Our men’s team pre-season matches against the Bundesliga and Serie A sides take place on Friday 8 August and Sunday 10 August respectively – with tickets now on general sale

Carlo Cudicini, Roberto Di Matteo and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink were the three former Blues visiting Malta and as well as meeting Chelsea fans there and discussing the current team and their own past experiences at the club, they also undertook a sightseeing tour.

The Chelsea trio visited the remarkable waterside Fort St Angelo in Birgu before heading inland to another of the must-see locations - Mdina, the narrow-streeted former capital that dates back 4,000 years.

‘It is my first time in Malta,’ declared Di Matteo during the stay. ‘It's a very attractive island and you have a lot of sunshine which is a commodity a lot of people are searching for in life. It reminds me very much of the southern parts of Italy so I feel very much at home here.

‘Also, if you're going to take over two days at Chelsea, make sure you bring the sun to London, just to make sure that it's really Malta!’

The sightseeing was on day one. The morning of the second day of the visit also dawned bright for a visit to Malta’s most-successful football club, Sliema Wanderers, named after Chelsea’s Premier League rivals from Wolverhampton.

At Sliema, the legends met the club’s youth academy players who soon sparked up an impromptu Q&A that showed off knowledge of football from far earlier than their tender years.

In the afternoon, there was time to meet 50 members of the Malta Chelsea Supporters’ Club who also had the chance to speak with the ex-players, as well as take photos and have memorabilia signed.

One of our VisitMalta Weekender opponents, Bayer Leverkusen, were one of the clubs Chelsea met on the way to winning the Champions League in 2011/12. Di Matteo was assistant coach at the time of those group-stage matches but he took control of the team later in the season and of course guided it to one of the club’s biggest triumphs. Now more major international honours are in the Chelsea collection, the latest the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. That led to Di Matteo, who also scored goals in three cup final wins for the Blues, discussing the winning mentality that continues on from those days.

‘In the last two months we've won the Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup and I believe that, in the DNA of our club, with our history, when a player signs for our club they know that they are joining a club where the expectation is to win trophies.

‘I know we had two to three years before these last two trophies when there were a lot of changes, but I think you now see the club is where it's been for the last two decades. We just win trophies.’

Cudicini knows AC Milan, the other club taking part in the Weekender, very well, having started his career there and being a native of that city. His father, Fabio, was one of AC Milan’s greatest goalkeepers and was inducted into their Hall of Fame having won the European Cup with the Rossoneri.

‘I will always thank my father,’ said Carlo Cudicini in response to a question from one of the fans, because although he had an unbelievable career, he never pushed me and that was the most important thing.

‘He was never intrusive but I was lucky because he was part of that world and unbelievable person to have next to me in moments where I had to take a decision that would involve my career. When I became a professional player, I realised what that meant for him.’

Cudicini admitted that unlike Di Matteo and Hasselbaink, he was a relative unknown when he joined Chelsea in 1999. When Hasselbaink signed up a year later, it was for a British joint-record transfer fee. He recalled his arrival for the Malta fans.

‘I was at Atletico Madrid where I signed a four-year contract but I stayed one year because Gianluca Vialli, who was the manager at that time, contacted me and offered me to come to Chelsea. I always preferred to be in England than in Spain, even though Atletico Madrid was a magnificent club, because my style of football was more the English style. So for me it was a no-brainer.

‘Also, Gianluca was an ex-striker and he really wanted me and when a manager gives you the feeling that he really wants you and he's going to give you the confidence to play, it's important.’

Now it is over to the Chelsea class of 2025 to show their skills and the first chance to see the new world champions play at Stamford Bridge is the VisitMalta Weekender. Grab your tickets now!