New national team coach Pietro Ghedin is expected to arrive in Malta on Thursday and will begin his appointment as national teach coach. This was confirmed by MFA President Norman Darmanin Demajo during yesterday’s MFA Council meeting.
Ghedin’s first matches in charge of the national team will be away to Luxembourg on 2 June and away to San Marino on 14 August.
The Malta Football Players Union will also become affiliated with the MFA through a recognition agreement with the association where this union will be the only organisation which can speak in the name of players. Vice President Carmelo Bartolo confirmed that due to the union’s affiliation with FIFPRO, the recognition process would almost be automatic.
CEO Bjorn Vassallo said that after the presentation which was made to various other clubs, there was a choice to be made by clubs which would only involve a recognition for the union as the official player’s representatives. Some of the club’s representatives voiced concern over the fact that the union wanted exclusivity as representative of the professional players. The motion was carried unanimously.
Regarding the UEFA 2012/13 licences, Vice President Carmelo Bartolo confirmed that Valletta, Hibernians, Birkirkara, Sliema and Floriana had clearance for licences with the latter two just having slight problems.
CEO Bjorn Vassallo spoke about the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations adding that the problems which local clubs were facing had to be tackled once and for all. He revealed that the new regulations would be discussed by the council in June and eventually everyone had to be compliant with these regulations.
Darmanin Demajo said that the association would be clamping down on any club which had outstanding debts and left these to accumulate.
An extensive discussion took place as a representative from Marsaxlokk FC claimed that the judgment regarding the Disciplinary Board was not received. Further correspondence was discussed regarding the Youth FA where any new registrations would remain valid until 13 June even if these had expired.
CEO Bjorn Vassallo spoke about the launch of the new MFA website which was co-ordinated by Vice President Alex Manfre’ and Norman Saliba and which was created by Untagled Media. Vassallo said that the website was actually an information portal with a lot of sections including clubs, a national team fan zone as well as information on facilities, a future online store and all the statistics regarding MFA competitions.
Vassallo also spoke about the social media aspect of the page which should be controlled and not treated as a free for all. The website was then presented to all council members by Mr Saliba where the various sections of the portal were demonstrated.