Milan set for winter training camp in Malta.
Milan are poised to hold a seven-day training camp in Malta early next year. Well placed sources have told The Sunday Times that the Serie A giants have also agreed to play a friendly against Birkirkara, the Malta champions, during their planned sojourn here between January 2 and 9.
Rumours about Milan's potential visit began to proliferate yesterday after high ranking-officials from Birkirkara held talks with delegations from the two clubs representing Milan supporters in Malta, namely the Milan supporters' club Malta and Cuore Rossonero.
Discussions centred on how the two local branches of Rossoneri fans can contribute towards the organisation and promotion of Milan's training camp in Malta.
The Sunday Times has learnt it was John Borg, Birkirkara's international secratary and a respected memeber of the European club forum within UEFA, who set the wheels in motion for Milan's proposed training jaunt in Malta.
Contacted yesterday, Borg did not deny rumours about Milan's impending visit to Malta but refrained from elaborating further on the matter.
Further enquiries yielded more information about various aspects of Milan's trip to Malta. The friendly has been pencilled in for January 8 at the National Stadium, and the match will be broadcasted live on Milan channel.
A deligation from the Serie A club is expected here in the next few days with the aim of inspecting the facilities available.
All of Milan's star players will make the trip to Malta with coach Carlo Ancelotti and high officials from the club, icluding Adriano Galliani.
Although Milan, winners of 17 Serie A titles and six-times European champions, have in theory accepted Birkirkara's invitation, the contract will only be sealed once the Serie A club had concluded their fact-finding mission here.
The initial plan is for Milan to fly out to Malta on January 2. Four days later, they will board a flight to Italy and play Juventus in a Berlusconi cup tie. After the match at the San Siro, the Milan contingent will head back to Malta to continue their training camp. The organisers are mulling over the idea of offering a limited number of VIP seats on the charter flights taking Milan to Italy and back to Malta on January 6.
Umberto Gandini, Milan's organisational manager and European Club Forum representative, played a key role in the club's decision to consider Malta as their winter camp destination. Gandini embraces the concept of solidarity between clubs and his support for Birkirkara's proposal to host Milan next month is in line with his belief that small clubs deserve help from their bigger counter parts.
It is believed that Qatar and the United Arab Emerates were in the running to host Milan's training camp but it seems that no agreement could be reached with either of these two rich countries.
Milan are currently struggleing for form in the Serie A. Gathering a maximum of 9 points from their opening three matches, they succeeded in wipinig out the eight point penalty for their part in last summer's Italian football scandal. However, Carlo Ancelotti's side found the going tough in the following weeks, taking only 10 points from their last 10 matches. Milan who are away to Cagliari this afternoon, travel to Udinese on December 23, the last Serie A day before the Christmas break. Their first Serie A fixture of 2007 is a home match against Reggina on January 14.
This post has been edited by han2503: Dec 4 2006, 07:21 PM
|