The Maltese men’s national team will be making their debut in the European Championships this year with the side, coached by Matthew Mamo and his assistant Ian Psaila, recently drawn in Group D in the first qualifying phase of the tournament.

Thirty nine teams, including host nation Denmark, will take part as the preliminary round will be played in two phases, starting with a round-robin format at one venue between June 8 and 10.

Following various participations in the Challenge Trophy, it was now deemed the appropriate time for the men’s team to make their first showing at a competition of a higher level.

They will face a tough competition in the group as Malta were paired with Turkey, Latvia and Estonia. The squad has been preparing for this competition for three months now with the technical staff also benefiting from the advice of Czech coach Petr Sulc who has been assisting the national team for three years now.

The squad: Damian Gargano; Peter Naudi; Philip Mifsud; Jerome Zammit; James Rausi; Luke Zammit; Matthew Psaila; Mark Gilson; Andrew Said; Christian McClean; Chris Magro; Matthias Nussbaum; Edward Bonello; Daniel Tanti; Joseph Tanti; Jacques Friggieri; Andrew Meli; Andrew Mifsud; Clinton Mifsud.

Meanwhile, the women’s U-23 team have just returned from Bulgaria where they played in the Challenge Trophy. Many new faces were introduced to the side under the guidance of coaches Joseph Tanti and Twanny Xuereb.

In the group stage, Malta lost to Israel (12-22); Faroe Islands (5-41) and Estonia (13-21). In a classification match, the Maltese girls were then beaten by Armenia 22-10.

In Bulgaria, the women’s team was assisted by Kunsill Malti għall-iSport and technical sponsor Eurosport.