VALLETTA: Sprint king Usain Bolt could be making his way to Europe after being offered a two-year professional football contract in Malta, reports said Tuesday, with the club saying it wanted to “write history” with the signing.
Bolt, 32, has been on trial with A-League club the Central Coast Mariners since arriving in Australia in August in his bid to pursue a boyhood dream of becoming a footballer after retiring from athletics last year.
The 100 metres world record-holder scored his first two goals in professional football on Friday when he started a pre-season game against second-tier Macarthur South West United in Sydney.
Malta club Valletta FC said they had made a formal offer which includes playing in its upcoming cup final, with chief executive Ghasston Slimen saying the move to snare Bolt was “about writing history”.
“Usain Bolt broke the record in Beijing (Olympics) in 2008, and I have followed him for the last year-and-a-half on his football journey,” Slimen told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We play the final of the Super Cup on December 13, which we will win… so can you imagine Usain Bolt lifting the Super Cup trophy 10 years after he broke the record in Beijing?
“This isn’t about money, this is about history. This is something that they will talk about in 50 or 100 years’ time.”
A group of investors from the Sanban Group in the United Arab Emirates acquired a majority stake in the club last month, vowing to qualify for the group stages of Europe’s Champions League.
