John Buttigieg (born 5 October 1963) is a Maltese football manager and former player. His last managerial role was being head coach of

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

. As a player, he played as a defender and is best remembered for his eight-year spells in the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

with

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leag ...

and Floriana. He also played in

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for Brentford and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

and won 97 caps for the

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

national team. After retiring as a player, he managed Birkirkara, Malta, Sliema Wanderers and Floriana.

Playing career

Sliema Wanderers

A sweeper, Buttigieg began his career at hometown

club

at age 16. He established himself in the team during the 1981–82 season, missing just two league games as the club finished runners-up to Hibernians in the league and the

Maltese FA Trophy The FA Trophy, currently known as the IZIBET FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933, ...

. The Blues were relegated in the following season, but reclaimed their place in the Premier League by finishing as 1983–84 First Division champions. Buttigieg's best season came in 1987–88, when his performances earned him the Maltese Premier League Player of the Year award. The Blues would go on to win the league the title the following season, but Buttigieg managed just one appearance before departing the club in November 1988. He made 75 league appearances and scored six goals during eight years with Sliema. He also tasted

European football UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...

with the club, appearing in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in the 1982–83 and 1987–88 seasons.

Brentford

Buttigieg played for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Third Division club Brentford in a

pre-season friendly An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

tournament prior to the start of the beginning of the 1988–89 season, after being spotted by manager Steve Perryman's former colleague Peter Shreeves while playing in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

for

. He eventually signed for the Bees on 2 November 1988 for a £40,000 fee. Buttigieg was brought in to play his natural sweeper role, but the Brentford

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

had trouble adapting to the system, which led Perryman to revert to using a normal defensive line and reducing Buttigieg to making cameo appearances in various positions off the bench. He made 19 appearances in what remained of the 1988–89 season and was a part of the Bees' run to the quarter-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, where they were knocked out by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. Buttigieg began the 1989–90 season in an unfamiliar

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

role and gradually fell out of the first team picture. The departure of Perryman as manager and his replacement Phil Holder's tactical change to a

long ball In association football, a long ball is an attempt to move the ball a long distance down the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfield. R ...

game saw Buttigieg further frozen out and after being

transfer-list The transfer market is the arena in which football players are available for transfer to clubs. The transfer market consists of a list of players available for transfer, and also the money moving between clubs as they contest to purchase and sell ...

ed in November 1990, he was released in May 1991. Buttigieg made 47 appearances during his time at Griffin Park and the 20 caps he won for Malta during that period make him Brentford's most capped international player.

Swindon Town (loan)

Buttigieg moved on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

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club

in September 1990, to cover for injuries. He made four appearances before his loan expired and the Robins were unwilling to make the move permanent.

Floriana

After a transfer dispute with former club Sliema Wanderers saw Buttigieg designated a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, he returned to the Maltese Premier League to sign for

in 1991. He was named captain and won the

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in the

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season and a cup treble in 1993–94. In the 1993–94 season, Buttigieg was part of the Floriana team which was the first (and as of 2014, only) Maltese club to qualify for the first round proper of the Champions League. Buttigieg scored both goals in a 2–0 win over Lithuanian champions Ekranas in the qualifying round, which set the Greens up with a two-legged tie against

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

club

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in the first round. Floriana went out 2–0 on aggregate, but salvaged some pride with a 0–0 draw at the Ta' Qali Stadium in the second leg. He also represented Floriana in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

and the qualifying rounds of the Cup Winners' Cup and the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. By the time he departed Floriana in 1999, Buttigieg had made 155 league appearances and scored eight goals for the club. He held talks over the club's vacant manager's job in October 2009, but the position went to Stephen Azzopardi.

Valletta

Buttigieg saw out his career with a three-season spell with Maltese Premier League club

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

, making over 60 appearances and winning an unprecedented

sextuple In mathematics, a tuple is a finite ordered list (sequence) of elements. An -tuple is a sequence (or ordered list) of elements, where is a non-negative integer. There is only one 0-tuple, referred to as ''the empty tuple''. An -tuple is defi ...

with the club during the 2000–01 season. He experienced European football once again, progressing past Welsh champions Barry Town in the 1999–00 Champions League first qualifying round, before bowing out to Austrian runners-up

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade'' ...

in the second qualifying round. A runners-up finish in the Maltese Premier League in the 1999–00 season saw Valletta qualify for the

2000–01 UEFA Cup Liverpool won the 2000–01 UEFA Cup with a golden goal in the final against Alavés for their third title in the competition. It completed a cup treble for the club, as they also won the FA Cup and the League Cup that season. The conclusion of ...

qualifying round, but they were knocked out by Croatian club Rijeka 8–6 on aggregate. Buttigieg retired from football at the end of the 2001–02 season, after failing to be offered a new contract.

International career

Buttigieg made his international debut in an unsanctioned match between

'A' and an

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amateur XI in February 1980, making a second appearance, again against the Italian amateurs in November 1981. Buttigieg made his debut for the Malta U18 team in February 1981 and won four caps for the team during an unsuccessful qualification campaign for the 1982 European U18 Championship. Buttigieg made his senior international debut on 23 May 1984, in a 1986 FIFA World Cup

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

away to Sweden, which resulted in a 4–0 defeat. Despite failing to qualify for any major tournaments, Buttigieg won the 1992 Rothmans International Tournament with the team in 1992 and was a part of the squad which finished third in the Coupe 7 Novembre in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

the following year. He scored his only international goal with the opener in a 3–0 victory over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

in the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Rothmans Tournament. His 97th and final cap came in a 2–1 friendly defeat to

at the Ta' Qali Stadium on 3 June 2000. In an interview in May 2001, Buttigieg revealed he felt he "wasn't treated well" by the

Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; mt, Assoċjazzjoni tal-Futbol ta' Malta) is the governing body of football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League and several other competitions, including a knockout competition ...

as he was denied a chance to reach 100 caps, despite three additional friendlies being scheduled to take place after the England game.

International goals

Management and coaching career

Busu Football School

After his retirement from football, Buttigieg coached at the Busu Football School, run by former Malta international teammate Carmel Busuttil.

Birkirkara

In March 2007, Buttigieg joined Maltese Premier League club Birkirkara as manager. He had a successful first season, turning the club's fortunes around and winning the 2007–08 Maltese FA Trophy. In June 2008, Buttigieg was awarded a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

pro-coaching license at the renowned Coverciano school in Italy. Buttigieg's Stripes opened the 2008–09 season by winning the Löwenbräu Cup, but suffered defeat to Valletta in the

Maltese Super Cup The Maltese Super Cup is an annual super cup tie held in Malta between the champions of the previous Maltese Premier League season and the holders of the Maltese FA Trophy. In the event that the Premier League champion also won the FA Trophy, the ...

. After finishing third in the Championship Pool, Buttigieg stepped down from his role in July 2009.

Malta

In July 2009, Buttigieg was appointed as manager of the Malta national team. He replaced

Dušan Fitzel Dušan Fitzel (born 15 April 1963) is a Czech football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with FC Viktoria Plzeň. He managed the Malta national football team from 2006–2009, but in July 2009 health problems made it necessary ...

, who was forced to step down five months before the end of his contract due to health problems. Buttigieg was joined by assistant manager Carmel Busuttil and both signed a five-year contract with the Malta Football Association. Buttigieg had a good start in the role, beating

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

2–0 in a friendly on 12 August. The final two games of Malta's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign resulted in defeats to Sweden and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and the team finished bottom of its group. After losing 15 of his first 17 games, Buttigieg secured his second win in international management with a 2–1 friendly victory over the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

on 10 August 2011. Malta's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign was a disaster, with 9 defeats and a draw (which came against Georgia) and finishing bottom of their group. Buttigieg and Busuttil were removed from their posts on 25 October 2011, having recorded just two victories from 21 games.

Return to Birkirkara

Together with Carmel Busuttil, Buttigieg returned to Birkirkara to take charge of the Maltese Premier League club's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in December 2011.

Floriana

Buttigieg returned to former club Floriana in July 2014 to take over the role of technical director of the club's academy.

Sliema Wanderers

In June 2016, Buttigieg returned to Sliema Wanderers to take over the job as manager. His tenure got off to a start, with victory in the 2016 Summer Cup. A mid-table 2016–17 season also featured defeats in the 2016 Maltese Super Cup and the 2017 Maltese FA Trophy Final. A failure to win any further silverware and a second-successive mid-table finish at the end of the 2017–18 season led to Buttigieg's departure by mutual consent in January 2019.

Third spell at Birkirkara

In April 2019, Buttigieg took over as manager Birkirkara, for the second time, on a two-year contract. He resigned from the position in September 2019.

Return to Floriana

In December 2020, Buttigieg returned to Floriana and signed a contract to become head coach. After six weeks in charge of the ''Greens'', he resigned from the position in February 2021.

Personal life

Buttigieg's father

Robbie Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie * Robbie Amell (born ...

was also a footballer.

Honours

Player

Sliema Wanderers * Independence Cup: 1981–82 * Euro Cup: 1982 Malta * Rothmans International Tournament: 1992 * Coupe 7 Novembre: 1993 (Third Place)

Manager

Sliema Wanderers * Summer Cup: 2016

Individual

* Maltese Premier League Player of the Year: 1987–88 *

Player of the Year: 1994–95

Club career statistics

Managerial career statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buttigieg, John 1963 births Living people Maltese footballers Sliema Wanderers F.C. players Floriana F.C. players Valletta F.C. players English Football League players Brentford F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Malta international footballers Maltese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Maltese football managers Malta national football team managers People from Sliema Birkirkara F.C. managers Birkirkara F.C. players Maltese Premier League players Maltese Premier League managers Maltese expatriate sportspeople in England Association football sweepers Association football fullbacks Sliema Wanderers F.C. managers