Malta ends commitments in Futsal EURO Qualifiers with defeat to Belarus

UEFA EURO Futsal Main Round
Tal-Qroqq University Sports Hall, 16.04.2025

MALTA...0
BELARUS...4

Malta ended their commitments in Group 2 of the 2026 UEFA Futsal Championship Main Round when they were defeated by Belarus 4-0 at the Tal-Qroqq University Sports Hall on Wednesday.

Malta created the first chance of the game in the seventh minute when Maicon's shot was saved by goalkeeper Petukhov. In the 10th minute, Belarus had two consecutive chances as Vladislav Selyuk had his shot going wide so that seconds later it was Artem Yakubov who found Clint Mifsud attentive.

On 11 minutes, Collin Sammut took advantage of a quick counterattack and had his shot go just wide. Despite everything, it was Belarus who went ahead when Alexandr Umpirovich received well from the left and with a low shot beat Mifsud. The same Umpirovich had his shot saved by Mifsud in the 14th minute with Aleksei Pinchuk who had his shot well saved by Clint Mifsud.

A minute from the end of the first half, Giancarlo Mifsud for Malta was very close but had his powerful shot saved by Petukhov. In the second half, keeper Clint Mifsud continued to be the protagonist when he saved Pinchuk's shot.

Exactly on 23 minutes, Belarus made it 2-0 when Sergei Krikun found the back of the net. Coach Gabriel Dobre decided to come out with the flying keeper in an attempt to impose some pressure on Belarus. Despite everything, this move was worthless as Malta conceded the third and fourth goal within a few seconds through Vladislav Selyuk and Dmitri Shimanovski.

Malta tried to reduce the margin of the score in the 29th minute after a free kick by Maicon which was well received by Petukhov.

Five minutes from the end of the game, Belarus hit the post after a shot by Maksim Baturin. Shortly afterwards there was a Maltese counterattack where Maicon saw his shot saved by Petukhov.

The match finished with the score 4-0, with Malta ending their commitments in the group.

Malta
Clint Mifsud, Celino Alves, Mark Zammit, Maicon, Luke Gatt, Matthias Borg, Michael Borg, Giancarlo Sammut, Luke Anthony Borg, Andre Cachia, Steven Camilleri, Karl Luke Schembri, Amin Louati, Collin Sammut.
Coach: Gabriel Dobre.

Belarus
Artem Petukhov, Vladislav Selyuk, Aleksei Pinchuk, Yuri Dubkov, Dmitri Shimanovski, Aleksei Luksha, Alianksandr Umpirovich, Maksim Evdokimovic, Pavel Rogovic, Artem Yakubov, Sergei Krikun, Maksim Baturin, Dmitri Shvedko.
Coach: Aleksandr Chernik.

Referee 1: Norbert Szilagyi (Hungary)
Referee 2: Adam Joo (Hungary)
Referee 3: David Juhasz (Hungary)
Time-keeper: Stephen Vella (Malta)

Written by Robert Busuttil