During the 1955-56 season, three foreign clubs visited Malta.
SK Beograd, of Yugoslavia, and Kinizi, of Hungary, took part in the Christmas Tourney while Leyton Orient, of England, celebrated their promotion to the second division with a visit to the island late in the season.
Beograd were not a great team but they could score goals and get results. Before coming here they had just beaten Hajduks in the Yugoslav Cup final 2-0.
They opened their tour in style, beating Ħamrun Spartans 5-2.
In this game they were already two goals up after only three minutes and at the half-hour they had increased the score to 4-0.
Then, with the game already won and lost, the visitors eased up and allowed the Spartans to have a share of the play.
Beograd only scored one more goal while Ħamrun replied with a goal each from the Psaila brothers, Romeo and Gejtu.
Beograd were in for a shock the next day when they were beaten 1-0 by Sliema Wanderers.
Sliema, inspired by a great goal from Salvinu Schembri, rose magnificently to the occasion.
The Yugoslavs reacted strongly to this early setback but the well-marshalled Blues’ defence held on to their slight advantage to the end.
Beograd had hardly recovered from that upset when they suffered another unexpected defeat at the hands of Valletta.
At the time, the Whites were in the process of building a new team.
In the league they occupied a midtable place but in the tourney they surprised everyone with a 4-2 win over Beograd.
The City youngsters made up for lack of experience with energy and speed. Relying on first-time tackling, they had Beograd in a dither for most of the 90 minutes.
Micallef put the Citizens in front on 20 minutes but the Yugoslavs equalised almost immediately.
Valletta hit back and Pace and Urpani put them 3-1 up.
In the second half, Beograd forced their way back into the game and reduced the deficit before threatening to overwhelm the City youngsters. However, two minutes from time, Pace sealed the visitors’ fate with another goal.
Beograd reserved their best performance for the game against Kinizi. However, the latter were a hard nut to crack and once again the Yugoslavs had to leave the stadium empty-handed.
This time Beograd lost 2-1.
There was some consolation for Beograd who, in their last match in Malta, outclassed a poor MFA XI.
They only won 1-0 but this score did not really reflect the visitors’ superiority.
Kinizi were not new to the Maltese. In season 1937-38, they had visited Malta under their old name of Ferencvaros.
In 1948, the Communist regime of the time forced all football clubs in the country to reform on a trade union basis.
Ferencvaros, one of the most famous clubs in Hungary, changed their name to Budapest Kinizi and became the team of the Food Workers Trade Union.
Kinizi opened the tourney with a drawn game against MFA XI. This time the Maltese selection played up to expectations, forcing a creditable 2-2 draw.
After winning against Beograd, Kinizi won their third match here, beating Floriana 2-1.
Kinizi’s last match in Malta was a return game against the MFA XI.
Once again, the encounter ended in a draw.
It was, however, gratifying to see the Maltese throw overboard the defensive tactics adopted against the Hungarians in the first match.
This time the game was fast, tough and full of attractive football but, in the end, neither side managed to score.