Balzan F.C.

Balzan

Full name	Balzan Football Club
Founded	1937;88 years ago (1937) (as Balzan Youths)
President	Anton Tagliaferro
Head coach	Daryl Willard
League	Maltese Premier League
2023–24	Maltese Premier League, 8th of 14
Website	balzanfc1937.com
Home colours Away colours

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 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 11 February 2025 ^[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   SRB Nemanja Kerkez 4 DF   BRA André Fausto 4 DF   MLT Oliver May 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 14 FW   NGA Oluwatobiloba Awosanya 17 DF   BEL Henri Stanic

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF   COD Marcus Ndombasi 18 MF   SRB Luka Janković 19 FW   MLT Gabriel Farrugia 21 DF   SRB Luka Luković 22 MF   MLT Jake Grech 23 FW   ESP Víctor Blasco 24 MF   RSA Tercious Malepe 27 FW   ENG Udoyen Akpan 42 DF   POR Rafael Floro 44 FW   SRB Marko Bačanin 77 FW   BFA Elvis Kamsoba 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 European competitions following a victory over Hibernians in 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)
• Daryl Willard (2025–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