MFA to advance payments to clubs from two schemes worth over €431,000

The Malta Football Association will advance the payments from two schemes to alleviate the financial problems being faced by its member clubs due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision to release the payments early was taken by the Malta FA Executive Committee during a videoconference meeting held on Wednesday.

The remainder of the budget allocated for the Guaranteed Gate Income Scheme, totalling €264,250, will be paid by the end of May 2020.

The solidarity payments from the Young Players Development programme, which has a pot of €167,385, will also be paid in advance. In addition to the clubs in the BOV Premier League, First, Second and Third Division, the teams taking part in the Gozo FA’s First and Second Division competitions also benefit from this scheme.

The combined total of these two schemes is €431,635 with €333,635 to be paid out to clubs by end of May as over €98,000 have already been disbursed.

POST-COVID TASK FORCE

During the videoconference meeting, the Executive Committee members received an update on the matters discussed by the Malta FA Bureau during its last meetings.

The Bureau has proposed the creation of a task force to draw up a post-coronavirus recovery plan with short-and medium-term proposals. The Task Force will look at alternative revenue-generation opportunities, especially fund-raising initiatives which have been severely impacted by the coronavirus, assistance from financial and regulatory experts on grants and bank facilities, sustainability models for clubs and governance while the process to implement other reforms is being stepped up.

At the start of the meeting, Malta FA President Bjorn Vassallo said the thoughts of the local football community are with young Mdina Knights footballer Matteo Grima who was seriously injured in an accident recently. Matteo Grima has also had working spells with the Malta FA as an intern.

Vassallo also saluted the memory of former Malta and Floriana FC player Tony Cauchi and assistant referee Joseph Cilia Aquilina who passed away in the last few weeks