From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Vegalta Sendai are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Hamrun Spartans will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Azer Kozić 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Rafael Compri knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hamrun Spartans, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match25 Jan 2027
39 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market25 Jan 2027
Eder Bruno hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hamrun Spartans can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Danilo Bulevardi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 146% of everything Hamrun Spartans earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damir Céter, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 7.81 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Hamrun Spartans had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Hamrun Spartans did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Al-Batin come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hamrun Spartans did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.84, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match16 Jan 2027
A 2‑0 win over Birkirkara, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías García, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Hamrun Spartans did not have in the autumn.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Hamrun Spartans's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hamrun Spartans has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Timothy Robert and Hamrun Spartans agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market11 Jan 2027
Kean Wren is 19, and Hamrun Spartans have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match9 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Hamrun Spartans did not have in the autumn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Hamrun Spartans will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ivan Ponomarenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.61 on the card, and the Hamrun Spartans support went home talking about one name.
Market4 Jan 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Hamrun Spartans signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Dec 2026
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match26 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Hamrun Spartans did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 8.99 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
268% of the income goes out in wages at Hamrun Spartans
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.86 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Azer Kozić, and the manager let it.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Blessing Eleke
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A masterclass from Jonny
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rafael Compri will call it something else in private.
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Hamrun Spartans did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Dec 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Michele Carboni. 1‑0 against Floriana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Damir Céter
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad14 Dec 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Hamrun Spartans have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Mbong, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Hamrun Spartans have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Ryan Camenzuli. Hamrun Spartans will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Nov 2026
Position 2 and 27 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Nov 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A performance of 9.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
322% of the income goes out in wages at Hamrun Spartans
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Azer Kozić
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Mosta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Eder Bruno
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Damir Céter asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 6 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Matías García, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Gzira United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Nov 2026
Hamrun Spartans refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 19 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tshidiso Monamodi. 2‑1 against Birkirkara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
322% of the income goes out in wages at Hamrun Spartans
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Jonny in the eights
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Azer Kozić 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Malcolm Formosa and Hamrun Spartans agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.97 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Damir Céter 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Azer Kozić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hamrun Spartans are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 9.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Rafael Compri
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Henry Bonello lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match17 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Hamrun Spartans have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces12 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 22 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 69 days on the sidelines for Matías García, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Mbong, and the manager let it.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Damir Céter turns it into his own net
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Hamrun Spartans deserved better, and so did he.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
The one thing Kléri Serber could not do
Shots: 4, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑1 against Zabbar St. Patrick, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Market5 Oct 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 Hamrun Spartans, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Oct 2026
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hamrun Spartans know it.
Squad5 Oct 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
541% of the income goes out in wages at Hamrun Spartans
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Hamrun Spartans have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Blessing Eleke. 2‑1 against Floriana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Inzoudine, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.78 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kléri Serber finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Hamrun Spartans have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rafael Compri may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Tshidiso Monamodi has let it be known that he does not like the way Hamrun Spartans are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
97 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Henry Bonello knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hamrun Spartans can pretend not to have heard.
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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
410% of the income goes out in wages at Hamrun Spartans
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Hamrun Spartans will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Hamrun Spartans will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Damir Céter
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 16, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market31 Aug 2026
Clive Xuereb is 16, and Hamrun Spartans have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market31 Aug 2026
He is 17, and nobody at Hamrun Spartans signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Danilo Bulevardi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Marsaxlokk, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 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 Hamrun Spartans, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Aug 2026
Vegalta Sendai are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Hamrun Spartans will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Damir Céter was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 125 days on the sidelines for Matías García, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Hamrun Spartans did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Danilo Bulevardi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Hamrun Spartans will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jamie Azzopardi commits to Hamrun Spartans for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danilo Bulevardi and Hamrun Spartans agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 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 Hamrun Spartans this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Hamrun Spartans know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ryan Camenzuli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.