Landmarks for Steve Borg, Emerson Marcelina, Kurt Zammit

2023/24 BOV Premier League Match Day 5 Statistics

5 – The victory of Gzira United over Sirens was their fifth consecutive win over the St Paul’s Bay side in the Premier Division. This sequence started with a 3-1 win on 4 December 2021, followed by 2-1, 3-1 and two 1-0 results in favour of the Maroons.

50 – Jhonnattan’s winner for Valletta against Marsaxlokk on Sunday morning was his 50^th goal in the Maltese Premier Division. The 34-year-old Brazilian returned to Malta this summer after a lengthy spell in the middle east with clubs in the Premier Leagues of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Although Valletta introduced the winger to Maltese football in 2012, Jhonnattan joined Birkirkara at the start of the league, with whom he made his Premiership debut in Malta and where he played during the seasons 2012/13 and 2013/14. After his first adventure in the middle east, Jhonnattan re-joined Valletta in 2015/16 and the first part of 2016/17, playing exactly 100 MPL games before continuing his career in Saudi Arabia. He scored most of his 50 MPL goals with Birkirkara; 35, the other 15 for Valletta.

100 – Italian midfielder Kevin Tulimieri, aged 31, made his 100^th appearance in the Maltese Premier Division with Mosta in their shock 2-0 win over Birkirkara last Saturday. Tulimieri was brough over to Malta by Hamrun in 2018 after playing for several Serie C and D sides in his home country, lastly with Molfetta Sportiva. After one season with the Spartans, he joined Valletta and joined Mosta for his first spell in 2020. He then returned to Valletta once more, followed by one season Birkirkara before re-joining the Blues last summer. Tulimieri scored twenty MPL goals in the process.

100 – Mosta’s 2-0 victory over Birkirkara was Joe Grech’s 100^th official match in the Premier Division as a head coach. The 55-year-old mentor, who is at the helm of the Mosta FC coaching staff for the third consecutive year, had various clubs in his career but at the highest domestic level he was coaching Msida St Joseph (2003/04) and Floriana (2006/07). Grech was also coaching Msida St Joseph, Pembroke Athleta, Pieta’ Hotspurs, Gzira United and Gozo FC at various lower levels in the past, apart from a stint with the Malta national U17 team for about 16 months between September 2004 and January 2006. At Mosta, he is sharing end responsibilities with former Hibernians and Malta goalkeeper Mario Muscat.

150 – The substitute appearance of Manuel De Filippis for Birkirkara against Mosta (0-2) last Saturday was a special one, as the 18-year-old is the 150^th Italian to play in the Malta Premier Division. The very first one was former Bologna defender Adelmo Paris, who played for Zurrieq during the 1984/85 and 1985/86 seasons, making quite an impression as he is still seen as one of the best foreign players ever to play in our Premier League. Looking at the matches played, with 177 Premier Division appearances each, Mario Fontanella and Matteo Picciolo are the two Italians who lead this ranking.

200 – Hamrun Spartans central defender Emerson Marcelina made his 200^th Premier Division appearance in Malta in their match against Sliema Wanderers (1-1). The 32-year-old Brazilian was introduced in Malta by Floriana in 2014, making his official debut on 16^th August 2014 in the Greens’ match against Hibernians (0-3). With Floriana, Emerson played 85 MPL games and he also donned the jerseys of Tarxien Rainbows (26) and Birkirkara (14). The match last Saturday was his 75^th in the MPL for the Spartans. During season 2019/20 he played one season in Gozo with Nadur Youngsters. He is after Denni Rocha, Jackson Lima, Rodolfo Soares and Marcelo Dias only the fifth Brazilian to play at least 200 games in the Maltese top flight.

200 – In the match versus Mosta, Birkirkara defender Kurt Zammit played his 200^th game in the Malta Premier League, a match to forget from Birkirkara perspective (0-2). The 27-year-old is a Birkirkara youth nursery product who made his Premier Division debut on 17 November 2012 against Melita (3-0) as a 79^th minute substitute, aged just 16. Zammit, who was called into the pre-selection of the Malta national team very recently, played 171 of these in the colours of Birkirkara, as during season 2016/17 he played on loan with Tarxien Rainbows, gaining MPL valuable experience with 29 appearances. On the first match day of this season against Sliema Wanderers (1-0), Zammit already played his 200^th official club appearance for the Stripes, including 24 games in the FA Trophy and 9 in the various European Cup competitions.

300 – In the match against Sliema Wanderers (1-1), Malta international captain Steve Borg became the 61^st player in the top flight of Maltese football to reach the 300 league appearances. The 35-year-old defender of Hamrun Spartans is a Mosta FC youth nursery product, with whom he made his senior debut way back during season 2005/06 on 15 October 2005 in the Premier League match against Birkirkara (2-3), aged 17. It eventually proved to be his only season in the Premier Division before joining Valletta in 2009, where he spent ten seasons, interrupted with one season in the Cypriote Premiership with Aris Limassol (2015/16). Borg joined Gzira United in 2020, where he spent 18 months before being transferred to Hamrun Spartans in January 2022. He played no less then 224 of these 300 games for the Lilywhites, but also 27 for Gzira and 13 for Mosta, while Saturday’s appearance was his 36^th for Hamrun in the MPL. Steve has an impressive CV with 78 caps for Malta and 40 appearances in the various European Cup competitions. With 587 official senior domestic and international appearances, Steve is close to be included in an exclusive list of Maltese players who have played 600 senior career matches.