André Schembri

André Schembri
Personal information
Full name André Schembri
Date of birth (1986-05-27) 27 May 1986
Place of birth Pietà, Malta
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
 AC Omonoia Nicosia
Number 27
Youth career
Floriana
Hibernians
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2002–2005 Hibernians 44 (10)
2005–2009 Marsaxlokk 51 (24)
2007–2008 → Eintracht Braunschweig (loan) 29 (9)
2008–2009 → Carl Zeiss Jena (loan) 32 (4)
2009–2010 Austria Kärnten 13 (1)
2010–2011 Ferencváros 36 (16)
2011 Olympiakos Volou[1] 0 (0)
2011–2012 Panionios 24 (5)
2012–2014 AC Omonia 58 (27)
2014 FSV Frankfurt 9 (1)
2015– AC Omonia 39 (20)
National team‡
2004–2006 Malta U21 13 (4)
2006– Malta 70 (3)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:15, 1 November 2015 (UTC).
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 8 October 2011

André Schembri (born 27 May 1986) is a Maltese footballer. He currently plays as an attacking midfielder for AC Omonia and the Maltese national team. André is the son of Eric Schembri and grandson of Salvinu Schembri who both played important roles in Maltese Football. Grandfather Salvinu Schembri was in fact Malta's skipper at the time. This is one of the few cases in Europe whereby 3 generations of footballers played with the National Team.

Playing career

Hibernians

André Schembri began his playing career as a trainee with Hibernians and made his debut during the 2002–03 season, were he made a total of seven appearances, but failed to score during the season, helping Hibernians to a fourth-place finish.

The following season, Schembri established himself as a first-team regular making 26 appearances and scoring five goals, with Hibernians finishing one place higher than the previous season, in third place.

With Schembri putting in some very impressive performances he began the 2004–05 season as an exciting young prospect, and by the Christmas period he was snapped up by fellow Maltese Premier League team Marsaxlokk, with Schembri making eleven appearances and scoring five goals during the half-season with Hibernians.

During his time with the Paolite club, Schembri made 44 appearances and scored ten goals.

Interesting to note that at the age of 17, André Schembri had opportunity to sign with English Premier League giants Aston Villa, Herenveen and Italian side Bari. Hibernians did not however allow André to sign with any other club at the time.

Marsaxlokk

Marsaxlokk signed Schembri during the January transfer window of 2005, along with another exciting young Maltese player, Cleavon Frendo from Pietà Hotspurs. Schembri finished the 2004–05 making eight appearances for Marsaxlokk, scoring twice, with the club recording a fifth-place finish.

In his first full season with Marsaxlokk, Schembri recorded 24 appearances and scored eleven goals as the club finishing in fourth place in the Premier League, with Schembri gaining his first cap for Malta's senior side.

The 2006–07 season was to be his best season on both personal and club-level, as besides scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances, Marsaxlokk won their first ever league title, earning himself his first honour in Maltese football.

Eintracht Braunschweig

Following a great season with Marsaxlokk, Schembri became the centre of interest from European teams and eventually joined Regionalliga Nord side Eintracht Braunschweig on a season-long loan.

During his season with the German side, André made 29 appearances and scored nine goals, and finished off another impressive season, with the club qualifying for the new 3rd Liga, and finishing joint third in the club's top goalscoring charts.

Carl Zeiss Jena

On 30 June 2008, it was revealed that after spending last season with Eintracht Braunschweig, André Schembri would be joining Carl Zeiss Jena on a further season-long loan deal.

Ironically Carl Zeiss Jena played in the same division as Eintracht Braunschweig for the 2008–09 season, following the club's relegation from the 2 Bundesliga.

Schembri made his debut for Carl Zeiss Jena on 26 July 2008 in the league match against Jahn Regensburg, André was introduced late on in the second half as an 84th-minute substitute for Salvatore Amirante. The game finished in a 2–2 draw.

André scored his first goal for Carl Zeiss Jena on 13 December 2008, netting the opener in a 2–0 against Sandhausen. On 9 August 2008, he scored the first goal in a 2–1 over Kaiserslautern in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.[2] He followed this with another goal in the third round, this time in the 1–4 defeat to Bundesliga side Schalke on 27 January 2009.[3]

He ended his second season in Germany by making 32 appearances and scoring four goals, as Carl Zeiss Jena finished in a disappointing 16th place, narrowly missing out on back-to-back relegations.

SK Austria Kärnten

On 19 June 2009, André Schembri signed a two-year contract with Austrian Football Bundesliga side SK Austria Kärnten. He made his debut in the 1–3 defeat to Wiener Neustadt on 17 July 2009, and scored his first goal in the 2–3 away defeat against Kapfenberger SV on 26 July 2009.

Ferencváros

André Schembri in action for Ferencvarosi TC

On 15 February 2010, Ferencvárosi unveiled Schembri as the club's latest signing.[4] André became the club's second Maltese signing in quick succession after compatriot Justin Haber joined the club from Sheffield United. After a difficult start to his time in Hungary, in the 2010–11 season he came into the fore as one of the most important players for Fradi. On 26 September 2010, he scored a hat-trick against Vasas in the 3–1, therefore becoming the first Maltese footballer to score a hat-trick in a foreign top-tier league.[5] Two months later, on 20 November 2010, he netted another hat-trick against Lombard-Pápa in the 5–0 away win.[6] He ended the season as second-highest goal scorer in the league behind Andre Alves with 16 goals, as Ferencváros finished third gaining a place in the first qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. André did however finish top scorer of Ferencvaros during that season.

Olympiakos Volou

After his contract with Ferencváros expired at the end of the season, in July 2011, Schembri joined Olympiakos Volos in the Superleague Greece. He made his debut for the club on 14 July 2011 as a substitute against Rad in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. He scored his first goal in this competition, netting the opener in the 3–0 away win against Differdange on 28 July 2011. Due to the ongoing match fixing scandal involving the club, UEFA excluded the club from any European competition.[7] On 23 August 2011, Olympiakos Volu were relegated to the fourth-tier of Greek football, the Delta Ethniki, along with Kavala.

Panionios

Following the release from his contract, Schembri joined another Greek Super League side, Panionios on 30 September 2011.[8] He ended his contract with 5 league goals to his name.

AC Omonia

On 20 August 2012, Schembri joined AC Omonia. He scored his first goal for Omonia on 28 October 2012. In total he scored 17 goals that season ending top scorer of the club.

FSV Frankfurt

On 28 May 2014, Andre Schembri decided to part ways with Omonia and join FSV Frankfurt.[9] After a magnificent season at Omonia being the top scorer of the Cypriot First Division[10] his desire is to play in a stronger and prestigious league, and dreams that one day he might even play in the Bundesliga alongside football legends playing in Germany.He scored his first goal coming as a substitute in the 61' minute for FSV Frankfurt during the DFB Pokal against HOFFENHEIM which ended in a loss for FSV Frankfurt by 5-1.

Return to Omonia

On 5 December 2014 it was announced that Schembri agreed to rejoin AC Omonia following his spell with the German side. Omonia fans received the news with great pleasure and were certain that his comeback would boost their team's hopes of overturning the bad start to the season.

Andrea Pirlo's Biography

André Schembri had the honour to be mentioned in the world-class playmaker's biography. In his book, Pirlo dedicated almost an entire chapter describing André as being one of the thoughest and most frustrating opponents he encountered on the pitch. This followed an international fixture between Italy and Malta were André was asked by Technical Director Pietro Ghedin, to man-mark Italy's legend. André showed a great deal of tactical discipline as he limited Pirlo's magic on the day. His performance did impress and in fact Pirlo thought it was worth a mention in his own biography.

International career

Schembri gained his first cap for the Maltese national team in a friendly on 4 June 2006, a 1–0 away defeat to Japan.

André scored his first and second international goals in the 2–1 home win over Hungary on 11 October 2006 in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match, which ended Malta's 13-year wait for a competitive victory.

He scored his third goal for Malta in the same qualifying phase, giving Malta a temporary 2–1 lead over Turkey, although the match finished in a 2–2 draw.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 October 2006 Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta  Hungary 2–1 Win UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2 11 October 2006 Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta  Hungary 2–1 Win UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
3 8 September 2007 Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta  Turkey 2–2 Draw UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Honours

Club

Marsaxlokk

National

Personal life

André Schembri is the son of former Gżira United and Malta international striker Eric Schembri, and the grandson of former Sliema Wanderers and Malta international midfielder Salvinu Schembri.

References

External links

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