The 2019/20 season is set to be a milestone for Sta Luċia FC. The modest club will be making their debut in the Premier League for the first time since their foundation in 1974.
The Saints earned the right to play in the Premier League via the promotion play-off but intend to prolong their stay in the top flight by more than one year.
Last season, despite having a squad of mainly inexperienced players, the Saints still succeeded in winning promotion to the top-flight.
Now that they are among the big boys of Maltese football, Sta Luċia have no plans of discarding their philosophy to attract young hopefuls and nurturing them into top players.
Addressing a press conference, Sta Luċia president Martin Agius said that they have teamed up with foreign-based organisation specialising in youth football affairs, helping the club to continue with their development work in nurturing young players.
“Developing young players has always been our identity and we are determined to maintain this philosophy even now that we are in the Premier League,” he said.
“Our average age is 22 years and our primary goal being to nurture the careers of young players, both local and foreign. We succeeded to attract young players from Porto and Botafogo. Apart from a seasoned foreign trio – Batata Junior Wilkerson, Maycon Santana and Camilo Escobar – we have recruited mainly U-21 players,” Agius explained.
“We are providing them with a platform to showcase their talents. They will be monitored week in, week out by foreign scouts. Hopefully, at the end, some of them could launch a career abroad,” he added.
Sta Luċia coach Oliver Spiteri is no newcomer to the Premier League, though, having led Balzan and Naxxar lately in the top flight.
“Sta Luċia always meant something special for me,” he said. “When their offer arrived last February I could not turn it down. The environment there suits my style of management. I was brought up in the locality and the committee members are all my peers with whom I enjoyed playing for this club. We were immediately in agreement on the way forward.
“Obviously, the first objective for Sta Luċia should be to keep their place in the Premier League. However, our long-term project is to produce quality players that could make it abroad in future.”
“I am really pleased with the pre-season, especially the mentality shown by our players, their readiness to suffer. From what I’ve seen so far, I think there will be three to four teams who are ready to launch a bid for the championship, two others who will try to clinch a European football berth, whereas the rest, they will battle it out to avoid the drop,” he explained.
Spiteri is wary of their tough start to the league as the newcomers were pitted against champions Valletta and Gżira United in their first two outings.
“Look, the ball is round, we play 11 against 11 and our ultimate test are not the first two games but the rest of the season,” he stressed.