Marked for Marcelo
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Dec 2026
66 days out for Murilo Henrique after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sliema Wanderers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match5 Dec 2026
Gzira United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sliema Wanderers were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Jamie Wähling, 20, steals the show — 7.95
Marked 7.95 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Nikos Karelis
13 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Jamie Wähling is the month’s best young player
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Sliema Wanderers will try not to make too much of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marcelo named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marcelo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
73 days out for Murilo Henrique after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sliema Wanderers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑5 against Hamrun Spartans, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match28 Nov 2026
Marcelo among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Marcelo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sliema Wanderers and Hamrun Spartans.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 144% of the Sliema Wanderers income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match28 Nov 2026
After 4 games, Sliema Wanderers finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Hamrun Spartans; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Tristan Aquilina to a room that had heard them before.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Beaten 5 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
80 days out for Murilo Henrique after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sliema Wanderers will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Nov 2026
6‑1, and Nikos Karelis took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sliema Wanderers tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Uroš Đuranović takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Đuranović provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.70, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match21 Nov 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sliema Wanderers and Naxxar Lions in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Nikos Karelis
11 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
In brief
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Player ratings
Marcelo in the eights
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Match
Another one collected away from home
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The dugout
Vito Plut gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Murilo Henrique out for 118 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sliema Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Murilo Henrique and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match17 Oct 2026
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Vito Plut gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Hibernians leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tristan Aquilina after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Floriana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Dejan Đurić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sliema Wanderers will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Murilo Henrique out for 125 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sliema Wanderers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Birkirkara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Murilo Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tristan Aquilina after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 Sliema Wanderers players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sliema Wanderers told Jamie Wähling something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Wescley
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wescley, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.58, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sliema Wanderers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nikos Karelis, 34, rolls back the years — 8.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.91 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Sliema Wanderers close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 5‑4 win over Naxxar Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match5 Sep 2026
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sliema Wanderers and Naxxar Lions in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sliema Wanderers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Marcelo at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sliema Wanderers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Murilo Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Tijani Adeloju is in the works
Sliema Wanderers have made the call to Shooting Stars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market17 Aug 2026
Marcelo linked with a move away
The name of Marcelo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sliema Wanderers say nothing, which says plenty.