Bjorn Vassallo, Chris Bonett to run for post of MFA President

Bjorn Vassallo and Dr Chris Bonett will be running for the post of president of the Malta Football Association during the association’s Annual General Meeting which will be held next month – on July 20. Both Vassallo and Bonett announced their intentions on Tuesday.

The new MFA president would replace Norman Darmanin Demajo who had earlier announced that he would not be standing for re-election after serving for nine years in the post.

Thirty-nine year old Bjorn Vassallo is currently serving as Director for Europe at FIFA.

He started his football administration career at San Gwann FC. After serving as council member for the club, he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Football Association in August 2010 but in July 2014, the post of CEO was abolished and he was appointed MFA General Secretary.

Vassallo served as member of the UEFA Player Status Committee and National Teams Competitions Committee. Apart from serving as venue director and match commissioner in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches, he was venue director in Nice for the the EURO 2016 and part of the team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was also chairman if the organising committee for the UEFA Under-17 Championship which was held in Malta in 2014.

Bjorn Vassallo stepped down in October 2016 after accepting an offer by FIFA to serve as Director Member Associations in Europe.

Thirty-seven year old Dr Chris Bonett is currently Senior Consultant at the Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations.

Dr Chris Bonett joined the Malta Football Association in 2010 as Head of the Legal Department. In 2013, he was elected to the post of MFA Vice-President. However he stepped down in December 2016 to join UEFA as UEFA Integrity Officer. A post he held until August 2017 when he returned to Malta where he served as Senior Consultant to the Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and as Acting Chief Executive Officer of SportMalta.

Dr Bonett served on the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary body and was part of the disciplinary panel for UEFA EURO 2016. He was also author of the new legislation on the commercialisation of sports facilities.