At the age of nineteen, in 1957, Cilia made his debut for the Malte national team.[1] He was the youngest player in the team which played Malta's first international against mighty Austria. He became an automatic choice for the Malta XI, and Malta captain from 1959 to 1964. He was always captain for all the other teams he played with and is now considered to be one of the greatest centre-halves Malta has ever witnessed.
With Valletta, he won all the titles on offer, to end a period dominated by Sliema and Floriana. He played blinders against foreign teams, including Manchester United (0-1), helping Malta XI gain very good results.
He was the very first player to win the coveted Footballer of the Year twice. He also held records including playing 49 competitive games in one season and another for playing every game except one, for nine consecutive seasons between 1955 and 1964.
Between 1964 and 1971 he emigrated to Australia where he played for Corinthians and Melita FC, with whom he won the Footballer of the Year again. On returning to Malta, he played another two seasons with Valletta, and played against Internazionale FC. He exchanged shirts with the famous Boninsegna. He finally hung up his boots in 1976. Having performed the role of player-coach since 1961, he could now dedicate more time exclusively to coaching. He coached most of the top-flight teams at the time, where he won the League Championship first with Valletta, 1983 until 1985 and then all the honours available with his first love Rabat Ajax, for two consecutive and historic seasons. In 1989-1992 he worked with Hibernians He also coached the Malta U/21 gaining two wins out of three games. His only regret was that he was never given the opportunity to coach the Malta senior national team.
He won the Westin Malta Football Award in 2003, and "Gieh ir-Rabat" in 2004, in appreciation of his 50 years of continuous contribution to his only passion, which is football.
cilia, joseph, cilia, october, 1937, august, 2017, maltese, professional, football, player, manager, personal, informationdate, birth, 1937, october, 1937place, birthmaltadate, death5, august, 2017, 2017, aged, place, deathmsida, maltaheight1, position, defend. Joseph Cilia 22 October 1937 5 August 2017 was a Maltese professional football player and manager Joe CiliaPersonal informationDate of birth 1937 10 22 22 October 1937Place of birthMaltaDate of death5 August 2017 2017 08 05 aged 79 Place of deathMsida MaltaHeight1 72 m 5 ft 8 in Position s DefenderSenior career YearsTeamApps Gls 1955 1956Rabat Ajax1956 1964Valletta1971 1973VallettaInternational career1957 1962Malta9 0 Managerial career1983 1985Valletta1985 1986Rabat Ajax1989 1992Hibernians Club domestic league appearances and goalsCareer editAt the age of nineteen in 1957 Cilia made his debut for the Malte national team 1 He was the youngest player in the team which played Malta s first international against mighty Austria He became an automatic choice for the Malta XI and Malta captain from 1959 to 1964 He was always captain for all the other teams he played with and is now considered to be one of the greatest centre halves Malta has ever witnessed With Valletta he won all the titles on offer to end a period dominated by Sliema and Floriana He played blinders against foreign teams including Manchester United 0 1 helping Malta XI gain very good results He was the very first player to win the coveted Footballer of the Year twice He also held records including playing 49 competitive games in one season and another for playing every game except one for nine consecutive seasons between 1955 and 1964 Between 1964 and 1971 he emigrated to Australia where he played for Corinthians and Melita FC with whom he won the Footballer of the Year again On returning to Malta he played another two seasons with Valletta and played against Internazionale FC He exchanged shirts with the famous Boninsegna He finally hung up his boots in 1976 Having performed the role of player coach since 1961 he could now dedicate more time exclusively to coaching He coached most of the top flight teams at the time where he won the League Championship first with Valletta 1983 until 1985 and then all the honours available with his first love Rabat Ajax for two consecutive and historic seasons In 1989 1992 he worked with Hibernians He also coached the Malta U 21 gaining two wins out of three games His only regret was that he was never given the opportunity to coach the Malta senior national team He won the Westin Malta Football Award in 2003 and Gieh ir Rabat in 2004 in appreciation of his 50 years of continuous contribution to his only passion which is football Cilia died on 5 August 2017 aged 79 2 References edit Joe Cilia at National Football Teams com Former Malta stalwart Joe Cilia passes away External links editJoe Cilia at Soccerway Profile at Soccerpunter com Joe Cilia at FootballDatabase eu Joe Cilia at WorldFootball net nbsp nbsp This biographical article relating to Maltese association football is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Joe Cilia amp oldid 1177004961, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
