The Malta Football Association convened a meeting of its Council via videoconference today to decide on the sporting outcomes of the 2019-20 championships organised by the Association, which have been prematurely terminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council, as the top decision-making body of the Malta FA, comprises 53 members in representation of every club, 23 representing the Member Associations and the six officers of the Association.
After an open discussion on the motions tabled by the Association’s Executive Committee, the Council took the following decisions:
• The first-placed teams at the time when the competitions were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequently terminated, are declared winners of their respective leagues (2019/20). This applies to these championships – BOV Premier League, BOV First Division, BOV Second Division, BOV Third Division, BOV Women’s League, Women’s Under-19 League, Women’s Under-15 League, Youth Leagues Section A, B, C, D, E, Futsal Elite and Futsal Amateur Leagues.
• The two teams occupying first and second positions in the classification of the relevant championships are to be promoted.
• With regard to the 2019/20 BOV Second Division League, the Council voted that three teams be promoted as second-placed San Ġwann and third-placed Marsaxlokk were level on 38 points when the championship was suspended but the two teams had not played the same amount of matches.
• No teams in any league are to be relegated.
• The Council approved the temporary adjustments in the number of teams in the Malta FA leagues and Youth Leagues as a result of the afore-mentioned decisions regarding promotion and relegation.
At today’s Council meeting, it was also announced that the Malta FA has received a letter from UEFA whereby the latter acknowledged that the criteria applied by the Association in the selection of the clubs to participate in the 2020-21 UEFA Club Competitions, based on sporting merit in the 2019-20 classification and as decided by the Executive Committee, are in line with the guidelines set out by the European governing body of football.
The Maltese teams who will participating in the 2020-21 UEFA Club Competitions are Floriana FC (UEFA Champions League), Valletta FC, Hibernians FC and Sirens FC (UEFA Europa League), Birkirkara FC (UEFA Women’s Champions League) and Luxol Futsal (UEFA Futsal Champions League).
NATIONAL AMATEUR LEAGUE PROPOSAL
The Council also discussed the proposed creation of the National Amateur League – a merger of the Second and Third Division leagues.
This concept, which has been accepted in principle, will be further discussed with the respective standing committees while the adoption of this proposed format must be approved during an Extroardinary General Meeting.
GOZO FA COMPETITIONS
The Council ratified the position of the Gozo Football Association about the sporting outcome of their league competitions as agreed by the GFA and their member clubs.
The position of the Gozo FA was to declare Nadur Youngsters and Sannat Lions winners of the First Division and Second Division leagues respectively, the first- and second-placed teams in the Second Division are promoted and no team is relegated from the First Division.
The first-placed teams in the 2019/20 league classifications in the different categories:
BOV Premier League – Floriana FC
BOV First Division – Żejtun Corinthians FC
BOV Second Division – Marsa FC
BOV Third Division – Attard FC
BOV Women’s League – Birkirkara FC
Women’s Under-19 League – Mġarr United FC
Women’s Under-15 League – Swieqi United FC
Youth League Section A – Balzan FC
Youth League Section B – Hibernians FC
Youth League Section C – Attard FC
Youth League Section D – Fgura United FC
Youth League Section E – Kalkara United FC
Futsal Elite – Luxol Futsal
Futsal Amateur – Luxol Futsal B