Kevin Sammut (born 26 May 1981 in

Sliema Sliema ( ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, and café life. ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for a number of

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as 360Sports Malta Premier for sponsorship reasons with 360Sports (colloquialism, colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Foot ...

clubs, and with Malta's national football team. Currently, he is serving a 10-year ban for

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

Playing career

Sliema Wanderers

Kevin began his playing career with his local side

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 Leagu ...

of the Maltese Premier League. In his first season, he made a single appearance as Sliema Wanderers recorded a third-place finish in the Premier League. Starting from the 1999–2000 season Sammut started to regularly make the first team squad and was part of the Sliema team which finished fourth in the league. Following a season loan spell with Hamrun Spartans, Kevin returned to Sliema Wanderers and went straight into the first team squad, where he amassed 24 appearances, scoring four goals. In the 2002–03 season, Sammut won his first silverware as Sliema Wanderers won the league title. This was successfully defended the following season, as Sliema completed a

domestic double The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary domestic cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sectio ...

of league title and the

Maltese FA Trophy The FA Trophy, currently known as the Meridianbet FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football (soccer), football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England national footba ...

. Despite the success of the previous season, Sammut was sent out on another season long loan for the 2004–05 season, this time with Msida Saint-Joseph. He helped the club narrowly avoid relegation with an eighth-place finish in the Premier League that season, making 16 appearances and scoring three goals.

Marsaxlokk

Following the conclusion of Kevin's loan with Msida Saint-Joseph, the midfielder was sold to

Marsaxlokk Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishing and history. As of March 2014, the village had a populati ...

for the 2005–06 season. Sammut began to capture his best form with his new club, and helped Marsaxlokk to a third-place finish in the Premier League. In the following season, Marsaxlokk made history by winning the Premier League title for the first time in the club's history, with Sammut forming a big part of this success. Sammut went into the 2007–08 season hoping to help Marsaxlokk win more silverware, however following the previous season's triumph, many of the club's star players moved on to pastures new, the likes of

Daniel Bogdanovic Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the activi ...

, Luke Dimech and

Justin Haber Justin Haber (born 9 June 1981) is a Maltese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Żabbar St. Patrick and formerly played with the Malta national football team. Playing career Floriana Born in Floriana, Malta, Haber started h ...

to name a few. Despite the club's loss of players, Marsaxlokk still managed to finish runners-up, with Kevin making 27 appearances and chipping in with six goals. Kevin also received the prestigious

Maltese Player of the Year The Maltese Player of the Year Award is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in Football in Malta, Maltese football. The award has been presented since the 1954–55 Maltese Premier League, 1954–55 ...

award. The 2008–09 season proved to be Kevin's last at Marsaxlokk. The club had an extremely disappointing start to the season by their own high standards, and only managed to gain a place in the championship pool by beating Sammut's old club Msida Saint-Joseph in the final game of the first round. Kevin made 21 appearances and scored one goal during the season and despite the club's extremely disappointing start to the season, they managed to finish the season in fourth position in the Maltese Premier League.

Valletta

On 7 August 2009, Kevin Sammut joined Premier League side

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

, where the midfielder signed a five-year contract with the club. Sammut became the second Maltese international to join Valletta during the summer 2009 transfer window, following

Terence Scerri Terence Scerri (born 3 April 1984 in Senglea, Malta) is a professional footballer currently playing for Zurrieq Football Club Playing career Hibernians Terence Scerri was spotted playing for the St. George's youth team, and was snapped u ...

, who had joined the club from Hibernians.

Controversy

In August 2012 Kevin Sammut was found guilty by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

of match-fixing in the Euro 2008 qualifier between

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

, a game which ended in a 0–4 defeat to Malta. The player was given a 10-year-ban by UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body. UEFA requested FIFA to extend the ban, to give it a worldwide effect and he cannot play any football matches like clubs and international friendly and league. In December 2012, Sammut was landed with a life ban on all football-related activities by UEFA, which has also been extended by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Honours

Club

;Sliema Wanderers *

: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

: 2003–04 ;Marsaxlokk *

: 2006–07 ;Valletta *

: 2009–10 * National League 100th Anniversary Cup: 2010

Individual

: 2007–08

Career statistics

''Statistics accurate as of match played 9 August 2009.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sammut, Kevin Living people 1981 births Maltese men's footballers Malta men's international footballers Sliema Wanderers F.C. players Hamrun Spartans F.C. players Msida Saint-Joseph F.C. players Marsaxlokk F.C. players Valletta F.C. players Sportspeople from Sliema Men's association football midfielders