Man from Malta joins FC Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/04/2021 (1659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Malta to Manitoba isn’t exactly a common journey.

But for Jose Borg, it’s one he’s happy to make — even though it was a 20-hour trip consisting of three plane rides to make it to Montreal Wednesday night where he had to quarantine before taking flight one more time to finally arrive in Winnipeg.

FC Manitoba, a local soccer team that plays in USL League Two, announced this week they’ve hired Borg to be their head coach. Borg brings over 20 years of coaching experience from the small Mediterranean island and a UEFA Pro coaching licence, the highest level of coaching certification.

Formerly known as WSA Winnipeg, the club was purchased by the Garcea Group of Companies and rebranded to FC Manitoba early last year. They’ve yet to play a match with their new name and colours as last season was cancelled owing to the pandemic.

“Some people might see it as (I’m) overqualified, but I don’t see it that way,” Borg told the Free Press in a Zoom interview.

“The club wants to go the professional way and I think the first step was rebranding the club, because that’s where you have to start, and then obviously, you work your way down.”

Borg would’ve come last year if FC Manitoba was able to take the field and travel restrictions weren’t so strict. One of the main reasons the 47-year-old is interested in making the jump to a country he’s never been to is that there’s a familiar face on the team — veteran Italian striker Michele Paolucci. Before Paolucci suited up for Valour FC of the Canadian Premier League in 2019, he played in the Maltese Premier League under Borg for the Tarxien Rainbows, scoring 11 goals in 23 appearances. FC Manitoba announced last September that they had signed Paolucci, 35, to a contract.

Borg has also coached in Malta’s top league for Luxol St Andrews, as well as several women’s teams where he helped develop players for the national team.

According to Borg, who plans to spend at least the next six months living in Winnipeg, he’s the first Maltese native to land a head coaching gig at the senior level in North America. He will, however, have to wait a bit before he can make his coaching debut at the USL League Two level as FC Manitoba will not be competing this season due to the uncertainty around travelling across the border. FC Manitoba is in the Heartland Division which consists of eight teams, most of which are located in the United States. Instead, FC Manitoba will compete in a joint interprovincial initiative with the Calgary Foothills Soccer Club. Details on what that’s expected to look like are expected to be announced shortly.

“I want to come here and change the mentality. We want to have a winning mentality. We want to have a very professional mentality. One thing which may be lacking here was the professional attitude and professional approach towards the game itself and how to go toward the game. With Michele, we want to create a professional attitude in how we approach training and how we approach the games,” said Borg.

FC Manitoba manager Jorge Cabral doesn’t see Borg’s signing just as a win for the club, but for the local soccer community. FC Manitoba spoke with several candidates across Europe before deciding on Borg.

“This absolutely what we need in our community and I think he recognizes that. I think the investment we’re putting in our community, I get choked up when I say this, I have 25 years of experience in (Manitoba soccer), and I have never been involved in something as exciting as this,” said Cabral, a former Manitoba Soccer Association board member who coached Ital-Inter FC to a Manitoba Major Soccer League title last year.

“The attraction for Jose is he’s coming to a team that’s doing everything humanly possible to be a national brand of soccer in Canada. We’re not doing anything new that we haven’t seen elsewhere in Canada, but we are definitely doing something new in Winnipeg for ultimately our province, and ultimately for our players.”

Living in the prairies will be an adjustment for Borg, but he’s eager to expand his horizons outside of his home country that has a population of just over 500,000 people. Sure, he’ll have to dress warmer, but that’s not the biggest change he has to make.

“I’ll have to get used to the word soccer now, not football,” he said.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31