Maltese football school place third in foreign tournament

Local football school Talent11 (T11) flew to Switzerland to compete in the Belfor Challenge 2018 tournament, which took place between 7 and 8 April. Alongside seven other teams, the tournament was played at the T11 Arena in Giubiasco, Switzerland.

Talent11, a technical coaching school that coaches young players from various local clubs is lead by UEFA Certified coaches Denis Guerra (SWZ) and Abel Munoz (ESP) and focuses on the enhancement of players’ skills, endurance and overall performance as footballers.

The Maltese team ended their first day towards the bottom of the table but thing took a turn for the better by the second day, with AC Bellinzona playing against FC Como for first place, while T11 Red playing against Lugano for third.

The final rankings stood as follows:

1st: FC Como (Italy)

2nd: AC Bellinzona (Swizterland)

3rd: T11 Red (Malta)

4th: FC Lugano (Switzerland)

5th: FC Locarno (Switzerland)

6th: T11 Blu (Malta)

7th: Raggr. Sassariente (Switzerland)

8th: AS Giubasco (Switzerland)

The squad flew to Giubiasco to compete as a team for the first time, as the players usually compete only locally with their own clubs.

Coach Guerra explained how this experience would not only benefit the players as individuals but also help in improving them as a team with their clubs too, as by competing with foreign teams, they are experiencing football on a more professional level.

The tournament concluded with an awards ceremony, where various awards were based on nominations received by four official jurors, eight coaches and three referees, along with the Tournament Cup.

It was a victorious weekend overall, with the Maltese team bringing home a third place trophy and Benji Bonnello Ghio winning an individual overall Top Attacker Award, as well as tons of experience and lessons learnt.

“It was a great success for the first edition of the Belfor Challenge 2018! I wanted to create an international tournament to test the level of the T11 Players against top Italian and Swiss teams. The results on and off the pitch were fantastic. All the players showed us that they can compete against any opponent. We also imposed a rigid and disciplined take throughout the trip, from which they learned a lot. It was a great experience for everybody: coaches, players and parents alike,” said Guerra.

Everyone is eagerly awaiting next years’ tournament, for which the T11 team will be training and working towards for the coming months.