The President and Vice-Presidents of the Malta Football Association will now have a limit of three four-year terms and one of the posts for vice-president shall be filled by a female candidate. The Bureau, the Council and the Executive Committee are being replaced by the Executive Board while the General Assembly will replace the Annual General Meeting. These are the main points of the new statute of the Malta Football Association which was approved during an Extraordinary General Meeting which was held at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra on Monday.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Bureau, the Council and Executive Committee are being abolished and replaced by the Executive Board which will be made up of 24 members – the President and the three vice-presidents; four members from the Premier League, four from the Challenge League and four from the Amateur League, one representative each from Gozo FA, Youth FA, Malta Football Coaches Association, Malta Football Players Association, women’s football, Futsal and Beach Soccer and two representing recreational football (member associations). The President, however, will only have the casting vote.

The Executive Board shall set up permanent and ad hoc committees if necessary; approve and issue the regulations for the organisation of permanent and ad hoc committees; appoint the General Secretary and the Treasurer; approve and issue regulations governing the conditions of participation in and the staging of competitions organised by the Malta FA, controlling and managing all the competitions of the Association; approve and issue regulations other than statutory; approve the annual budget of the Association and give the actual strategic direction and overall control and management of the association.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The Annual General Meeting is being replaced by the General Assembly which will be held three times a year. The first one will be held between the 15th March and the 15th April, the second between the 15th July and the 15th August and the third between the 15th October and the 15th November.

The General Assembly is composed of one delegate for every member club or association for a total of 69 votes – 53 clubs, 8 for recreational football and 8 for interest groups, unlike the current Annual General Meeting where clubs and member associations are represented by a delegate and the Council member. The South End Core will have observer status.

The General Assembly will elect the President, the vice-president’s and members of the Executive Board every four years; the chairpersons and members of the independent committees every two years; approve the financial report and administrative report and admit, suspend or expel a member; determine force majeur situations.

The first General Assembly being held in March/April will feature the election of the President and vice-presidents and the presentation and approval of the Financial Report. The second General Assembly held in July/August will feature the election of the ordinary members of the Executive Board or the election of the members of the independent committees, i.e. the Audit and Compliance Committee, Electoral Commission and judicial bodies; and the presentation and approval of the Administrative Report. On the other hand, the third General Assembly being held in October/November will focus on a particular theme in relation to the implementation of the MFA strategy.

The General Assembly being held in November 2021 will include the ratification of the additional Executive Board members.

The next election for President and Vice-Presidents will be held in March 2024. The age limit of 70 years and the allocation for a female vice-president will be applied for that election. For this year only, independent bodies will be appointed by the Executive Board for a period of one year. These will be appointed by the General Assembly every two years, starting July 2022.

The tasks and responsibilities of the President, who is elected by the General Assembly to give the strategic direction, and the General Secretariat, which is the association’s administrative and executive branch, will practically remain the same.

HONORARY PRESIDENT AND HONORARY MEMBERS

The General Assembly may bestow the title of honorary president upon any person for the service rendered to football. The General Assembly may also admit to the new Circle of Former Officers any former officer deserving such membership. The Executive Committee Board may bestow an Order of Merit on deserving long-serving members of the association or of any of its members.

Meanwhile forming part of the organisation, apart from the General Assembly, the Executive Board, the President and the General Secretariat, are the permanent committees and the ad-hoc committees.

PERMANENT AND INDEPENDENT COMMITTEES

The permanent committees include Finance, Competitions, Technical and Development, Referees Women’s Football; Amateur and Grassroots and Social Dialogue.

The independent committees are the Ethics and Compliance Committee, the Electoral Commission and the judicial bodies, namely the Disciplinary Commissioner; Control, Disciplinary and Ethics Committee; Appeals Board; Club Licensing; Dispute Resolution Body and Protests Board.

The chairmen, vice-chairmen and members of the independent bodies may not exercise or have exercised during the two years preceding their initial terms any executive function within a Member of the Association, nor have or have had in the two years preceding their initial term any material business relationship with any such member or members.

The new statute was approved unanimously by the Council members and delegates present for the meeting.

Meanwhile another motion calling for the withdrawal of the membership of the District Football Leagues was also approved. This following the approval of GIDA, Swan and Veterans Malta, which were members of the DFL, as new members in last Wednesday’s AGM. The District Football Leagues had been a member of the MFA for the past forty three years.