Former national team coaches present judicial protest against MFA

Former national team coaches, John Buttigieg and Carmel Busuttil presented a judicial protest against the Malta Football Association claiming “unfair dismissal”.

Buttigieg and Busuttil were appointed national coach and assistant national coach respectively in August 2009, signing a five-year contract. However the two coaches were sacked in October team’s performance in the EURO 2012 qualifiers fell short of expectations.

The two coaches said the MFA had no valid reason to terminate their contract and the MFA is obliged to pay them half the salaries due in the remaining three years of their contracts.

The protest says that the MFA had promised to honour all legal obligations but was dragging its feet and the payments have not been honoured yet.

Buttigieg and Busuttil say the association’s actions are illegal, unfair and discriminatory according to industrial law and is causing them irreparable harm. They say the MFA has to honour the contract agreements and payments, including the bonus for Malta’s positive result against Georgia in September 2011.

In a statement on Thursday, signed by MFA Head of Legal Department Dr Chris Bonnett, the association expressed its surprise about this judicial protest, saying that the two parties have been discussing the matter over a number of meetings and exchange of correspondence in order to settle the issue as soon as possible. In fact, on Thursday, the two coaches sent a draft copy of the agreement where they demanded payment by the end of January.

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