Today, a quiet one as far as England is concerned, but in Europe there are other clubs getting ready for competition. It is UEFA Champions League time and Hamrun Spartans FC are playing Lincoln Red Imps at the MFA Centenary Stadium in a First Qualifying Round. Exciting.
Ħamrun Spartans Football Club is a Maltese professional club, near capital Valletta, in a town, Hamrun populated by 9,740. Ħamrun Spartans FC has won ten league championships, the latest one being in 2024, while being runners-up eleven times.
A new team, Ħamrun Liberty was formed and in just a couple of years, Ħamrun Liberty was among the elite of Maltese football. On their return to the First Division in 1946–47, the club changed its name to Ħamrun Spartans. They were soon a hit, as they won the Johnnie Walker Championship Trophy!!!, winning also the Cassar Cup. They won the Cassar Cup again in 1948–49 season. For four times between 1947 and 1952, they were four times runners-up.
The team started dwindling down in the 60's until they were relegated in the season 1969–70. After returning to the First Division, they were relegated once again in 1973–74. However, after two years in the Second Division, they were back in the First Division.
On the 75th anniversary, exactly during the season 1982–83, the club was back at the top winning the title after an absence of 36 years. Ħamrun also won the FA Trophy during that season. That was the beginning of an era under the guide of president Victor Tedesco. Alfred Cardona was their coach. After a lot of disputes with the Immigration Division, Victor Tedesco signed two foreigners, Englishmen Peter Hatch and John Linacre – the first foreigners to play on the island after a long period of time.
Born in Wargrave, Hatch turned professional with Oxford United in October 1966, making 19 league appearances over the next seven years. He moved to Exeter City in December 1973, on the same day as Keith Bowker, who he also initially lived with, and went on to make 346 league appearances for the club. He was with the club as they finished runners-up in the 1976–77 Fourth Division, gaining promotion.
In 1982 he signed for Maltese club Hamrun Sports, winning the national title during his first season with them.
After that season he returned to the UK, playing for a number of non-league clubs including Bideford, Taunton Town, Barnstaple Town, Dawlish Town, Crediton United and Heavitree United. Exeter City gave him a testimonial match in October 1986, against first club Oxford United. After retiring from football, Hatch worked as postman in the Exeter area. In April 2018 he was inducted into the Exeter City Hall of Fame.
The Spartans set a new record being the first local team to win both the home and away legs in a UEFA competition after beating Ballymena of Northern Ireland. In just under a decade, from season 1982-83 till season 1991-92 Ħamrun have won the Maltese Premier League four times, the Maltese FA Trophy 6 times and the Maltese Super Cup 5 times (Cup winners v League winners), amongst others.
After such successful campaigns, the Spartans faced financial difficulties. The team had to transfer its best players until finally they were relegated to the First Division in 1998–99. After one year, they were promoted back to the Premier League after winning the Division 1 title. Financial difficulties persisted and they were relegated back to the Maltese Challenge League (First Division at the time) at the end of season 2003–04, winning promotion as First Division champions in 2004–05, being relegated in 2005–06 and winning the First Division championship once again in 2006–07.
Following the promotion to the Maltese Premier League, the Spartans finished in 6th place during the 2007–08 campaign, and also made their way to the final of the FA Trophy against Birkirkara FC, losing the cup to a last minute goal. This season was also a great success to its supporters after winning the Malta Best Support Award.
Ħamrun Spartans faced more difficulties and albeit staying in the top division for some years, they were relegated to the Maltese Premier Division in the 2012-13 dseason and to the Maltese Second Division during the 2013-14 campaign – the worst ever placing in their history. Ħamrun Spartans gained promotion from the Second Division by placing second during season 2014–15.
The 2015–16 season ended successfully for Ħamrun Spartans FC. The team finished in second place in the First Division and was subsequently promoted to the Premier Division after an absence of four years. In this period the administration of the club improved greatly and many difficulties, mainly financial, were surmounted. New enthusiasm and optimism embraced the club. The supporters were looking forward for a fresh start.
The 2018–19 season was a very positive one where the team, led by Italian coach Giovanni Tedesco, defied the odds and finished in 4th place after getting a 94th-minute equaliser in the last match of the season against arch rivals Valletta FC. which result forced the latter to play a decider for the Championship title. Hamrun fans hoped that European club football was once again in reach after an absence of 26 years, however Balzan beat Valletta in the final of the FA Trophy, which meant that Balzan won the 4th and last Maltese berth for European football during the next season.
During the 2019–20 season, Italian coach Manuele Blasi took control of the team. The team performed well initially but due to financial difficulties had to release key players. Blasi was replaced by Andrea Ciaramella in early 2020 with the team ending in 9th position when the league was suspended due to the Covid pandemic in March 2020 with 6 matches left to play.
In the summer of 2020 intense negotiations took place to find solid financial backing for Hamrun Spartans F.C. These proved successful when J. Portelli Projects agreed to take control of the club. The club immediately signed three of the most promising young Maltese national players. A professional corporate image was given to the club and it began the 2020–21 season strongly, sitting top of the league at the end of 2020. After the halt of the league decided by the Malta FA during April, the Spartans were declared champions of the league, 30 years after winning their last title.
On 9 June 2021, the club was excluded from participating in the 2021-2 UEFA Champions League for being involved in a match fixing scandal back in 2013.
On 11 August 2022, after a victory over Levski Sofia on penalties, Ħamrun became the first ever Maltese side to reach the play-off stage of a UEFA club competition; where they played against the famous Serbian club Parizan, who proved too strong. Having lost 4–1 in Belgrade in the first leg, Ħamrun managed to achieve a highly respectable and entertaining 3–3 draw in the second leg back in Malta. The Spartans had beaten Alashkert, Velez Mostar and Levski Sofia in the first three rounds of qualifying to set up a meeting with the Serbian side.
One of the stalwarts in the club history, Stefan Sultana, has scored a total of 252 goals in his career (225 of them while playing for the club), which makes him Malta's top-scorer (per 12 May 2007). In 2014 they were charged with match fixing and relegated to the first division.
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