Controversy aside, the Maltese fans embracing the World Cup dream

The World Cup has kicked off, with matches throughout June and July hosted in Canada, Mexico, and the US. As thousands travel to the host countries, Giulia Magri speaks to three Maltese football fans who have travelled to watch the games live

As Aidan Mifsud joined excited fans at the Toronto Stadium on Friday to watch Canada take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the opening match on Canadian soil, his mind went back to the summer of 1982, to his home town of Attard, where his love of the game began.

Mifsud joined thousands of fans from across the world who came to celebrate one thing, irrespective of nationality or culture, and that is the love of football. Arriving ahead of the match, he encountered a sea of red, symbolising the Canadian red home kit.

Mifsud, who moved to Canada 28 years ago, was determined to be part of the crowd, despite the hurdles and controversies linked to the football’s showpiece event.

“Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino seemed determined to destroy the true essence of what a World Cup means to me, and what has, I can say unashamedly, shamed a huge part of my life experiences,” the 53-year-old told Times of Malta.

Aidan Mifsud at the Toronto stadium moments before the World Cup in Canada kicked off.

“I grappled with the many moral and personal issues surrounding buying tickets. But this is my dream. Regardless of everything else, I wanted to be at a World Cup match in Canada.”

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has been overshadowed by controversy because it is being played largely in the US under Trump’s administration, whose hardline immigration and border policies are clashing with the tournament’s ethos of global inclusion. 

Aidan Mifsud (right) before the Canada match.

Mifsud despised how FIFA took the World Cup away from real fans, especially with high-ticket prices. He managed to get two tickets in the FIFA lottery, with the ticket for the opening match coming with a price tag of $1,300. He said he was luckier with the Canada-Qatar game, as he paid $88.

“I would have loved to take my two daughters, but affording one ticket was a stretch,” he said. 

“It bothers me a lot that Infantino is so close to Trump that he can’t speak up about the injustices and fear present in the US now. And now it is even worse with players from certain countries being searched on arrival and fans, officials, and journalists being denied entry,” he said.

Earlier last week, top Somali referee Omar Artan was dropped from officiating at the World Cup after he was barred from entering the US.

Despite all this, Mifsud decided to go to the event for his dream, but with one condition. 

“I have tickets for Canada's matches in the round of 32 and 16 if they make it. If they are in the US, I won’t go.”

The director of tennis at a private club in Edmonton said that despite leaving Malta when he was 22, the island is always wrapped around his life memories, and those around football. 

He was still sitting for his last year of school exams when the 1982 World Cup in Spain took place. 

“I knew I wanted to be part of that one day,” he said. 

Italy beat Brazil in one of tournament’s all-time classics, Paolo Rossi became a national hero, and the Italians went on to win the tournament. 

“The final, like many events still at that age, was a reason for all my extended family to get together at my grandfather’s house in Sliema. As we left to drive back to Attard, my young brain was blown away by the number of people celebrating Italy’s win on the Sliema front. This is so much fun, I thought.”

Later, he experienced the World Cup in his new home, Canada, and he slowly realised how Toronto, with its true multiculturalism, was a good place to watch the World Cup. 

A once-in-a-lifetime moment

Unlike Mifsud, other Maltese fans will be travelling to the US for what has been described as a “once in a lifetime” moment. 

Sam Barthet has always dreamed of watching the World Cup live and recalls his first memories of the game from the age of five. He described football as a “constant” in his life. After playing semi-professionally for a number of years, he now plays amateur football. 

“The last time the US hosted the World Cup was in 1994, and now, at the age of 26, I get to be part of thousands of fans going to watch this huge spectacle,” he said.

Sam Barthet has been a fan of the game since he was five.

Barthet will be travelling to New York in the coming days with a group of friends and said they all felt lucky with how smoothly things have gone so far. 

He recalled managing to buy tickets early last year after being selected in a FIFA ticket raffle. At the time, they based their choices on the stadiums where they wanted to watch the matches, as the teams had not yet been drawn. 

“We got very lucky. We paid €350 for two tickets each, which is a very good price, considering we know people who tried to get similar tickets for €800,” he said. 

“We booked specifically for New York, as I fell in love with the city the last time I visited and was super excited to be there again, this time for the World Cup.”

Later, the group found out they would be watching Brazil vs Haiti and Norway vs Senegal and felt extremely lucky to be watching the nation that has won a record five FIFA World Cup titles. 

It won’t be a cheap holiday, but I am ready to balance and budget during the trip

The group struck luck again when looking for flights, finding direct flights with Delta Air Lines, which operated its inaugural Malta-New York flight earlier last week.  

The one hiccup the group faced was booking transport to the matches in New Jersey. The $15 train fare had shot up to $150, so they opted to travel by shuttle bus instead. 

“It won’t be a cheap holiday, but I am ready to balance and budget during the trip,” he said. 

Nothing compares to watching football live

Football fan and the vice president of the Żabbar football team Jeremy Dalli agrees with Barthet’s sentiment. 

“I grew up always believing that nothing beats watching a live match. The crowds, the atmosphere of walking into the stadium, fans wearing football shirts and the mixture of different cultures. It’s truly an experience.”

While Dalli has watched live his favourite team, Juventus, the Euro finals and the classic 2006 World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany, this doesn’t mean he misses out on the chance to watch Malta’s national games too.  

“I have always been a stadium person, growing up, I would always watch Valletta play, and I follow the Maltese national team too.”

Last year, the 53-year-old began planning the trip, with the idea of incorporating a family holiday around the matches. 

He, too, was chosen in the FIFA raffle as an early bird registrant to buy tickets. 

“I bought the tickets for €500, which was probably the cheapest option at the time. The same tickets I had were being sold at much higher prices,” he said.

Dalli, along with his wife and son, will be watching two matches in New York and another in Toronto, Canada. 

Booking flights turned into another small hurdle when Dalli found out his son had an exam a day before one of the matches, England vs Panama. Dalli said the last game in Toronto is a surprise, as it is the Group K runners-up vs the Group L runners-up.

“I managed to find an evening flight, and we would arrive in New York just in time for the game,” he said. Dalli also faced a similar issue with the price of the train to New Jersey, and like Barthet and many other fans, he will be catching the shuttle bus. 

Asked if he was hesitant to travel to the US, among all the controversy surrounding the World Cup, he said that if he thought that way for every trip he did, he would end up going nowhere.

American players celebrate after scoring against Paraguay on Saturday. Photo: AFP