History of Marsaxlokk F.C.

This article covers the history of Marsaxlokk Football Club.

Early years (1949–1954)

Marsaxlokk Football Club were formed on November 3, 1949 under the name of Marsaxlokk White Stars F.C., a name they kept for five years before they adopted their current name in 1954.

Entering the League (1955–1957)

The club applied for a place in the Malta Football Association competitions in 1955. The Malta Football Association organised a series of play-offs to fill a vacancy left by Naxxar Lions in the Maltese Third Division.

Marsaxlokk went on to win the play-offs and secure a place in the Maltese Third Division, but following a lack of interest in the club, they opted out of Malta Football Association after just two years.

Re-entering the League (1965–1978)

In 1965, Marsaxlokk again applied to take part in the Malta Football Association competitions and their application was accepted. Marsaxlokk took part in the Maltese Third Division 1965/66, finishing in third place and reaching the final of the Knock-Out. The following season, the Southseasiders finished as runners-up in both the Maltese Third Division and again reached the knock-out.

They managed to win promotion to the Maltese Second Division for the first time in their history during the 1970/71 season, but were relegated the following season. The club again achieved promotion to Maltese Second Division in 1973/74, following an excellent league campaign where they held an unbeaten record, and only lost to Siggiewi in the championship decider.

Marsaxlokk retained their Maltese Second Division status until for five seasons, until 1977/78 when they returned to the Maltese Third Division following yet another relegation.

Stuck between the Maltese Third Division and the Maltese Second Division (1978–1992)

The club remained in the Maltese Third Division for eight years, before winning Section B in 1985/86 and as a result gained promotion back to Maltese Second Division. The promotion didn't last long and the club were relegated back to the Maltese Third Division the following season.

Some six seasons later Marsaxlokk found themselves back in the Maltese Second Division after winning the Maltese Third Division Section A, and only failed to clinch the championship decider to the Zejtun Corinthians on penalties.

Promotion to the Maltese First Division (1992–2000)

Marsaxlokk established themselves as a Maltese Second Division side for nearly a decade, until they finally won the Maltese Second Division for the first time in the history in 1999/00, and won promotion to the Maltese First Division.

Promotion to the Maltese Premier League (2000–2002)

With the club seemingly doing well, they spent just two seasons in the Maltese First Division.

Marsaxlokk won the Maltese First Division during the 2001/02 season, and were promoted as champions to the Maltese Premier League, where the club would appear for the first time in their history.

Entering Europe (2003–2005)

After two years in the Maltese Premier League, the Southseasiders managed to reach the final of the Maltese Cup in 2004; this was the first time the club had ever reached the final, and despite the club losing to the champions, the Sliema Wanderers.

Despite the fact that Marsaxlokk had lost in the final of the Maltese Cup, they qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup where they met NK Primorje of Slovenia, losing 1–0 at home in the first leg and 2–0 in Slovenia in the return leg.

It was reported on January 6, 2003 that the ambitious Maltese club had made an attempt to sign former England legend Paul Gascoigne, but the club failed in any attempt, despite a reported salary of £12,500 a month, which would have been a record salary in Malta had Gascoigne agreed to the terms.

During the January transfer window of 2003/04, the club strengthened the squad further, with the signings of highly rated young Maltese midfield duo André Schembri from Hibernians and Cleavon Frendo from Pietà Hotspurs.

Marsaxlokk were showing real promise by this stage and were looking ready to challenge the likes of the Sliema Wanderers, Valletta and Birkirkara to major honours, and yet again signalled they were a side improving. However, the side finished in fifth place for the 2004/05 season, a place lower than their highest-ever league finish of fourth the season prior.

(2005/2006) season

In the 2005/06 season, Marsaxlokk made some very interesting signings: Brazil-born striker Wendell Gomes and Portuguese ex-Boavista defender Nuno Gomes joined the club, along with Malta internationals, defender Carlo Mamo from the Sliema Wanderers and Jamie Pace from Valletta.

The club also pulled off the biggest transfer in their history on August 6, 2005, when they acquired the services of former English Premier League and former Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest player Chris Bart-Williams.

Despite all the hype surrounding Bart-Williams' move to Malta, he did not live up to the billing and the signing resulted in one of the biggest flops the club had ever experienced. Bart-Williams was soon on his way back home only managing eight appearances before having his three-year contact cancelled after only two months of signing it.

The club enjoyed a successful season and finished in the highest league position in their history, when they grabbed a third place finish in the Maltese Premier League. The club also managed to qualify for the first round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup where they would meet the Bosnia and Herzegovina side HŠK Zrinjski Mostar; sadly for Marsaxlokk their European adventure didn't last for long as they were knocked out 4–1 over the two legs.

(2006/2007) season

The following season Marsaxlokk made some very impressive signings, acquiring the services of Maltese internationals, goalkeeper Justin Haber, defender Luke Dimech, midfielder Peter Pullicino and striker Daniel Bogdanovic along with Nigerian midfielder Haruna Doda.

With the club finishing in third position the following season, and with the list of impressive signings that had been made by manager Brian Talbot, the Marsaxlokk fans had every reason to be in an optimistic mood.

With the club doing well in the league the January transfer window arrived. The club swapped André Rocha da Silva for Udo Nwoko with Hibernians, both on loan deals until the end of the season. Shaun Bajada also left the club on loan until the end of the season, joining Msida Saint-Joseph.

The team again impressed during the league season, and were confirmed as champions with one game remaining. They even achieved a 4–1 defeat of the second-placed Sliema Wanderers on the penultimate day of the season with Cleavon Frendo, Jamie Pace, André Schembri and Daniel Bogdanovic all finding the net on the day.

Another award went back to Marsaxlokk when striker Daniel Bogdanovic finished as the leagues top goalscorer with 31 goals in 31 appearances, and ended the season one goal short of Danilo Doncic's Maltese record of 32 goals in a season, set while playing for Valletta during the 2001/02 season.

(2007/2008) season

Marsaxlokk started the 2007/08 season with more worries than the previous and many believe that Marsaxlokk will struggle to emulate the success of the 2006/07 season with the loss of some vital players such as Luke Dimech, Justin Haber, Daniel Bogdanovic all leaving, and André Schembri going on a season-long loan to German club Eintracht Braunschweig. The club also decided against renewing the contracts of duo Samir Garci and Haruna Doda. The club did however sign Englishman Daniel Webb following his release from Yeovil Town.

Following the team's triumph the previous season they were entered into the UEFA Champions League qualifying stages. Following so many player departures the club struggled to list a full 16 players in their debut match against FK Sarajevo, where the club only managed to list 13 players, and due to the club's lack of resources they lost the tie 9–1 on (agg).

Daniel Webb lasted just one game with the club, and returned to his native England to team up with AFC Wimbledon. The team have so far signed Maltese international William Camenzuli, along with the Brazilian trio of Renato Conceição, André Rocha da Silva and the re-signing of Wendell Gomes. The team also snapped up Mark Barbara on a season-long loan from Valletta.

The transfer window re-opened on January 1, 2008 with the club in seventh place after 12 games, taking a pretty bad beating from the newly promoted Ħamrun Spartans on December 7, 2007, where they were beaten 7–3.

On the transfer front the club released the Brazilian duo of Wendell Gomes and André Rocha da Silva by mutual consent (with the latter joining the Sliema Wanderers); this meant that two of the three foreigners at the club had now left, paving the way for two new foreigners to join the club during the January transfer period.

Marsaxlokk made their first signing of the January transfer window, when they acquired the services of Argentine striker Julio Alcorsé on loan from fellow Premier League side Hibernians. Marsaxlokk followed up the signing of Julio Alcorsé on January 23, with Montenegro born striker Aleksandar Madzar, who joined on a free following his release from Sliema Wanderers.

Things took a turn for the better with the aforementioned changes within the striking department and it was the names of Julio Alcorsé and Aleksandar Madzar that would appear on the scoresheet regularly. Following the players' good form in front of the goal, Julio Alcorsé finished the season third in the top goalscoring charts with 12 goals and Aleksandar Madzar finished seventh with 10 goals to his name.

Marsaxlokk finally managed to clinch a second place finish in the table, and grabbed a place in next season's UEFA Cup first qualifying round, a rather impressive achievement given the number of departures the team had to overcome in the season. The team rounded off the season with a fantastic 4–0 victory over newly crowned champions Valletta, with goals for the day coming from Jamie Pace, Stephen Wellman (x2) and Aleksandar Madzar.