Valletta’s Tunisian player Abdelkarim Nafti, centre, can now play in the cup tie. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Four non-EU Valletta FC players have finally been granted UK visas, one day before their crucial Europa League qualifying match in Wales this evening – at a total cost to the club of some €10,000.

Club president Victor Sciriha told Times of Malta the four players flew to Paris on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to secure visas allowing them to join up with the rest of the team for the first leg of their first-round qualifier against Newtown FC in Wales.

The players could not get their visas in Malta because the application centre was unable to give them an appointment until June 7, five days after the match. The centre, run by a commercial company on behalf of the British High Commission, only opens for four hours every fortnight.

Mr Sciriha said the players were told to travel to Rome and apply for their visas there, paying €135 each on top of the €209 they had already paid to apply in Malta. At the last second, however, the club was advised they would stand a better chance of success if they applied in Paris, where the visas were granted yesterday at a cost of £900 (€1,269) each.

The four players who required a visa were Tunisian Abdelkarim Nafti and new signings Umeh Calictus from Nigeria, Thierry Tazemeta from Equatorial Guinea and Maxim Focsa from Moldova.

Just getting these visas has cost us €10,000

The group finally arrived in Birmingham at about 6pm yesterday, from where they travelled to Wales to meet up with the rest of the squad members, who travelled on Monday. “Including all the flights and accommodation, just getting these visas has cost us €10,000 but the important thing now is that the players can take part in the match,” Mr Sciriha said. He had expressed disbelief saying it was easier for players to obtain visas for Belarus and Azerbaijan than to enter the UK. He said the players’ availability was a major boost to the team, which was now confident of its chances of progressing to the next qualifying round.

Qualification would bring in about €210,000 for the club in UEFA revenue as well as a potentially lucrative second-round tie against FC Copenhagen of Denmark.