The Malta women’s national football team, led by coach Manuela Tesse, will play their final match in Group C2 of the UEFA Women’s Nations League when they face hosts Andorra in Andorra la Vella.
The Maltese women have already secured promotion to League B of the competition following a 1–0 victory against Cyprus last Friday at the National Stadium in Ta’ Qali. Haley Bugeja’s goal sparked enthusiasm among Maltese officials and fans, who turned up in great numbers for the match.
Malta has played five matches so far. After an opening 2–1 loss to Cyprus, the team bounced back with four consecutive wins: against Andorra (1–0), against Georgia (2–1 and 3–2), and the return fixture against Cyprus (1–0).
Their next opponent, Andorra, currently sits at the bottom of the group table with four points from five matches. Their points came from a 2–1 win and a 2–2 draw — both against Cyprus. They suffered defeats against Malta (1–0) and Georgia (twice, 2–1). Statistically, Andorra has scored six goals and conceded eight, while Malta has scored eight and conceded five.
Andorra are coached by Albert Panadero and currently occupy 183rd place in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings. Their most notable victories have been two 4–1 wins against Gibraltar and a 3–0 win over Saudi Arabia. On the flip side, their heaviest defeat came in Malta, during a quadrangular tournament, where they lost 8–0 to the Faroe Islands.
Andorra’s current squad is relatively inexperienced, with the most capped players — Laia Sin, Paula da Silva, Marina Fernandez, Erica Goncalves, and Tere Morato — each having only eight appearances.
Coach Manuela Tesse has urged her players to stay grounded and remain focused in order to achieve a good result. She emphasized the importance of maintaining motivation, warning that it is easy to lose concentration after having already achieved the team’s primary goal — promotion to League B.
The match will be played at Estadi de la FAF, also known as Nou Estadi d’Encamp, the new national stadium of the Andorran Football Federation, located in the province of Encamp. The stadium was recently inaugurated and has a capacity of 5,600 spectators. It was built on the site of a former international campsite.
Malta and Andorra have met six times in women’s football, with Malta winning all six encounters (1–0, 3–0, 5–0, 3–0, 1–0, and 5–3).
As a result, Malta enters the match as favourites, despite playing away from home.
