S.K. Victoria Wanderers Football Club is a Maltese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club from the town of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Gozo. They were founded in 1958 and throughout the club's history, they have won the

Gozo Football League First Division The Gozitan First Division, known for sponsorship reasons as the BOV GFL First Division, is the top division of the Gozo Football League, the league competition for men's football clubs in Gozo. The GFL First Division is played on three roun ...

championship once, as Victoria United during the 1978–79 season.

History

The club was founded as Victoria City in 1958 to play in the Second Division of the

Gozo Football League The Gozo Football League is a football competition for clubs on the Maltese island of Gozo, in the Mediterranean Sea. The league is run by the Gozo Football Association and currently has 14 teams split into two divisions, the First Division ( ...

; the town of Victoria already had a long tradition in Maltese football through several older defunct clubs and the still present Victoria Hotspurs.

Early years

Victoria picked up their first piece of silverware during 1962–63 by winning the Gozitan Second Division, they were promoted to the top level of the island's football system. Their name was changed to SK Wanderers in 1963 for their step up to the top league. After four seasons in the Gozitan First Division, the club were thrown out of the league and banned for two seasons. To get around this, the club refounded as Sabina United for the following season in the Second Division, where they managed to gain promotion straight back into the top division. For their second return to the top division in 1968, they went under the name Victoria Wanderers, but were relegated straight back down.

League success

This time they stayed for a longer spell in the Second Division, gaining promotion in the 1973–74 season as Victoria United, the league had also been expanded from six clubs, to eleven for a season. However, this was to be a

yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

time for a club and they bounced between the two leagues during the decade, picking up the Second Division title for the third time in 1977–78. Victoria United were crowned champions of Gozo in 1978–79, just a year after they had won the Second Division. This was the most prestigious title won by the club, and the only time they have finished top in the whole of Gozo. It didn't last long for the club as they were soon bouncing between the leagues again, winning a fourth Second Division title.

Recent times

During 1991 the name of the club was changed back to one which they had used during the 1960s; SK Victoria Wanderers, the first season back under that name the club won the Second Division. Since winning the Second Division Championship in 07/08, the club have played continually in the First Division, finishing 3rd in 2011/2012.

Current squad

Honours

* Gozo First Division **Champions: 1978–1979, * Gozo Second Division **Champions: 1962–1963, 1967–1968, 1977–1978, 1983–1984, 1991–1992, 2007–2008, 2022-23 *

GFA Cup The GFA Cup, currently known as the Bank of Valletta, BOV GFA Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football cup competition in Gozo, run by and named after the Gozo Football Association. Th ...

**Champions: 2008–2009 * Independence Cup **2010–2011 * Freedom Day Cup **Champions: 2008–2009 *ESSO Cup **Champions: 1964–1965 *Galea Cup **Champions: 1965–1966 * Second Division Knock-Out Cup **Champions: 1977–1978, 2001–2002, 2002–2003, 2007–2008 * Second Division Challenge Cup **Champions: 2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2022–2023

References

External links

S.K. Victoria Wanderers Football Club Official Website
{{Maltese football Victoria Wanderers Victoria Wanderers Victoria, Gozo