Tony Formosa (2 June 1937 – 13 January 2024) was 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 ...

manager who managed the national team and a host of Maltese top-level teams.

Career

Formosa's playing career started in the 1960/61 season but it was cut short by injury in February 1961, after fracturing his arm in a game against

Marsa Marsa may refer to: Places *Marsa, Aude, a commune in the Aude départment of France * Marsa, Malta, a city in central Malta *Mârșa, a commune in Giurgiu County, Romania * La Marsa, a suburb of the city of Tunis, Tunisia *Mârșa, a village in Av ...

. He totalled only four top tier games for St. Patrick F.C. Formosa had several managerial positions with Maltese giants

Ħamrun Spartans Hamrun (; ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 9,244 as of March 2014. The people The townspeople are traditionally known as ''Tas-Sikkina'' (literally meaning 'of the knife' or 'those who carry a knife') or as ' ...

, Valletta, and Sliema Wanderers as well as with the national team and the Malta U18 team. Formosa was manager of the national team that played its first ever

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against Hungary in 1971 and achieved a record of 40 matches without defeat with Floriana. After coaching in 197 Maltese top flight matches, Formosa retired from managing and was appointed Head of Sports within the Ministry of Education and Culture. In this position, he convinced the government to build new sports facilities and managed to lure the Formula One Offshore Powerboats World Championships to Malta for three successive years.

Death

Formosa died on 13 January 2024, at the age of 86.

Honours

Valletta * Maltese Premier League:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

* Maltese FA Trophy: 1975 * Cassar Cup: 1969 * Independence Cup: 1975 Floriana * Maltese Premier League:

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

* Maltese FA Trophy: 1976, 1981 * Independence Cup: 1976, 1977, 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Formosa, Tony 1937 births 2024 deaths People from Victoria, Gozo Maltese men's footballers Maltese football managers Ħamrun Spartans F.C. managers Malta national football team managers Valletta F.C. managers Floriana F.C. managers Sliema Wanderers F.C. managers Maltese Premier League managers