Attendances for Premier League matches the past year increased by 17,000, MFA secretary general Joe Gauci said in his administrative report at yesterday’s annual general meeting.

The clubs’ delegates were told that this resulted in a gross income of Lm243,819 of which the sum of Lm37,778 was paid in VAT.

Matches where spectators had to pay for admission attracted 156,495, of which 124,555 paid the admission fee. This showed an increase over the previous season of around 20,000.

It also meant that there has now been an increase in local football attendances in the past two seasons.

The secretary claimed that all this showed that interest in local football was definitely on the increase.