Armenia, Belarus and Iceland will provide opposition for Malta in this year's 10th edition of the biennial international tournament, organised by the Malta FA.
This was announced by MFA president Joe Mifsud yesterday who also said that Vodafone and Coca Cola will be the main sponsors of the four-team competition which will be played between February 2 and 6.
The first edition of the tournament was held way back in 1988 with the guest teams being Finland, Tunisia and the East German Olympic team, the eventual winners.
Two years ago, the tournament was played between three teams - Malta, Georgia and Moldova. The latter placed first after two victories.
"It is no easy task for us to attract national teams for the tournament at this particular time of the year," Dr Mifsud said.
"The first week of February is an international week, mainly reserved for friendlies, and clubs are often reluctant to release their players for duty with their respective national teams.
"Belarus have Alexandre Hleb, of Arsenal, and Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnssen is a key player for Iceland. However, we still have no guarantee that these players will be released for the tournament. Obviously, their presence will add more allure to the competition.
"But, apart from all this, we still think that it is essential for our national team to figure in similar warm-up matches, so useful for the build-up to the World Cup qualifiers. The matches against Armenia, Belarus and Iceland will be an ideal occasion for the new players to stake a claim for a regular place in the national team."
Malta will play its first match on Saturday, February 2 against Armenia. Two days later, Dusan Fitzel's men play Iceland and the Maltese complete the programme with a match against Belarus on February 6.
Dr Mifsud said that 2008 will be another busy year for the national teams. He said the U-21 are still engaged in the UEFA Championship qualifiers while the U-17 and U-19 sides will play in mini-tournaments for UEFA Championships.
The women's national team will not be involved in any qualifiers this year but they will play in an international tournament in Estonia next June.
Dr Mifsud added that the rise in ticket prices for football matches, a measure taken to curb rising maintenance costs, was effected last September and this had nothing to do with the Euro changeover.
Dr Mifsud felt it was necessary to make this point clear as there were some reports in the media lately which criticised the association for the cost of tickets at local stadiums.
Meanwhile, the MFA announced that Mark Muscat is the new media officer in charge. He replaces Alex Vella who remains in the association's Media Office along with Albert Fenech.
Fixtures
February 2: 3 p.m. Belarus vs Iceland; 5.15 p.m. Malta vs Armenia.
February 4: 5.30 p.m. Belarus vs Armenia; 7.45 p.m. Malta vs Iceland.
February 6: 5.30 p.m. Iceland vs Armenia; 7.45 p.m. Malta vs Belarus.