Malta face tough challenge in UEFA Nations League draw

The Malta national football team was drawn against Moldova and Andorra for the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League in what promises to be a challenging campaign.

The Maltese team finds themselves in Group D2 alongside Moldova, a team that showcased resilience in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Moldova's impressive performance included ten points in the group, securing victories over Faroe Islands and Poland.

Meanwhile, Andorra joins them in the same group for the second time. In the 2020 qualifiers, Malta claimed four points against Andorra.

The Group D draw for the UEFA Nations League

In the upcoming edition of the UEFA Nations League, each team will compete in four matches, facing off against the other two nations in their group both at home and away. The two group winners in League D will earn automatic promotion to League C.

Bjorn Vassallo, president of the Malta Football Association, acknowledged the difficulty of the draw but said the goal is promotion to League C.

"From all the possible scenarios, we were handed the toughest one," Vassallo stated.

Vassallo expressed confidence in the team's ability to rise to the occasion. "No doubt, between September and November, we have one target – either direct promotion or through the play-offs – and we need to perform to reach our goal."

Team manager Michele Marcolini echoed the same concerns on playing against Moldova and Andorra, but said he is confident in his squad. “I remain confident on the chance to be promoted,” he said.

“I think we show everyone that we grew during my period, from the beginning to the end. We changed attitude, increased our level of performance. I’m very happy about the attitude of my players, and I think we could have a very good team.”