Women’s football – Maltese players flying the flag abroad

In the third and final part of this series, we focus on the Maltese players who have been turning out for foreign clubs, maintaining the upward trend which is also having a positive impact on the national team. The growth of the women’s game in Malta allied with the determination and dedication of our players to reach higher standards is paying the desired dividends as the number of foreign-based Maltese footballers has increased in recent years. At the time of writing and before football competitions were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were seven Malta-capped players plying their trade abroad, an encouraging number considering that the women’s game in Malta is relatively young. Rachel Cuschieri, who has 65 caps and 11 goals for Malta, made the breakthrough in 2014 when she joined Cyprus club Apollon Limassol with whom she also played the UEFA Women’s Champions League. She went on to play for Belgian side Anderlecht before moving to Dutch team PSV Vrouwen where she spent the 2019-20 season which has been cancelled by the Dutch FA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Others followed. After experiences at Apulia Trani and Fortitudo Mozzecane, Martina Borg is now at Serie C’s Sassari Torres – leading all-time trophy winners in the Italian women’s game, in her third year overseas. Borg has 38 appearances and scored five goals for Malta. Nicole Sciberras is in her third season in Italian football. After two successful seasons at Grifone Gialloverde, Sciberras spent the 2019/2020 campaign with the youth team of Italian giants Juventus. Sciberras, one of the youngest members of the national team, has already totalled 14 appearances. The 2019/20 campaign also saw Shona Zammit and Ylenia Carabott move abroad. Zammit, who has 48 Malta caps and four goals, signed for Serie A Pink Bari while experienced player Carabott joined Serie B side Chievo Fortitudo. Carabott is one of the most experienced players in the national team set-up with 83 appearances and 19 goals. Maria Farrugia, 19, is the only national team player based in England where she plays for Sunderland AFC Ladies. The Gozitan-born forward has represented Malta 12 times and scored two goals, one of which earned the national team a point in the 1-1 home draw against Israel in the UEFA Women’s EURO qualifier. In addition, there is also England-born Emma Lipman whose dual citizenship enabled her to represent Malta in the European qualifiers. Lipman, who already played five games for Malta, turns out for Florentia San Gimignano in the Italian Serie A. Previously, there were other Maltese players who played abroad including Claudette Xuereb (Salerno Calcio) and Demi Magrin (Caprera Calcio), now at Mġarr United and Swieqi United respectively.