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Published: August 05, 2026
This year’s edition of the European Golf Association’s EUROPEAN TEAM SHIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS has just written history in the books of golf in Malta in more ways than one.
As Royal Malta Golf Club completed its investment in improving the greens, the possibility of hosting such an international tournament became a reality for the first time since the country affiliated to the EGA in 2007. In agreement with the RMGC, the Malta Golf Association embraced the opportunity to organise the country’s first international tournament under the umbrella of one of its governing bodies.
14 men teams and 10 women teams entered the tournament equalling a record of participation that was first set in 2017 and repeated in 2021. Each team was composed of four players who played an individual stroke play qualifier on the first day followed by three days of match play knock out rounds. The men teams were from Albania, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. The ladies’ teams were from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Romania, San Marino, Turkey and Ukraine.
Malta’s men team was composed of Andy Borg, Ruud Critien, Oliver Davies and JJ Micallef Verelst with Ruud acting as playing captain. Elliana Buhagiar, Laya Cristina, Serena Falzon Sant Manduca and Filippa Schulze Doering composed the women’s team under the captaincy of Noah Gratil. Both teams were under the coaching abilities of Nicholas Zaher. Andreas Schwaab joined the team to help with their mental performance.
In the stroke play qualifier the men’s team aggregate score of -3 placed them in third place putting them against Romania for the first round of the match play knockout stage. The women’s team +10 score placed them in second place meaning that they needed to face Ukraine. Another record was broken during the stroke play rounds when Turkey’s Zeynep Sualp three under par round shattered the women’s RMGC course record and Cyprus’ Andreas Loizides five under par matched the men’s.
In their first play round, the Malta women had three comfortable wins against Ukraine which set them to play against San Marino who were playing for the first time in the championship. Despite their callowness in the tournament, San Marino were not easily won over, and Malta had to remain sharp until the ending holes to eventual make it through to the final with two wins out of three. Having had a bye in the first round due to their first placing in the stroke play, Turkey had in the meantime beaten Bulgaria in the semi-final to set up an encounter with the home team. Playing against the strongest ladies’ team in the tournament, the Malta women stood their ground until the very end to lose with the smallest margins. One match was won on the 18th; another was lost on the 18th and the third lost on the 17th hole. This handed Turkey their fifth gold medal in the tournament’s history, but the Malta women won their first silver medal in only their third appearance. Bulgaria took bronze.
The men’s team had a similar experience in the first match play round with a comfortable win against Romania whom they overcame by two points to one. The semifinal against Latvia was a different affair and possibly the highlight moment of the tournament. Having already lost one match on the 15th hole, Malta’s other two matches were both one down playing the last hole in regulation meaning that they had to somehow turn everything around to make it to the final. This they did in an incredible fashion. After winning the 18th with a birdie, the foursomes pair proceeded to win the first extra hole to level the result leaving Malta’s fate hanging in the hands of the other singles match. A clutch putt for a birdie levelled the match on the 18th but it took four extra holes and some incredible putting for Malta to eventually win the match.
In the gold medal match, Turkey took the host team the distance, all three matches reaching the 17th or beyond. With one singles match lost on the 17th and the other won on the 18th, this left the fate of the medal colour in the hands of the foursomes. Turkey won the 18th hole to level the match and force a play-off, but the Malta pair held their nerve and managed to close off the match on the 19th to secure Malta's first ever EGA gold medal. Bulgaria took bronze.
This gold medal brings the tally for the Malta men team to 1 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze to leapfrog them in third place of the total medal table behind Lithuania who have two gold medals and Greece who have managed to win this tournament five times.
The MGA takes this opportunity to thank all those who have helped to make this tournament a success – EGA, R&A, Royal Malta Golf Club, Marsa Sports Club, Sport Malta, MOC, Visit Malta, AX Odycy, Paramount Coaches, FRCM Medical team as well as the volunteers who gave up their personal time to assist in the running of the tournament.
