Matthew Guillaumier (; born 9 April 1998) is a Maltese 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 plays 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 Polish club

Stal Mielec FKS Stal Mielec, commonly known as Stal Mielec (), is a Polish professional football club based in Mielec. The team competes in the I liga, the second level of the Polish football league system. The club was established on 10 April 1939. Histori ...

and the Malta national team.

Club career

Guillaumier began his youth career with St. Andrews at the age of five. On 26 April 2013, he made his debut for the senior team in a First Division match against

Gudja United Gudja United Football Club is a Malta, Maltese professional football (soccer), football club from the south-eastern village of Gudja, that currently plays in the Maltese Premier League. Gudja United plays in blue and white striped jerseys. Their ...

, aged only 15 years and 17 days. In the match he played alongside his uncle, midfielder Joseph Farrugia. In September 2013, after trials with English clubs

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, he joined the youth academy of Italian club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

, with whom he had trained regularly in the year prior. In 2015, he returned to St. Andrews, making sixteen appearances in the

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 ...

. In January 2016, he moved to

Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara or BKR) is a city in the Eastern Region, Malta, Eastern Region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the Malta (island), island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous pari ...

on a 4.5-year contract, lasting until 2020. On the 29 September 2020 he moved to Ħamrun Spartans for a record fee in Malta of €300,000. In the same season, after winning his first

title, he received the award as Maltese Player of the Year. On 31 January 2022, Guillaumier joined

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

in the Italian third-tier

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

on loan with an option to buy. On 13 July 2023, Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

side

announced the signing of Guillaumier on a two-year deal, with an option for another season.

International career

Guillaumier was included in the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

of hosts

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 ...

for the

2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first time ...

. He appeared in all three matches, with the team eliminated in the group stage. He made his international debut for

on 23 March 2019, starting in a

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

home match against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

, which finished as a 2–1 home win. The match was Malta's first competitive home win, as well as their first

UEFA European Championship qualifying The UEFA European Championship qualifying, branded as the European Qualifiers, is the process that UEFA-affiliated national football teams go through in order to qualify for the UEFA European Championship. In this article, the years represent t ...

win, since October 2006.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Malta's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Guillaumier goal.''

Honours

Ħamrun Spartans *

: 2020–21, 2022–23 Individual * Maltese Player of the Year: 2020–21

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaumier, Matthew 1998 births Living people Maltese men's footballers Malta men's youth international footballers Malta men's under-21 international footballers Malta men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders St. Andrews F.C. (Malta) players Birkirkara F.C. players Hamrun Spartans F.C. players Siena FC SSD players Stal Mielec players Maltese Premier League players Serie C players Ekstraklasa players Maltese expatriate men's footballers Maltese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Maltese expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Poland