Bjorn Vassallo was re-elected to the post of president of the Malta Football Association for the period 2024-2028 during the General Assembly which was held on Friday at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana.
Vassallo obtained 62 votes while Micallef obtained 6. There was one invalid vote.
Eligible to vote were the fifty three member clubs together with the delegates representing member associations, namely Futsal Malta Association, Gozo Football Association, GIDA, Gozo Youth FA, Inter Amateur Soccer Competition, Industries Sports Association, Malta Amateur Football Association, Malta Beach Soccer Association, Malta Employees Sports Association, Malta Football Coaches Association, Masters Football Malta, Malta Football Players Association, Malta Football Referees Association, Swan League, Veterans Malta Association and Youth Football Association for a total of 69 votes.
This will be Vassallo’s second term as Malta FA president.
After serving at San Gwann Football Club in the roles of vice-president and secretary, Bjorn Vassallo served as Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Football Association between August 2010 and July 2014 when he was appointed General Secretary of the association, He then moved to FIFA where he served as Director for Europe between December 2016 and July 2019. Bjorn Vassallo was elected President of the Malta Football Association in July 2019 after obtaining 83 of the 137 votes cast, against the 54 votes obtained by Dr Chris Bonett.
For the first time, one of the Vice-Presidents is a female candidate, Dr Maria Azzopardi. Dr Matthew Paris and Adrian Casha were confirmed in the remaining two posts of Vice-Presidents. Dr Maria Azzopardi, Dr Matthew Paris and Adrian Casha elected Vice-Presidents
Senior Vice-President Ludovico Micallef did not standing for re-election after serving for twenty six years as Vice-President of the Malta FA.
The Executive Board nominated him as Honorary Member of the Malta FA and this nomination was approved by the General Assembly.
In a short speech, Ludovico MIcallef said he has been serving at the association for forty two years within the Executive Committee. He said that throughout these years, he worked with four presidents – Dr George Abela, Dr Joe Mifsud, Norman Darmanin Demajo and Bjorn Vassallo – who all did a lot for the good of the game. He remembered a number of people who worked hard for the game but who have passed away in the past years.
Micallef concluded by thanking the association for being able to serve for twenty years in the UEFA Youth Committee.
Meanwhile present for the General Assembly were UEFA Vice-President and FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, Thierry Favre – Deputy National Associations Director at UEFA and Elkhan Mammadov – FIFA Director, Member Associations Europe.
Gabriele Gravina praised the Malta FA for hosting successfully big events such as the UEFA Under-19 Championship and high profile matches such as the recent European Qualifies against England and Italy.
Gravina congratulated the Malta women’s national team for winning promotion toe League B. He said that this was a proof that the investment is reaping fruit. He said that through the Hat-Trick programme, UEFA was supporting grassroots. He said that associations would be receiving a total of 935 million euro, meaning that each association could receive up to seventeen million euro in four years.
The UEFA Vice-President and the FIGc President went on to speak about the newly-launched UEFA strategy for the period 2024 to 2030 – United for Success.
Bjorn was part of the team which worked on this strategy
Bjorn Vassallo was a member of the team who worked on this UEFA strategy which will focus on seven key areas – be at core of society, ensure opportunities for all from grassroots to elite, strengthen the game’s fundamentals, work together to the highest governance standards, organise world class competitions, maximise the potential of women’s football and pursue culture of sustainability.
Elkhan Mammadov, on the other hand, said that the FIFA Forward was one of the most prominent sports development programmes which supports associations around the world.
Mammadov congratulated the Malta women’s national team for its promotion to League B, saying that the results obtained that Malta was in the right direction by investing in women;’s football. He praised the Malta FA for working on a new strategy for women’s football and said that he was sure that FIFA and UEFA will be supporting the Malta FA in this.
Mammadov added that the organisation of the UEFA Under-19 Championship was a landmark moment for Malta.