New regulations on the transfer of amateur players approved after an agreement was reached between the Malta FA and FIFPRO to stop proceedings before CAS.

During the Malta FA Executive Board meeting held on Monday, the Malta Football Association presented a number of amendments to the player transfer regulations (Section IV – Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players) which address the mandatory registration period that a non-professional player has with a club and which amendments also relate to players under the age of 18.

These rules mainly address the registration of players who, under the terms of the Malta FA regulations, provided for the registration of a player aged 14 to remain valid until the age of 18. With the introduction of these new rules which have been approved by the Executive Board, player registration will apply from the age of 14 to the age of 16 and from the age of 16 to the age of 18, as further explained in the amended regulations.

These amendments came after several discussions in the Social Dialogue Committee within the Malta FA between representatives of the member clubs and the Malta Football Players Association (MFPA) with the intervention of the Malta FA and also following an agreement reached between FIFPRO and the Malta FA to reach a compromise regarding proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The proceedings will be withdrawn by FIFPRO since this historic agreement has been reached.

During the same meeting the Malta FA presented a Player Registration Form for the upcoming season. This form will be generated by the COMET system (an online system operated by member clubs) in order to address abuses that were occurring when registering players for the following season.

The system will generate data on the form as well as a specific progressive number for each form. In this way, there will be evidence of when the form was generated by the COMET system, which in terms of the Malta FA regulations (Section IV – Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players) any registration of a player with the same club must be done after the end of the season and not before.

The Malta FA also informed that any forms that may have been completed before the end of the current season will not be accepted as they do not comply with the rule that stipulates that the registration of a player with the same club must be done after the end of the season. This addresses the shortcomings that existed in the procedure and allows for greater transparency and accountability in the way players are registered at minor ages. The MFA remains committed to continuing to reform its internal processes based on dialogue with its members and this in the best interest of the game and all those who administer and practice it.