A new knock-out competition to mark 100 years since the first MFA national league competition was organised in Malta in 1909-1910 is to be organised by the MFA. This will be a major activity in the celebrations to commemorate this landmark anniversary.

This competition will be open for all member clubs and will be run on a more or less similar format of the Centenary Cup, played in 2000.

Regulations of this competition, to be christened National League Anniversary Cup, will be laid down later on. It is envisaged to have a first round for the BOV Third Division teams, with 12 teams emerging from this round to join the 12 BOV Second Division teams in the second round.

The 12 qualifiers from the second round will go in the hat with the 20 BOV Premier and First Division teams, with the knock-out competition proceeding until the winner emerges from the final tie.

The MFA will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary since Malta joined FIFA and UEFA as a member association.

There will be other activities spread between this year and next to commemorate these anniversaries and these will include a FIFA seminar on youth football, a UEFA Executive Committee meeting, a UEFA specialised meeting on marketing, the annual FIFA seminar for elite and new referees, besides a competition for schoolchildren and a publication to mark the occasion.

Following the percentage increase in solidarity payments as from next season, Maltese clubs in European competitions, like all others from different countries, will benefit from these increases.

The team representing Malta in the Champions League will receive 200,000 euros and 130,000 euros for each round it qualifies for.

The three teams involved in the UEFA Europa League will get 90,000 euros for every round they play in.

A new and more decorous system of presentation of cups and individual awards during an adequate prize-giving ceremony organised by the MFA is being planned. The system will be such that certain uniform procedures will be adopted in matters relating to replicas of cups and trophies won, medals presented to players of the winning teams, certificates/awards to section winners and a short list of five players nominated for the Footballers of the Year awards prior to the presentation day.

The issue of corruption which has been surfacing consistently in recent weeks was dealt with at length by the president, Dr Joe Mifsud. He said that the MFA, like UEFA, is determined to take drastic action to eliminate this scourge which is ruining the game.

There is full cooperation between the association and the police authorities in that information is constantly being passed on between the two sides so that proper investigations can be carried out both from the legal aspect and as far as MFA regulations and disciplinary measures are concerned.

The association will be drafting new regulations, contemplating severe punishment for whoever is found guilty of such malpractice. These will include sanctions, ranging from suspensions of officials to outright dismissal of a club as well as an undertaking by individuals in the sectors of refereeing, coaching, players’ agents and national team players that they will be liable to pay a fine of 100,000 euros if they are found guilty of corruption.

The President appealed to everyone to take this matter seriously, reiterating the association’s stance to take the bull by its horns.

FIFA Referee Clayton Pisani and Assistant Referee Edward Spiteri were given ratings of 8.2 when doing duty in the Scotland v Georgia U-17 mini-tournament recently.

The Council was informed that arrangements are being finalised so that the MFA publication ‘Quarterly Review’ will be distributed by a local newspaper free of charge with the sale of the newspaper. This will help towards making the publication available to a wider cross-section of the public.

Substitutions on various MFA Boards and Committees resulting from various circumstances were approved by the council.

The MFA will be issuing new tenders for local TV rights starting from next year.

This being the last meeting of the Council before Dr Edward Fenech Adami’s term of office as President of the Republic expires, the Council expressed its thanks to Dr Fenech Adami, as patron of the association, for his interest and assistance. The Council also showed its satisfaction regarding the impeding appointment as President of the Republic, of Dr George Abela, who preceded Dr Mifsud as MFA president.

Before the Council meeting a Holy Mass was said for the repose of Mario Borg and Victor Tedesco who both contributed in a substantial way towards football in Malta in their respective spheres of activity. The celebrants were Fr. Henry Joseph Abela and Fr. Anton Portelli.