The secretary general of the Malta Football Players Association Carlo Mamo has lauded Malta’s national women’s football team, but said that the country must now keep up the pace or it will risk drifting downwards in the rankings like it has in men’s football.
Malta’s national women’s football team made history last year as it secured promotion to the second tier of UEFA’s Nations League – placing it among the top 32 teams in Europe.
Speaking about women’s football in an interview with The Malta Independent, Mamo – who is a former national footballer himself – said that the MFPA, which represents some 1,200 footballers in Malta, has made women’s football an important pillar of its work.
Mamo says in fact that the association has already managed to bring about important changes in both the domestic leagues – where 8 clubs play – and at national team level.
The most important element of this was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the MFPA and the Malta Football Association (MFA) on the conditions for national team players. This was signed in 2021 and then revised with improved conditions in September 2023.
Mamo explained that this MoU regulated matters such as how the national team should travel - travel must now be done in the quickest manner possible – and also on the standards of where they should stay when abroad. Appearance and performance bonuses were also improved as part of the agreement.
“They have the same conditions, save for the remuneration, as the men have,” Mamo said.
“You cannot compare women’s football with men’s football, or even the situations of the players themselves. In women’s football, the players are all amateurs – they make huge sacrifices. The financial strength in women’s football cannot be compared to the men’s Premier League,” Mamo explained.
This being said though, Mamo said that the MoU signed between the MFPA and the MFA for women’s football implemented a set of standards which were in line with UEFA’s standards for women’s football which were set out for all European federations to follow.
UEFA’s framework of minimum standards for female national teams were announced in October 2023, with federations being given a grant of €100,000 per year until 2028 and an initial target of June 2024 in order to become compliant.
“With the MoU that we had drafted, you can say that we were practically compliant already,” Mamo said.
Examples of this include that the squad was given its own dressing room, training equipment, appropriate travel and medical insurance, that their head coach must have UEFA PRO license and that it was ensured that physical and medical staff would be present at all training sessions.
A parental and early childhood support structure is also currently being discussed with the players, so it is added to the new MoU.
Domestically meanwhile, there were important improvements made in terms of where league matches were played and also when they were played. These league matches used to be played on weeknights, with kick-off at 9pm, with players having to wake up the next morning for work.
As from this season, Mamo said, the vast majority of league matches were played during the weekend and at the Centenary Stadium in Ta’ Qali, considered to be the best artificial facility on the island.
“We have a very good national team – we’re in Group B among the top 32 in Europe. I believe it is because women's football is still evolving, and if we don't keep up, we will begin to fall behind, as happened with men's football when small countries began to improve and invest more money," he explained.
“There is a big gap to the top teams, but it’s nice seeing – and this is thanks to those who worked in the last 20 years to start the team – us beat countries bigger than us as they’re still finding their feet,” he concluded.
Malta’s women’s national football team is back in action this month after their historic UEFA Nations League triumph. They face Faroe Islands on 22 February.