Former MFA General Secretary and current FIFA Director for Europe Bjorn Vassallo and former MFA Vice-President and current ISA treasurer and council member Dr Chris Bonett will be running for the post of MFA President in the Malta Football Association’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on Saturday at the Grand Hotel Excelsior.
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.
Meanwhile six candidates will be running for vice-presidents for which there are three vacancies. These are the three current vice-presidents, Ludovico Micallef, Alex Manfre and Dr Matthew Paris and another three candidates – former MFA Vice-President and current Lija Athletic FC president Dr Peter Fenech, former MFA Director of Refereeing and current ISA general secretary Adrian D. Casha and Marsaskala FC vice-president Cory Greenland.
On the other hand, Ivan Mizzi is set to be confirmed as Treasurer as he is uncontested for the post.
Who is entitled to vote?
The following are entitled to vote at General Meetings:
(a) The President or the Chairman of the meeting shall only have a casting vote in the case of approval or otherwise of normal business of the General Meeting. However, the President, the Chairman, the Officers of the Associ-ation and the General Secretary, shall not be entitled to vote neither during the normal business of the General Meeting nor in the elections of the President, the Officers of the Association and the Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee.
(b) The Council Members.
(c) One delegate from each Member Club and Member Association.
List of Nominees as approved by the Electoral Commission of the Malta Football Association:
PRESIDENT
Dr Chris Bonett; Bjorn Vassallo
VICE-PRESIDENT (Three posts)
Adrian Casha; Dr Peter Fenech; Dr Cory Greenland; Alex Manfrè; Ludovico Micallef; Dr Matthew Paris.
TREASURER
Ivan Mizzi
Nominees for the posts of Ordinary Members of the Executive Committee for season 2019/2020:
PREMIER DIVISION (Two posts)
Dr Ian Micallef; Paul Spiteri
FIRST DIVISION (Two posts)
Paul Falzon; Joseph Sammut; Laurence Seychell
SECOND DIVISION (Two posts)
Godfrey Borg; Paul Zammit
THIRD DIVISION (Two posts)
Chris Grech; Dr Cory Greenland; Raymond Micallef
MEMBER CLUBS OVERALL (Two posts)
Jesmond Abela; Paul Falzon; Chris Grech; Claudio Martinelli; Raymond Micallef; Chris Muscat; Joseph Sammut.
MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS (Two posts)
Lawrence Aquilina; Lino Bartolo.
GOZO FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
Dr Samuel Azzopardi
YOUTH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
Joe Micallef
Elections are therefore necessary for the representatives of the First Division, Second Division and Member Clubs in General.