Hibernians F.C.

Not to be confused with the Scottish football club Hibernian F.C..

This article is about the Maltese football club. For other uses, see Hibernian.

Hibernians Football Club is a Maltese professional football club based in the town of Paola. They are the only Malta football club to have never been relegated from the Premier League.

Hibernians

Full name	Hibernians Football Club
Nickname(s)	Hibs Raħal Ġdid (Paola) The Peacocks
Founded	1922; 103 years ago (1922)[1]
Ground	Tony Bezzina Stadium, Paola, Malta
Capacity	2,968
Chairman	Ranier Bezzina
Manager	Branko Nišević
League	Maltese Premier League
2023–24	Maltese Premier League, 7th of 14
Website	www.hiberniansfc.mt
Home colours Away colours

History

The club played one season in 1922 as Constitutionals FC, representing the pro-British Constitutional Party.^[2] They started up again in the 1927–28 season and became a top amateur side, winning the Amateur League in 1930–31.^[2]

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Party had upset the Catholic Church so much that, in May 1930, Catholics were told not to vote for the party. The football club changed its name a year later to Hibernians Football Club^[2] as a nod to Hibernian, the club founded by Irish Catholics in Edinburgh. They won their first match as Hibernians 2–1, against HMS Antelope in October 1931.^[2] They had to wait for a place to become available in the professional league, but in January 1933 they joined the league with a 3–1 victory over Sliema Rangers. They have stayed in the top division ever since.^[2] Hibernians then won their first league title in 1961, with a team featuring Maltese international players like brothers Louis and Eddie Theobald and Freddie Mizzi.^[3]

Around 1970 English football legend Sir Stanley Matthews managed Hibernians. He led the club to a League title and two Maltese FA Trophies.^[4]

Hibernians faced a long period of decline followed the success of the 1980s to the end of the decade.^[2] Hibernians have a futsal team, which plays in Malta's top futsal league, the Premier Futsal League.^{[citation needed]}

Stadium

Main article: Hibernians Stadium

The club's home ground is Hibernians Stadium, a multi-use stadium in Paola, which has a capacity of about 3,000.

Honours

Source:^[5]

• Maltese Premier League
  • Winners (13): 1960–61, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2001–02, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2021–22
• Maltese FA Trophy
  • Winners (11): 1961–62, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1997–98, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2024–25
• Maltese Super Cup
  • Winners (4): 1994, 2007, 2015, 2022
• Cassar Cup
  • Winners (2): 1961–62, 1962–63
• Testaferrata Cup
  • Winners (3): 1977–78, 1978–79, 1980–81
• Independence Cup
  • Winners (3): 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71
• Sons of Malta Cup
  • Winners (3): 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
• Olympic Cup
  • Winners (1): 1962–63
• Schembri Shield
  • Winners (1): 1961–62

European record

Accurate as of 11 August 2022

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
European Cup / Champions League	28	5	5	18	20	71	−51	017.86
Cup Winners' Cup	10	2	2	6	4	17	−13	020.00
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	30	3	1	26	25	107	−82	010.00
UEFA Europa Conference League	8	4	2	2	15	14	+1	050.00
UEFA Intertoto Cup	12	2	2	8	9	26	−17	016.67
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	000.00
Total	90	16	12	62	82	238	−156	017.78

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1961–62	European Cup	Prelim	Servette FC	1–2	0–5	1–7
1962–63	European Cup Winners' Cup	Prelim	Olympiacos	w/o	w/o	w/o
		1R	Atlético Madrid	0–1	0–4	0–5
1967–68	European Cup	1R	Manchester United F.C.	0–0	0–4	0–4
1968–69	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1R	Aris Thessaloniki F.C.	0–6	0–1	0–7
1969–70	European Cup	1R	FC Spartak Trnava	2–2	0–4	2–6
1970–71	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Real Madrid C.F.	0–0	0–5	0–5
1971–72	European Cup Winners' Cup	Prelim	Fram	3–0	0–2	3-2
		1R	Steaua Bucharest	0–0	0–1	0–1
1974–75	UEFA Cup	1R	FC Amsterdam	0–7	0–5	0–12
1976–77	UEFA Cup	1R	Grasshoppers	0–2	0–7	0–9
1978–79	UEFA Cup	1R	S.C. Braga	3–2	0–5	3–7
1979–80	European Cup	1R	Dundalk F.C.	1–0	0–2	1–2
1980–81	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Waterford	1–0	0–4	1–4
1981–82	European Cup	1R	Red Star Belgrade	1–2	1–8	2–10
1982–83	European Cup	1R	Widzew Łódź	1–4	1–3	2–7
1986–87	UEFA Cup	1R	Trakia Plovdiv	0–2	0–8	0–10
1994–95	UEFA Cup	Prelim	FC Dinamo Minsk	4–3 (a.e.t.)	1–3	5–6
1995–96	UEFA Cup	Prelim	FC Chornomorets Odesa	2–5	0–2	2–7
1996	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Group 11	FC Ural Yekaterinburg	1–2	—	5th
			PFC CSKA Sofia	—	1–4
			RC Strasbourg Alsace	0–2	—
			Kocaelispor	—	3–5
2001	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Zagłębie Lubin	1–0	0–4	1–4
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Shelbourne F.C.	2–2	1–0	3–2
		2Q	Boavista F.C.	3–3	0–4	3–7
2003	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	AC Allianssi	1–1	0–1	1–2
2004	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	NK Slaven Belupo	2–1	0–3	2–4
2005–06	UEFA Cup	1Q	AC Omonia	0–3	0–3	0–6
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1Q	FC Dinamo București	0–4	1–5	1–9
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	FK Vojvodina	0–2	1–5	1–7
2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	ND Gorica	0–3	0–0	0–3
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	1Q	FK Mogren	0–2	0–4	0–6
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FK Sarajevo	4–4	2–5	6–9
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FK Vojvodina	1–4	2–3	3–7
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FC Spartak Trnava	2–4	0–5	2–9
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.	2–1	1–5	3–6
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FC Spartak Trnava	0–3	0–3	0–6
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	1Q	FCI Tallinn	2–0	1–0	3–0
		2Q	FC Red Bull Salzburg	0–3	0–3	0–6
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	0–1	0–1	0–2
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Vaduz	—	2–0	—
		2Q	Fehérvár	0–1	—	—
2021–22	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Flora	0–3	0–2	0–5
	UEFA Europa Conference League	2Q	Folgore	4–2	3–1	7–3
		3Q	Riga	1–4 (a.e.t.)	1–0	2−4
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Shamrock Rovers	0–0	0–3	0−3
	UEFA Europa Conference League	2Q	FCI Levadia	3–2	1–1	4–3
		3Q	RFS	1–3	1–1	2−4
2025–26	UEFA Conference League	2Q

Players

For a list of all former and current Hibernians F.C. players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:Hibernians F.C. players.

Maltese teams are limited to eight players without Maltese citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country.

Current squad

As of 5 February, 2025^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Pablo Sánchez 3 DF  MLT Luke Debono 4 MF  NGA Silas Alfred 5 DF  MLT Kurt Shaw 6 MF  MLT Lucas Caruana 7 FW  BRA Lucas Villela 8 MF  BRA Khevin Fraga 9 FW  BRA Miullen 10 FW  MLT Jurgen Degabriele 11 MF  MLT Bjorn Kristensen 13 MF  MLT Jake Portelli 14 DF  MLT Dexter Xuereb

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  MLT Isaac Joseph Chetcuti 16 DF  POR Rui Bruno 17 FW  MLT Isaiah Chukunyere 18 DF  MLT Leon Abela 19 MF  UKR Stanislav Sorokin 20 FW  ARG Federico Falcone 21 FW  BRA Alex Bruno 22 DF  GRE Apostolos Martinis 23 MF  MLT Timothy Eviparker 25 DF  MLT Jamie Sultana 30 GK  MLT Hugo Sacco 44 DF  BRA Pedrão

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

Historical list of coaches

• Joe A. Griffiths
• Saviour Cuschieri (1961 – 1962)
• Jimmy Davidson (1962 – 1963)
• Hillary Tagliaferro (1964 – 1966)
• Lino Bugeja (1966 – 1970)
• Hillary Tagliaferro (1967 – 1970)
• Johnny Calleja (1972 – 1977)
• George Busuttil (1977 – 1979)
• Eddie Theobald (1981 – 1982)
• Johnny Calleja (1982 – 1983)
• George Busuttil (1984 – 1985)
• Terenzio Polverini (1987 – 1988)
• Edward Darmanin (1987 – 1989)
• Joe Cilia (1989 – 1992)
• Brian Talbot (1992 – 1996)
• Mark Miller (1997;– 1999)
• Robert Gatt (30 June 1999 – 8 July 2007)
• Edmond Lufi (2007 – 8 September 2008)
• Mark Miller (1 July 2008 – 2012)
• Michael Woods (13 June 2012 – 2013)
• Branko Nišević (30 May 2013 – 2016)
• Mark Miller (2016 – 5 March 2018)^[7]
• Mario Muscat (5 March 2018 – 4 July 2018)^[8]
• Stefano Sanderra (4 July 2018 – 30 June 2022)
• Andrea Pisanu (8 July 2022 – 6 February 2023)
• Silvio Vella (7 February 2023 – 1 June 2023)
• Branko Nišević (17 July 2023 – )

Women's team

A women's team plays in the Women's Maltese First Division. The team is the national record champion with twelve titles, the most recent being won in 2016.^[9]

See also

• Hibernians Basketball Club