WATCH | Victoria Hotspurs FC president: ‘In life you set targets. You have to remain ambitious’

For the first time this year, a Gozitan football team competed within the Maltese league structure. Fast forward to the end of the season and Victoria Hotspurs are Amateur Cup winners, Amateur League 2 winners, and Amateur Super Cup runners-up. 

But Victoria Hotspurs President Anton Tabone tells me, as we sit down for this interview inside the club premises in Rabat, that he has his sights set on Premier League football. 

“In life you have to set target, and you have to be ambitious. The target is the Premier League. The when and if are yet to be seen, but that is the goal. We will take it year by year,” Tabone tells me. 

Victoria Hotspurs had played their football in Gozo for over 75 years, and while others had attempted to make the switch to Maltese league football, none had been successful. Tabone says that while there was wide consensus within the club to make the historic move, there was pushback from the Gozo Football Association. He does not give detail but insists the club soldiered on until it started its journey in the Maltese league system at the lowest tier. 

Tabone tells me the club wants to retain its Gozitan identity. He says the club wants to serve as a vehicle for Gozitan talent to make it in Malta, and out of a squad of 19 players, 14 were Gozitan in the 2024/25 season. 

“We are a Gozitan team, and the idea is not only for the club to play in Malta, but also for the biggest talent in Gozo to play there,” he says.  

Playing all their matches in Malta was a prerequisite for Victoria to be integrated into the Maltese league but Tabone sees no issue with this. He does not rule out future discussions with other club presidents on the possibility of having home matches in Gozo. 

“It could also be of interest for the clubs to play one game a year in Gozo at a different stadium, and this could be part of the footballing calendar,” he says.  

On the state of Maltese football, Tabone tells me it is on the right direction, despite having to endure years of being viewed as just a hobby.  

“If we look at the MFA today for example, it is a professional setup, but if we want clubs to get closer to that level, a lot still has to be done,” he says. 

The following is an excerpt of the interview.   

Follow the full interview on maltatoday.com.mt and our socials.  

Victoria Hotspurs has gone from being relegated to the Gozitan second tier, to integration into the Maltese football system and winning the League Cup, Amateur League 2 and being promoted. How did this idea start? This has never happened in Maltese football… 

I think the first time we actually started to consider this idea seriously was when we won the 2017 Gozo league. We had run away with the league, and even the following year, and we would speak among ourselves and ask: What’s next? What’s our next challenge? 

The discussion started to grow internally, and we started looking at how we could emerge from our comfort zone in Gozo. The club has played within the Gozo football structure for around 75 years. To take this step you need ambition to try something new; test yourself against other clubs, and that is what pushed us. 

We obviously were very happy to be accepted, as it was not an easy journey, and we are not the first Gozitan team to explore the move, but for some reason others were not successful in making the jump [to Maltese league football]. 

Here we are speaking about one of the biggest Gozitan clubs making the switch. The move also comes as a culture shock for fans, for players, for yourself. Did you receive any backlash internally or externally? I don’t know maybe the Gozo Football Association (GFA) weren’t too happy that one of the biggest clubs was leaving them… 

Internally we were all on the same wavelength, and we all agreed that if we could be successful, we should take the step. Motivation and ambition have to be there for you to be successful in life. If you are always competing for the same thing, life will be monotonous.  

Yes, we had resistance from the GFA because as you were saying one of the biggest clubs in Gozo was leaving the Gozitan league structure. It was also not easy to convince the Malta Football Association (MFA) to put us to a vote so we could be approved by the General Assembly. 

I want to put Victoria Hotspurs to the side for now. I want to speak to you about the current state of football in Malta and Gozo. I personally see it ridiculous that a country the size of a city, not only has a club in every town, but we have two leagues—Malta and Gozo. Do you not see it a waste of resources and talent, and this in turn is contributing towards keeping local football at a mediocre level? 

We are a country which walks in the footsteps of tradition; we are a conservative country. To change something like having two separate leagues—changing the status quo—is very difficult. Once you start trying, you find resistance. 

I understand where you are coming from, and the more people start to speak about it, things will change. I feel the distinction between clubs that want to take the professional step, and those that want to remain at an amateur level, will continue to grow.  

With the proposed commercialisation law, we are expecting clubs to be registered as companies, and I think we will see a cohort of 10 clubs, which can have a sustainable model in terms of assets and financial income, and they will elevate themselves from the others whose only interest is that of simply participating and having fun with their village team… 

You play your home games in Malta, despite being based in Gozo. In my eyes this doesn’t make sense. If we look abroad, teams journey miles to play their away games. Do we find it that difficult to catch a ferry in Malta? Is this not unfair for you? 

It was a clear prerequisite when we had bid to be integrated into the Maltese league system. It was the first time a Gozitan team had made the move.  

We can now, maybe, start discussing with clubs, whether this could change in the future. It’s not as expensive as one would have thought. It could also be of interest for the clubs to play one game a year in Gozo at a different stadium, and this could be part of the footballing calendar. We obviously wish to have Gozitan supporters following the Victoria Hotspurs in Gozo. 

You won two cups this year. From a footballing perspective, what approach did you take when approaching the challenge? 

The first thing we settled on was to retain the Gozitan identity. We are a Gozitan team, and the idea is not only for the club to play in Malta, but also to portray the biggest talent in Gozo. That is our main aim.  

This year we had a squad of 19 players, 14 of them were Gozitan, three of them were Maltese and two are Brazilian. 

We know there is a crop of very good Gozitan players, and because they come from a smaller island, they have to put in more effort to showcase their talents. The quality of nurseries in Gozo is not as high as in Malta, and so we believe Gozitan kids should have the same opportunities.