The Malta Football Players Association issued a statement in which it pointed out that without a comprehensive COVID-19 testing protocol, the start of football competitions is at risk.

The MFPA said that currently, if a football player tests positive for COVID-19 the whole squad is being quarantined for fourteen days. This means that players who had a three-week preseason training, now have to stop for two weeks, and then have only two weeks until their first league game.

“Long interruptions of pre-season training will not only adversely affect players’ physical capacity but also puts the integrity of the whole competition into question since not all teams would have the opportunity to train on an equal playing field.”

“How can they be absent from their employment for 2 consecutive weeks, only to return for training after 2 weeks with the risk of another player testing positive for COVID-19? This is not a sustainable system.”