Balzan F.C.

Balzan Football Club is a Maltese football club from the village of Balzan that competes in the Maltese Premier League, the top tier of Maltese football. The club was founded as Balzan Youths in 1937 and has been playing in the top division since 2010. They were renamed Balzan FC in June 2012.^[1]

Balzan

Full name	Balzan Football Club
Founded	1937; 87 years ago (1937) (as Balzan Youths)
President	Anton Tagliaferro
Head coach	Dave Rogers
League	Maltese Premier League
2023–24	Maltese Premier League, 8th of 14
Website	balzanfc1937.com
Home colours Away colours

Balzan has qualified for the UEFA Europa League for five consecutive seasons (2015–16 to 2019–20). The club finished as runners-up in the Malta Premier League in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons and were finalists of the 2015–16 Maltese FA Trophy, which they lost on penalties to Sliema Wanderers after a goalless draw in the regular time. In May 2019, the club finally won its first major honour, the 2018–19 Maltese FA Trophy, after defeating Valletta on penalties in the final.^[2]

Players

First-team squad

As of 21 August 2024^[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  MLT Dylan Ciappara 2 DF  MLT Gary Camilleri 4 DF  BRA André Fausto 5 DF  MLT Samir Arab 6 MF  MLT Marcus Grima 7 MF  MLT Tristan Caruana 8 DF  MLT Nicolas Pulis 9 FW  GER Isaac Westendorf 10 MF  MLT Jan Busuttil 11 MF  MLT Benjamin Hili 12 GK  MLT Niklas Vella 14 FW  NGA Oluwatobiloba Awosanya

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  BEL Henri Stanic 18 MF  MLT Jake Engerer 19 FW  MLT Gabriel Farrugia 21 FW  CAN Carson Buschman-Dormond 22 MF  MLT Jake Grech 23 DF  SRB Nikola Žerjal 24 DF  IRL Kevin Williams 27 FW  ENG Udoyen Akpan 77 MF  AFG Mosawer Ahadi 80 MF  BRA Cerezo 99 GK  SRB Danilo Golović

Club facilities

The club's Administration Building 'Solerville' is located at Main Street, Balzan. A bar and garden restaurant on the ground floor are open to the public. The club's training facilities, located at Robert Mifsud Bonnici Street, Lija, include a clubhouse and a full-size pitch with synthetic turf. The clubhouse includes a conference room, a bar and a gymnasium and was officially opened on 13 March 2011. From September 2015, Balzan teams also commenced training at St Aloysius' College ground, after the ground underwent a major upgrade.

In 2019, Balzan FC started the construction of an additional two-storey clubhouse at its Lija ground which feature additional changing room facilities, as well as accommodation for visiting teams. The building was completed in late 2021.

• 
  St Aloysius' College ground
• 
  "Solerville"
• 
  Training centre

Honours

Balzan players celebrating the club's first major title in 2019, after defeating Valletta 5–4 on penalties in the Maltese FA Trophy final.

• Maltese FA Trophy
  • Winners: 2018–19
• Maltese Second Division
  • Winners: 2008–09

European record

Balzan players and supporters celebrate the club's historic qualification to the UEFA Europa League following a 3–1 victory over Hibernians on 26 April 2015.

All results (home and away) list Balzan's goal tally first.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Željezničar	0–2	0–1	0–3
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Neftçi	0–2	2–1	2–3
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Videoton	3−3	0−2	3−5
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Keşla	4−1	1−2	5−3
		2Q	Slovan Bratislava	2–1	1−3	3−4
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Domžale	3–4	0–1	3–5
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Domžale	1–3 (a.e.t.)	4–1	5–4
		2Q	Neman Grodno	0−0	0–2	0–2

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round

List of managers

• Paul Barbara (1989–90)
• Jimmy Briffa (1990–93)
• Alberto Cristiano (1993–94)
• Ronnie Cocks (1994–95)
• France Scicluna (1995–97)
• Joe Attard (1997–98)
• Stephen Azzopardi (1998–02)
• Fatos Daja (2002–03)
• Jimmy Briffa (2003–05)
• Mario Monreal (2005–06)
• Charles Borg Sant (2006–07)
• Alfred Attard (2007–08)
• Ivan Zammit (2008–13)
• David Carabott (2009–10)
• Riccardo Tumiatti (2013)
• Jesmond Zerafa (2013–14)
• Oliver Spiteri (2014–17)
• Marko Mićović (2017–19)
• Jacques Scerri (2019–20)
• Mark Miller (2020–21)
• Paul Zammit (2021–22)
• Oliver Spiteri (2022–2024)^[4]
• Dave Rogers (2024–present)

References

1. "Club History". Balzan FC. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
2. Camilleri, Valhmor (18 May 2019). "Effiong scores four as Balzan win first-ever FA Trophy". Times of Malta. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
3. "Senior Team – Season 2023/2024". Balzan F.C. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
4. Camilleri, Valhmor (5 June 2022). "Balzan FC appoint Oliver Spiteri as new first-team coach". Times of Malta. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

External links

• Official website