal league.

Supporters

Sliema Wanderers have their own supporters group, which is called the Sliema Wanderers Supporters Club, and in 2010 it was the clubs 20th anniversary from the first time that the group was founded. The supporters group was started by Joe Debono and Mario Avallone, and the groups clubhouse is in Manwel Dimech Street, known as 'The Lazy Corner'.

Since 2008, a group of young Sliema fans formed the group known as Sliema Ultras Blue Gladiators 2008 better known as (Sliema Ultras '08 or SUBG'08). This young group is not only known to support the Blues at football but also Waterpolo, Futsal, Rugby, Hockey and many other sports that includes the name, Sliema.

The clubhouse is on Tower Street and welcomes visitors.

Players

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Glenn Zammit 2 DF Alex Muscat 3 DF Benjamin Essel 4 MF Matias Muchardi 5 MF Ryan Spiteri 6 MF Clive Psaila 7 MF John Mintoff 8 MF Mark Scerri 9 FW Michel Salomon 10 FW Milos Galin 12 GK Timothy Aquilina 14 MF Gabriel Aquilina

No. Position Player 15 MF Marko Potezica 16 MF Giuseppe Muscat 17 MF Peter Xuereb 18 FW Aidan Friggieri 23 DF Gary Muir 25 GK Giuseppe Saraò 30 FW Jean Paul Farrugia 33 DF Stefano Bianciardi 36 DF Carl Cassar 37 FW Axl Xuereb 38 MF Jean Pierre Vella 39 DF Jake Agius

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1963–64	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Preliminary Round		Borough United	0–0	0–2	0–2
1968–69	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		US Rumelange	1–0	1–2	2–2(a)
		2. Round		Randers Freja	0–2	0–6	0–8
1969–70	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		IFK Norrköping	1–0	1–5	2–5
1974–75	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Lahti	2–0	1–4	3–4
1979–80	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Boavista	2–1	0–8	2–9
1982–83	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Swansea City	0–5	0–12	0–17
1987–88	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Vllaznia Shkodër	0–4	0–2	0–6
1990–91	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1. Round		Dukla Prague	1–2	0–2	1–4
1993–94	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying Round		Degerfors	1–3	0–3	1–6

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1998	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1. Round		Diósgyőr	2–3	0–2	2–5

UEFA Cup | UEFA Europa League

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1970–71	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1. Round		Akademisk BK	2–3	0–7	2–10
1973–74	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Lokomotiv Plovdiv	0–2	0–1	0–3
1975–76	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Sporting CP	1–2	1–3	2–5
1977–78	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Eintracht Frankfurt	0–0	0–5	0–5
1980–81	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Barcelona	0–2	0–1	0–3
1981–82	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Aris Thessaloniki	2–4	0–4	2–8
1988–89	UEFA Cup	1. Round		Victoria București	0–2	1–6	1–8
1995–96	UEFA Cup	Preliminary Round		AC Omonia	1–2	0–3	1–5
1996–97	UEFA Cup	Preliminary Round		Margveti Zestafoni	1–3	3–0	4–3
		Qualifying Round		Odense BK	0–2	1–7	1–9
1999–00	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		FC Zürich	0–3	0–1	0–4
2000–01	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		FK Partizan	2–1	1–4	3–5
2001–02	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		Matador Púchov	2–1	0–3	2–4
2002–03	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		Polonia Warsaw	1–3	0–2	1–5
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		Rapid București	0–1	0–5	0–6
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1. Qualifying Round		Litex Lovech	0–3	0–4	0–7
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2. Qualifying Round		Maccabi Netanya	0–0	0–3	0–3
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	1. Qualifying Round		Šibenik	0–3	0–0	0–3
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1. Qualifying Round		Khazar Lankaran	1–1	0–1	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1. Qualifying Round		Ferencváros	1–1	1–2	2–3

UEFA Champions League

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1964–65	European Cup	Preliminary Round		Dinamo București	0–2	0–5	0–7
1965–66	European Cup	Preliminary Round		Panathinaikos	1–0	1–4	2–4
1966–67	European Cup	Preliminary Round		CSKA Sofia	1–2	0–4	1–6
1971–72	European Cup	1. Round		ÍA Akranes	0–0	4–0	4–0
		2. Round		Celtic	1–2	0–5	1–7
1972–73	European Cup	1. Round		Górnik Zabrze	0–5	0–5	0–10
1976–77	European Cup	1. Round		TPS Turku	2–1	0–1	2–2(a)
1989–90	European Cup	1. Round		KF Tirana	1–0	0–5	1–5
2003–04	UEFA Champions League	1. Qualifying Round		Skonto Riga	2–0	1–3	3–3(a)
		2. Qualifying Round		Copenhagen	0–6	1–4	1–10
2004–05	UEFA Champions League	1. Qualifying Round		FBK Kaunas	0–2	1–4	1–6
2005–06	UEFA Champions League	1. Qualifying Round		Sheriff Tiraspol	1–4	0–2	1–6

Managerial history

See Sliema Wanderers F.C. Managers

Manager	Period
János Bédl	July 1, 1964 – June 30, 1966
Martin Gregory	1999–01
Augustine Eguavoen	July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001
Edward Aquilina	2002–06
Ray Farrugia	2006–07
Stephen Azzopardi	Nov 1, 2007 – May 30, 2010
Mark Marlow	July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011
Danilo Dončić	Feb 3, 2011 – May 27, 2012
Clive Mizzi	May 27, 2012 – Aug 7, 2012
Alfonso Greco	July 1, 2012 – Oct, 2014
Stephen Azzopardi	Oct 2014 – Dec2015	Alfonso Greco	Jan 1, 2016 – May, 2016
John Buttigieg	June 2016 – present

Achievements

Maltese Premier League Champions: 26
1919/20, 1922/23, 1923/24, 1925/26, 1929/30, 1932/33, 1933/34, 1935/36, 1937/38, 1938/39, 1939/40, 1948/49, 1953/54, 1955/56, 1956/57, 1963/64, 1964/65, 1965/66, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1975/76, 1988/89, 1995/96, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05

Maltese Premier League Runners-Up:
1909/10, 1916/17, 1921/22, 1924/25, 1926/27, 1928/29, 1930/31, 1931/32, 1934/35, 1944/45, 1945/46, 1954/55, 1957/58, 1958/59, 1966/67, 1967/68, 1969/70, 1972/73, 1974/75, 1976/77, 1979/80, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1987/88, 1989/90, 1994/95, 1999/00, 2000/01, 2005/06

Maltese Cup Champions: 21
1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1990, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2016

Maltese Cup Runners-Up:
1938, 1939, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1958, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2014

Maltese First Division Champions:
1983/84

MFA Super Cup: 3
1996, 2000, 2009

External links

• Official Website
• MaltaFootball Club Profile
• SoccerWay Club Profile