Valletta FC

Three sides from the same square went into a room in 1943 and came out as one: Valletta Prestons, Valletta St. Paul's and Valletta United, folded together while the island was still counting the damage of the war. The merged club took the city's name and kept it.

What followed is the part that draws attention on paper. The Maltese Premier League title sits against the club's name in every year from 1944 to 2003.

The white shirt gave them the name they still answer to, Lilywhites , and red is what they travel in. Around the capital they are also called Tal-Palestina and, more plainly, the Citizens — a club carrying a fixture list built for a national side.

Home is not Valletta at all. The Citizens play inland at the National Stadium in Ta' Qali, on the plateau between Mdina and Mosta, in a ground that holds 16,907. On a full evening that is roughly two and a half times the population of the city on the shirt, packed into a bowl a half-hour drive from the harbour the club came out of.