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by Pamela Schembri from London The highly anticipated VisitMalta Weekender kicks off this weekend at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea taking on Bayer Leverkusen on Friday (kick off 20:00) and AC Milan (kick off 16:00) on Sunday. These two fixtures form part of Chelsea’s preseason preparations ahead of what promises to be an exciting new campaign. In this morning’s press conference, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca shared his thoughts on the club's historic achievements, squad readiness, and the challenges of a condensed pre-season. Fresh off winning the FIFA Club World Cup for the second time in the club’s history, Chelsea’s players returned from a short three-week holiday and resumed training last Monday. “This is a unique situation,” Maresca said. “We’ve just achieved something massive, but the real question is: how will the players respond? Will they ride the wave of confidence, or will the fatigue of a 64-game season take [...]

minn Pamela Schembri f'Londra Il-VisitMalta Weekender se jinżamm dan il-weekend fi Stamford Bridge, fejn Chelsea se jilagħbu kontra Bayer Leverkusen il-Ġimgħa (kick-off fit-20:00) u AC Milan il-Ħadd (kick-off fl-16:00). Dawn iż-żewġ logħbiet huma parti mill-preparazzjonijiet ta’ qabel l-istaġun ta’ Chelsea hekk kif jibda l-istaġun il-ġdid. F’konferenza tal-aħbarijiet dalgħodu, il-kowċ ta’ Chelsea Enzo Maresca esprima l-ħsibijiet tiegħu dwar is-suċċessi riċenti tal-klabb, il-preparamenti tal-iskwadra, u l-isfidi taż-żmien qasir tat-taħriġ. Wara li Chelsea rebħu t-Tazza tad-Dinja tal-Klabbs tal-FIFA għat-tieni darba fl-istorja tagħhom, il-plejers reġgħu lura minn vaganza ta’ tliet ġimgħat u bdew it-taħriġ mill-ġdid nhar it-Tnejn li għadda. “Din hija sitwazzjoni unika,” qal Maresca. “Għadna kemm ksibna suċċess kbir, imma l-mistoqsija vera hi: kif se jirrispondu l-plejers? Se jibqgħu għaddejjin b’din il-mewġa ta’ kunfidenza, jew l-għejja se tħalli impatt, hekk kif spiċċajna staġun ta’ 64 logħba?” Minkejja l-ħin limitat ta’ mistrieħ, l-atmosfera fl-iskwadra hija deskritta bħala pożittiva ħafna. “Hemm ħafna enerġija, il-moral [...]

National Lottery plc and the Malta Sports Journalists Association (MSJA) are pleased to announce that Malta Men’s Rugby Sevens National Team won the third IZIBET Elite Athlete Award for 2025, covering the months of May and June. The Malta Men’s Rugby Sevens National Team achieved a historic promotion to the Rugby Europe Sevens Trophy Division which is the second highest tier out of five in European Rugby. The team progressed from the lower-tier Conference 2 division in only three years. Malta entered the Rugby Europe Conference 1 tournament with a 24–17 loss to Serbia. However, that was not the end of it! They bounced back strongly, defeating Finland 27-10 and Austria 27-21, securing the second place in the group and a spot in the semifinal against Andorra. In a thrilling semifinal, Malta had a 10-7 victory and secured the promotion to the Trophy Division. Unfortunately, due to a [...]