A 10-men squad led by club president Mario Vella left for Skopje today for the UEFA Futsal Cup Preliminary round Group F.

The newly formed local Futsal (five-a-side indoor) team has high hopes of extending the recent positive results obtained in last year's UEFA Futsal Cup which was held at the KMS' Cottonera Complex.

Last year it was Malta Champions ZC Excess who represented Malta against domestic Futsal Champions from Finland, Denmark and Albania.

ZC had managed four points, a win and a draw.

This year's Maltese representatives, Excess RP Bidnija, is a merger between last season's champions and former River Plate Bidnija.

Team manager Nathaniel Jones explains:

"We embarked on this merger with the intention to be a stronger team in the local MFA championship. We are positive about an acceptable performance here in Skopje in the UEFA Futsal Cup".

Jones said that ZC Excess players namely Clint Cope, Carlos Scicluna, Florin Anton and keeper Brian Baldacchino have opted to stay at Excess and be part of this new team.

"After our amalgamation we decided to immediately start our preparation for the UEFA Futsal Cup, and I personally would like to win six points and surpass the great achievement of Malta's representatives of last year," he added.

He said this will be a very difficult tournament for the Malta team as the other three teams in the group had professional players.

However, it intended to use this experience to serve us as a preparation for the new domestic season.

"Our administration strongly believes in the potential and experience of our players.

"We have elements like Alexander Ribic (ex Naxxar Motors) and Vojko Martino,v who have already tasted the UEFA Futsal Cup experience in the past with Hibernians FC and this is surely a boost for the rest of the squad."

Excess RP Bidnija UEFA Futsal Cup 2011 Group F Fixtures:

Today - vs KMF Zelezarec Skopje (Macedonia)

Tomorrow - vs CF Eindhoven (The Netherlands)

Sunday - vs Istanbul Üniversitesi SK (Turkey)