Referee Alan Mario Sant and assistant referee William Debattista are two new officials on the FIFA panel after the international body confirmed the nominations presented by the Malta Football Association.
The total number of referees in the FIFA panel will still be the same as these two officials will be replacing Anton Zammit and Charles Micallef respectively.
The FIFA Referees for 2010 are therefore: Marco Borg, Chris Lautier, Clayton Pisani and Alan Mario Sant; the Assistant referees are Philip Agius, Konrad Borg, Alan Camilleri, Joe Camilleri, William Debattista, Mario Debono, Edward Spiteri and Ingmar Spiteri; Esther Azzopardi is the FIFA Women’s Referee while Franco Cachia is the only FIFA Futsal Referee.
While presenting the badges to the fourteen officials during a meeting of the Council of the Malta Football Association, MFA president Dr Joe Mifsud reminded the referees about their duties and responsabilities. He said that their nomination was the result of good displays in domestic matches.
Dr Mifsud said that while mistakes were part of refereeing, as international referees, it was their duty to try to keep these mistakes to a minimum. Referees have to show integrity – both on and off the pitch – and impartiality and while accepting constructive criticism, they should be able to absorb all criticism.
The MFA president stressed that for referees to perform well, attention and excellent preparation were the key and reminded them to report any attempts of corruption they may come to know about.