The draws for the competition were organised on Friday 6th November 2009. The Hamrun team was placed with the following teams:

ASD Reggio Emilia (ITA), FTC Le Raincy (FRA), Cardiff San Siro (WAL), ITEC Olympia (GRE), Sparta Spreeathen 74/82 (GER), SMV Delft (NED), JSC Rochefort (BEL). A first glance at the teams was enough to assume that Reggio Emilia, current Italian champions would have won the group without problems and that Rochefort would have placed second. All the other teams were contenders for the third and fourth place which would have meant qualification to the last 16! The main objective of the team was to pass the group. On paper the qualification looked difficult but not impossible. The team was fired up and well prepared to play a great tournament!

The first opponent HTFC faced was Cardiff Bluebirds San Siro, from Wales. Incidentally in Hamrun's last participation in the Europa Cup in 2007 they had also met the team from Wales. In that occasion Hamrun came out winners without any real treat. However, since then, Cardiff strengthened their squad significantly with the addition of Chris Short and Chris Thomas. It was vital for Hamrun to start on a good note. The matches and results were:

Chris Short vs Ilai Zammit Marmara' 1-1
Chris Thomas vs Stefan Pace  0-0
Phil Dacey vs Kenneth Attard  0-1
David Lauder vs Mario Camilleri   1-4

The outcome of the match was exactly what the team had planned before the match. The team together had decided that Ilai and Stefan would take on Cardiff's two best players with the main objective being to not lose the match. Kenneth and Mario had the matches which needed to be wins for the Hamrun team to take all three points from this match. The team was over the moon after the win. They all knew this was not an easy match and that it was a match against a direct encounter.

The second match Hamrun were involved in was against Olympia from Greece. Another team which Hamrun had already met in their last Europa Cup participation in 2007. Two years ago this was a very easy win. The team had managed to win with a 4-0 score line. This year the team had two new players, who unfortunately the team had no info on.  The matches and results were as follows:

Dimitris Kourampas vs Ilai Zammit Marmara' 0-2
Dimitris Mavromitros vs Kenneth Attard  1-1
Kostas Kechris (c) vs Mario Camilleri  1-1
Kostas Stamokostas vs Stefan Pace  1-0

As the results suggest, this was not even close to an easy match for the team. The end result was a draw. On a positive note was that the team had a better goal difference, which meant that if at the end of the group stage the two teams ended with the same number of points it would have been Hamrun to place before Olympia. Not the best result, however a positive one which kept Hamrun on the right track to qualify from the group.

Hamrun met the dutch team, SMV Delft in the third match. Hamrun had already faced this team two years ago. There were no good memories out of that match as the team had lost the encounter 2-1, not achieving qualification from the group. The matches and results were as follows:

Kenneth Attard  vs Robbert Thoen/Maco de Bruin 1-0
Stefan Pace  vs Nico Marks   1-0
Ilai Zammit Marmara' vs Maikel de Haas   0-1
Mario Camilleri  vs Ron Corsten   2-2

This was a very close match till the last seconds of the match. A goal towards the end of the match would have changed everything. But the Hamrun players resisted and this time it was Hamrun to come out on the winning side with a 2-1 score line.

Sparta Spreeathen 74/82 was the fourth opponent for Hamrun. This was the first encounter between the two teams. Not much was known on the opponents. Hamrun did not have a fifth player to go round other matches and take note of the opponents results. No particular strategy was used to place the players. The matches and results were as follows:

Michael Stolzenberg vs Kenneth Attard  0-0
Rainer Vogt  vs Stefan Pace  1-2
Marcel Kwiatkowski vs Ilai Zammit Marmara' 1-2
Björn Kegenbein vs Mario Camilleri  2-2

At half time things were not looking pretty for the team. Stefan was losing, whilst the other three matches were draw. If the match finished then, the team would have lost the match 1-0. However a whole other half was still to be played. The team was motivated and believed things could still be turned around. In fact they managed to turn things brilliantly. Stefan managed to score two goals to win the match, whilst Ilai managed to score one to also win his match. This meant the team now had 10 points from a total possible 12 points. Things were looking good. From all the direct encounters so far, the team had never lost! Thoughts started getting into the players heads that the team was able to get an even better place than the fourth place which was required to pass the group stage.

In the fifth match the Hamrun boys faced FTC Le Raincy from France. Again, this was the first encounter between the two teams. Before the match, several people were saying that the French team had not yet obtained any points and that they are a rather weak team. On paper this meant an easy win for Hamrun. However, the players emphasized that no team should be underestimated and concentration remained high! The matches and results were as follows:

Kenneth Attard  vs Frédéric Berthe  3-0
Stefan Pace  vs Jérémie Meyran 6-0
Ilai Zammit Marmara' vs Johnny Ledieu  5-0
Mario Camilleri  vs Mike Ledieu  2-1

As the results suggest this match was an easy match for Hamrun which they won without any real threat from the opposition. At this point the team was super excited! Thirteen points out of a total possible fifteen points and still unbeaten! This meant the team was close to obtaining third place.

After the match against the French team, Hamrun were involved in refereeing another match. After which it was time to call it a day. All the players were in need of a deserved rest. The tournament would continue the next day. The Hamrun boys could at last switch off and relax. But suddenly after finishing the referee the competition organizers announced that another session was going to be played. Everyone looked surprised as they all thought it was time to go home! Nothing the team could do at that point. They went to get their team and off to the pitches once again. This time the opponents were JSC Rochefort. On paper these were harder than the previous encounters. Everyone thought they would place second only after Reggio Emilia. The Hamrun players looked anything but worried! They had so far played a very good tournament. The team had nothing to lose! The team was close and felt that a good team effort might have made the team get something out of this match. The matches and results played were:

Em. Gorgette/A. Robillard vs Kenneth Attard  0-1
Jean-Marie Amberny  vs Ilai Zammit Marmara' 1-1
Valéry Dejardin   vs Stefan Pace  3-0
Michael Roberty  vs Mario Camilleri  1-2

At half time the scores were level. Ilai and Mario were drawing their matches, Kenneth was winning and Stefan was losing to their best player. Probably all the Hamrun players would have been happy to call it a day and end the match in a draw. But something deep down kept motivating the team to keep focused as something great can come out of this match. In fact, Mario managed to win his match which resulted in Hamrun getting all three points available, leaving Rochefort empty handed. This not only confirmed that a higher place could be achieved other than fourth place the team was aiming for. It also confirmed that the runner up spot was Hamrun's and that no other team could reach them even if they lost their last match against Reggio Emilia. The players couldn't believe what they had just done! All the team started hugging each other, shouting and singing along! They had just obtained a memorable second place!

It was now time to return to the hotel and rest after a long and stressful day. The team was hyped up; none of the players would have ever bet a penny on the team achieving second place.

The next day Hamrun faced Italian champions, Reggio Emilia. None of the players dared saying it, but a win here would have meant passing Reggio and winning the group. On the other hand a draw for Reggio was enough for the Italians to secure first place. The pressure was all on the Italian side. Who would have ever thought that Reggio wouldn't have made the first place spot certain until the last match of the group. A lot of teams were talking of Hamrun. Reggio looked very focused, they could not afford to lose the first spot. In fact they did not underestimate Hamrun, which was probably the mistake Rochefort did.
Reggio are full of big names, not one player that is weaker than the rest where Hamrun could possibly attack! The matches and results played were:

Giancarlo Giulianini vs  Kenneth Attard  0-1
Carlos Flores  vs Ilai Zammit Marmara' 3-2
Massimo Cremona vs Stefan Pace  0-0
Saverio Bari  vs Mario Camilleri  1-1

Once again Hamrun managed to do the unthinkable. They did not manage to win the match but they did manage to obtain a draw. This was another boost for the team. They did not manage to win the group but place second. Second place  was still a great achievement! And a draw against Italian giants is not a result to be thrown away either! What Hamrun achieved was a dream after a wonder team effort!

In the last 16, Hamrun faced other Italian giants, Napoli. Luck was not on Hamrun's side as the team faced Napoli. There were other, weaker teams who Hamrun could have played. But that is luck, sometimes it's with you and sometimes it's not. Obviously the team kept their concentration. They had already obtained two great results beating Rochefort and drawing to Reggio Emilia. Similarly to Reggio, a closer look at the Napoli players gave no weak player. They are all table football giants! The matches and results played were:

Ilai Zammit Marmara vs Vasco Guimaraes 0-1
Kenneth Attard  vs Antonio Mettivieri 1-1
Stefan Pace  vs Vincenzo Varriale 0-0
Mario Camilleri  vs Massimo Bolognino 2-4

After this match the Hamrun boys were eliminated but with their heads high up! A decent result against one of the top teams in the world who kept going in the competition to finally win it! Hamrun had been eliminated, but only to the champions!

Hamrun's matches were not over. In this competition a position has to be given to all the teams, therefore there were other matches the team had to play to obtain a final classification. In the first placings match the team faced TSC Royal 78 from Austria. The matches and results were as follows.

Kenneth Attard  vs Murat Tünger  4-0
Ilai Zammit Marmara vs Stefan Sandner  1-2
Stefan Pace  vs Christian Haas  3-2
Mario Camilleri  vs Alexander Haas  3-2

Another win for Hamrun! This ensured they end up in a higher position at the end of the tournament. In the last match for Hamrun, luck was again not on their side as the team faced Stella Artois Milano. Another Italian powerhouse having ex world champion, Efrem Intra on their team. The matches and results were as follows:

Kenneth Attard  vs Bruno Mazzeo  1-1
Ilai Zammit Marmara vs Efrem Intra  2-2
Stefan Pace  vs- Gianluca Galeazzi 0-2
Mario Camilleri  vs Mario Corradi  2-0

The match ended in a draw. Even though the stakes were not high this was another good performance by the Hamrun players. Especially Ilai, who was fired up, determined not to lose for the third time against an ex world champion. There had to be a winner, so sudden death had to be played. It was Intra who managed to score in sudden death to win them the match. This was unfortunate for the team and for Ilai who was never behind in his match.

All in all this meant 11th place for Hamrun in the FISTF Europa Cup 2009. A very big improvement for the team not just because of the actual better classification but because of some wonderful performances that the team has produced! One thing is for sure… No other team will ever underestimate Hamrun again!
Well done Kenneth, Mario, Stefan and Ilai!