Eighth Edition to be held on Tuesday 2nd June
The Eighth Edition of the Malta Football Awards will be held on Tuesday 2nd June at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana. This edition will be supported by a number of new sponsors who join others who have already given their support in past editions. For the fourth consecutive year, this event will be supported by Melita plc and therefore this year's edition will be named Melita Malta Football Awards.Addressing a press conference, the Chairperson of the Organising Committee of the Melita Malta Football Awards, Sandro Micallef said that the awards which have now become synonymous with the gala event will be presented once again but in order to keep with the tradition of introducing one or more new awards in every edition, Events Services launched a new award - the Best Third Division Player together with an Award for the Public's Favourite Player Award where the general public can vote via SMS number 5061 4914 for any player of any division in the local leagues. Those who participate can win several prizes including two trips for any European destination, flights and accommodation included thanks to Hamilton Travel.
Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport Mr Clyde Puli also addressed the press conference. He said that the fact that the Malta Football Awards have now entered the eighth edition confirm how year after year, this event is gaining more popularity and this was only thanks to the organisers and those who believed in this initiative. Thanks to Events Services, the Malta Football Awards are now part of the local sports calendar. The Parliamentary Secretary thanked the Kunsill Malti ghall-iSport, the Malta Football Association and Melita plc for their continuous support which is essential for the organisation of such events.
Malcolm Briffa, Head of Marketing of Melita plc remarked that it is of great satisfaction for the company to support once again the Malta Football Awards which will be yet again broadcast live on Melita Sports. He added that Melita is committed to continue with its live transmissions of local events in addition to the traditional and popular international leagues. A case in point the live transmissions of the BOV Premier League which is very popular with Melita Sports subscribers.
The awards for the Eighth Edition of the Melita Malta Football Awards are therefore:
1. Best Goalkeeper
2. Best Defender
3. Best Midfielder
4. Best Striker
5. Most Promising Youngster
6. Best Coach
7. Best Foreign Player
8. Best Local Player
9. Best Goal of the Season
10. Best Women's League Player
11. Best Futsal First Division Player
12. Best Melita GFA First Division Player
13. Best First Division Player
14. Best Second Division Player
15. Best Third Division Player
16. Best Veteran Player (aged 35 and over)
17. Special Career Award / Awards
18. Public's Favourite Player Award
Catherine Xuereb, Production Manager of the Melita Malta Football Awards said that once again those entitled to vote are people involved in the local game, namely the presidents, coaches and captains of the ten Premier League clubs and over 45 journalists who followed the BOV Premier League 2008/09. However voting for the best players in the Futsal League, Women's League, First, Second and Third Division and the GFA Melita First Division was reserved for officials, coaches and captains from the respective clubs. Sports correspondents who follow these leagues were also invited to vote.
On behalf of Events Services, director and organiser Alan Cutajar thanked the media for their support and thanked the sponsors which are making this edition possible, namely Melita, General Soft Drinks, Grand Hotel Excelsior, Firetech, Camilleri Wines, MFCC, Bank of Valletta, Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport, ETC, Hamilton Travel, Sports Experience, John's Garage, XFM, Aristocrat and maltafootball.com.
The gala event, will be broadcast live on Melita Sports 702 and also on the Information Channel. The latter channel will be open for all Melita subscribers. There will be a repeat during the following week on Favourite Channel. The event will be presented by sports journalists Catherine Xuereb and Clinton Buhagiar, presenters of local football sports programmes Kontrattakk and L-Argument respectively who will be inviting distinguished personalities on the stage to announce the winners and present the different awards.
No tickets will be available on sale and attendance is strictly by invitation.
More details and statistics about the previous editions of the Malta Football Awards are available at www.maltafootball.com/awards and www.eventsservices.tv