Hibernians F.C.

Not to be confused with the Scottish football club Hibernian F.C..
This article is about the Maltese football club. For other uses, see Hibernian.

Hibernians
Full nameHibernians Football Club
Nickname(s)Hibs
Raħal Ġdid (Paola)
The Peacocks
Founded1922 (1922)[1]
GroundTony Bezzina Stadium,
Paola, Malta
Capacity2,968
ChairmanRanier Bezzina
ManagerBranko Nišević
LeagueMaltese Premier League
2023–24Maltese Premier League, 7th of 14
Websitewww.hiberniansfc.mt

Hibernians Football Club is a Maltese professional football club based in the town of Paola. They are the only Malta football club to have never been relegated from the Premier League.

History

The club played one season in 1922 as Constitutionals FC, representing the pro-British Constitutional Party.[2] They started up again in the 1927–28 season and became a top amateur side, winning the Amateur League in 1930–31.[2]

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Party had upset the Catholic Church so much that, in May 1930, Catholics were told not to vote for the party. The football club changed its name a year later to Hibernians Football Club[2] as a nod to Hibernian, the club founded by Irish Catholics in Edinburgh. They won their first match as Hibernians 2–1, against HMS Antelope in October 1931.[2] They had to wait for a place to become available in the professional league, but in January 1933 they joined the league with a 3–1 victory over Sliema Rangers. They have stayed in the top division ever since.[2] Hibernians then won their first league title in 1961, with a team featuring Maltese international players like brothers Louis and Eddie Theobald and Freddie Mizzi.[3]

Around 1970 English football legend Sir Stanley Matthews managed Hibernians. He led the club to a League title and two Maltese FA Trophies.[4]

Hibernians faced a long period of decline followed the success of the 1980s to the end of the decade.[2] Hibernians have a futsal team, which plays in Malta's top futsal league, the Premier Futsal League.

Stadium

Main article: Hibernians Stadium

The club's home ground is Hibernians Stadium, a multi-use stadium in Paola, which has a capacity of about 3,000.

Honours

Source:[5]

European record

Accurate as of 11 August 2022
Competition Played Won Drew Lost GF GA GD Win%
European Cup / Champions League 28 5 5 18 20 71 −51 017.86
Cup Winners' Cup 10 2 2 6 4 17 −13 020.00
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League 30 3 1 26 25 107 −82 010.00
UEFA Europa Conference League 8 4 2 2 15 14 +1 050.00
UEFA Intertoto Cup 12 2 2 8 9 26 −17 016.67
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 2 0 0 2 0 7 −7 000.00
Total 90 16 12 62 82 238 −156 017.78

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1961–62 European Cup Prelim Servette FC 1–2 0–5 1–7
1962–63 European Cup Winners' Cup Prelim Olympiacos w/o w/o w/o
1R Atlético Madrid 0–1 0–4 0–5
1967–68 European Cup 1R Manchester United F.C. 0–0 0–4 0–4
1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1R Aris Thessaloniki F.C. 0–6 0–1 0–7
1969–70 European Cup 1R FC Spartak Trnava 2–2 0–4 2–6
1970–71 European Cup Winners' Cup 1R Real Madrid C.F. 0–0 0–5 0–5
1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup Prelim Fram 3–0 0–2 3-2
1R Steaua Bucharest 0–0 0–1 0–1
1974–75 UEFA Cup 1R FC Amsterdam 0–7 0–5 0–12
1976–77 UEFA Cup 1R Grasshoppers 0–2 0–7 0–9
1978–79 UEFA Cup 1R S.C. Braga 3–2 0–5 3–7
1979–80 European Cup 1R Dundalk F.C. 1–0 0–2 1–2
1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup 1R Waterford 1–0 0–4 1–4
1981–82 European Cup 1R Red Star Belgrade 1–2 1–8 2–10
1982–83 European Cup 1R Widzew Łódź 1–4 1–3 2–7
1986–87 UEFA Cup 1R Trakia Plovdiv 0–2 0–8 0–10
1994–95 UEFA Cup Prelim FC Dinamo Minsk 4–3 (a.e.t.) 1–3 5–6
1995–96 UEFA Cup Prelim FC Chornomorets Odesa 2–5 0–2 2–7
1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup Group 11 FC Ural Yekaterinburg 1–2 — 5th
PFC CSKA Sofia — 1–4
RC Strasbourg Alsace 0–2 —
Kocaelispor — 3–5
2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R Zagłębie Lubin 1–0 0–4 1–4
2002–03 UEFA Champions League 1Q Shelbourne F.C. 2–2 1–0 3–2
2Q Boavista F.C. 3–3 0–4 3–7
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R AC Allianssi 1–1 0–1 1–2
2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R NK Slaven Belupo 2–1 0–3 2–4
2005–06 UEFA Cup 1Q AC Omonia 0–3 0–3 0–6
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1Q FC Dinamo București 0–4 1–5 1–9
2007–08 UEFA Cup 1Q FK Vojvodina 0–2 1–5 1–7
2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R ND Gorica 0–3 0–0 0–3
2009–10 UEFA Champions League 1Q FK Mogren 0–2 0–4 0–6
2012–13 UEFA Europa League 1Q FK Sarajevo 4–4 2–5 6–9
2013–14 UEFA Europa League 1Q FK Vojvodina 1–4 2–3 3–7
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 1Q FC Spartak Trnava 2–4 0–5 2–9
2015–16 UEFA Champions League 2Q Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. 2–1 1–5 3–6
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q FC Spartak Trnava 0–3 0–3 0–6
2017–18 UEFA Champions League 1Q FCI Tallinn 2–0 1–0 3–0
2Q FC Red Bull Salzburg 0–3 0–3 0–6
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q Shakhtyor Soligorsk 0–1 0–1 0–2
2020–21 UEFA Europa League 1Q Vaduz — 2–0 —
2Q Fehérvár 0–1 — —
2021–22 UEFA Champions League 1Q Flora 0–3 0–2 0–5
UEFA Europa Conference League 2Q Folgore 4–2 3–1 7–3
3Q Riga 1–4 (a.e.t.) 1–0 2−4
2022–23 UEFA Champions League 1Q Shamrock Rovers 0–0 0–3 0−3
UEFA Europa Conference League 2Q FCI Levadia 3–2 1–1 4–3
3Q RFS 1–3 1–1 2−4
2025–26 UEFA Conference League 2Q

Players

Maltese teams are limited to eight players without Maltese citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country.

Current squad

As of 5 February, 2025[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  ENG Pablo Sánchez
3 DF  MLT Luke Debono
4 MF  NGA Silas Alfred
5 DF  MLT Kurt Shaw
6 MF  MLT Lucas Caruana
7 FW  BRA Lucas Villela
8 MF  BRA Khevin Fraga
9 FW  BRA Miullen
10 FW  MLT Jurgen Degabriele
11 MF  MLT Bjorn Kristensen
13 MF  MLT Jake Portelli
14 DF  MLT Dexter Xuereb
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 DF  MLT Isaac Joseph Chetcuti
17 FW  MLT Isaiah Chukunyere
18 DF  MLT Leon Abela
19 MF  UKR Stanislav Sorokin
20 FW  ARG Federico Falcone
21 FW  BRA Alex Bruno
22 DF  GRE Apostolos Martinis
23 MF  MLT Timothy Eviparker
25 DF  MLT Jamie Sultana
30 GK  MLT Hugo Sacco
44 DF  BRA Pedrão
99 DF  POR Rui Bruno

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

Historical list of coaches

  • Joe A. Griffiths
  • Saviour Cuschieri (1961 – 1962)
  • Jimmy Davidson (1962 – 1963)
  • Hillary Tagliaferro (1964 – 1966)
  • Lino Bugeja (1966 – 1970)
  • Hillary Tagliaferro (1967 – 1970)
  • Johnny Calleja (1972 – 1977)
  • George Busuttil (1977 – 1979)
  • Eddie Theobald (1981 – 1982)
  • Johnny Calleja (1982 – 1983)
  • George Busuttil (1984 – 1985)
  • Terenzio Polverini (1987 – 1988)
  • Edward Darmanin (1987 – 1989)
  • Joe Cilia (1989 – 1992)
  • Brian Talbot (1992 – 1996)
  • Mark Miller (1997;– 1999)
  • Robert Gatt (30 June 1999 – 8 July 2007)
  • Edmond Lufi (2007 – 8 September 2008)
  • Mark Miller (1 July 2008 – 2012)
  • Michael Woods (13 June 2012 – 2013)
  • Branko Nišević (30 May 2013 – 2016)
  • Mark Miller (2016 – 5 March 2018)[7]
  • Mario Muscat (5 March 2018 – 4 July 2018)[8]
  • Stefano Sanderra (4 July 2018 – 30 June 2022)
  • Andrea Pisanu (8 July 2022 – 6 February 2023)
  • Silvio Vella (7 February 2023 – 1 June 2023)
  • Branko Nišević (17 July 2023 – )

Women's team

A women's team plays in the Women's Maltese First Division. The team is the national record champion with twelve titles, the most recent being won in 2016.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hibernians F.C. team profile Soccerway. Retrieved 24 September 2021
  2. ^ a b c d e f "History". hiberniansfc.org. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  3. ^ Baldacchino, Carmel (20 January 2022). "FootballHibernians FC end 30 years of famine". Times of Malta. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  4. ^ Stanley Matthews’s connection with Malta, Carmel Baldacchino, Times of Malta, 19 August 2010
  5. ^ "Honours". Hibernians F.C. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009.
  6. ^ "Squad". Hibernians F.C. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  7. ^ "Hibernians FC part ways with coach Mark Miller". The Malta Independent. 5 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Mario Muscat appointed as Qormi technical advisor". MaltaFootball.com. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Hibernians BOV Women's League Champions". maltafootball.com. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
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