# Hibernians F.C.

Hibernians Football Club is a Maltese professional football club based in the town of Paola.

## History

The club played one season in 1922 as Constitutionals FC, representing the pro-British Constitutional Party. They started up again in the 1927–28 season and became a top amateur side, winning the Amateur League in 1930–31.
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 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. 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. 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.
Around 1970 English football legend Sir Stanley Matthews managed Hibernians. He led the club to a League title and two Maltese FA Trophies.
Hibernians faced a long period of decline followed the success of the 1980s to the end of the decade. Hibernians have a futsal team, which plays in Malta's top futsal league, the Premier Futsal League.

## 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:
* 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 (10): 1961–62, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1997–98, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2011–12, 2012–13
* 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 |
| 1962–63 | European Cup Winners' Cup | 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 |
| 1971–72 | European Cup Winners' Cup | 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 |
| 1996 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 11 | PFC CSKA Sofia | — | 1–4 | 5th |
| 1996 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 11 | RC Strasbourg Alsace | 0–2 | — | 5th |
| 1996 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Group 11 | Kocaelispor | — | 3–5 | 5th |
| 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 |
| 2002–03 | UEFA Champions League | 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 |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Champions League | 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 | — |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | 2Q | Fehérvár | 0–1 | — | — |
| 2021–22 | UEFA Champions League | 1Q | Flora | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–5 |
| 2021–22 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2Q | Folgore | 4–2 | 3–1 | 7–3 |
| 2021–22 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 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 |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2Q | FCI Levadia | 3–2 | 1–1 | 4–3 |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 3Q | RFS | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2−4 |

## 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 September, 2024
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)
* Mario Muscat (5 March 2018 – 4 July 2018)
* 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.