The Malta Premier League will be building its own stadium in Marsa in the area behind the Matthew Micallef St John Athletics Stadium, where rugby league matches are currently being held.
This was announced by MInister for Home Affairs, Security and Employment Dr Byron Camilleri and MPL Chairman Dr Joseph Muscat during a press conference at the Marsa Sports Ground on Monday.
photos courtesy of Malta Premier League
Dr Byron Camilleri said this was this start of ad dream which will become a concrete reality with a new home for the Malta Premier. He said the Malta Premier
Stadium will not only a football ground but a venue where sports values, discipline, solidaruty and fair play are practised along with match day experience. He said the wish to incorporate all this was the reason for which they were there.
Dr Camilleri said this zone in Marsa had always been known for sport. A lot of investment in these facilities has been done and now this huge investment will be carried out which will improve the facilities and the level of the game.
The Minister for Home Affairs, Security and Employment said that sport has benefitted from the Citizenship by Merit scheme. He said that the law has been strengthened and thanks to that, those who come forward with such interesting plans will benefit as well.
Dr Byron Camilleri added that the MPL has not worked in isolaton but in agreement with associations of Rugby and Baseball who make already use of this area.
He said that the idea is not only to have excellent facilities but also to improve the match day experience thanks to which clubs, players and also fans will benefit from this project.
Dr Camilleri said this will be an investment worh millions of euro. He added that the Malta FA will also be part of the project.
He concluded by thanking to Dr Clifton Grima, all presidents and committee members of clubs from the Malta Premier, Dr Joseph Muscat and Alan Abela from the MPL.
MPL chairman Dr Joseph Muscat said the although the MPL brings together the established clubs and other new ones, it was still in its infancy but still has great responsibility and is recognised by the MFA and the government.
“We want football in Malta to be more sustainable and for this reason, we already took a number of decisions and will be taking others, especially in terms of governance thanks to which clubs could choose to become a commercial entity. All this apart from the commercialisation of sports facilities.”
The MPL chairman said that the match day experience was one of the main pillars for the MPL: attracting more people to the stadiums and have them spend a number of hours at the venue – not only for those interested in football but also those who accompany them. He said this was part of the MPL plan to enhance match day experience: the concept of home and away, hospitality and other new concepts like family stand. He said that these were new concepts will deliver a new way of match day experience like ones who visit stadiums around Europe are used to. Dr Muscat stressed that this was not a commercialisation process and that is why the MPL entered an agreement with the government.
“This is a project fully focussed on sport. A venue totally dedicated to sport. “
“We took a number of decisions. The pitch will be artificial to maximise the use of this venue to make use of the structural deficit we have in this country. The venue will have training facilities … a warm up pitch which would give the possibility to have two or more matches, played one after the other. This will be a UEFA level 3 stadium, which could possibly host group stage matches of UEFA competitions. The planned capacity is of 5,000 but this was still under discussion. This will be a multi-event venue which could also host concerts.”
Dr Joseph Muscat said that there was great synergy between all clubs for the good of the game.
The MPL chairman said that the Malta Rugby Football Union will still hold the title for the area.
In fact, as part of the project, a rugby stadium and club house will be built and the plan is to start with this first along with facilities for baseball.
Therefore the area would host the Malta Premier Stadium, warm-up pitch, the rugby stadium and baseball facilities.
Dr Muscat said that choice of Marsa was that t was in a central area with easy access and with extensive parking facilities: the park and ride on one side and Albert Town, accessible through the bridge, on the other.
Dr Muscat said that the MPL had the full support of the Malta FA and thanked President Bjorn Vassallo and Vice-President Dr Matthew Paris. He said that goes also in line with the Malta FA masterplan for Ta’ Qali.
“We will not use this stadium, exclusively, especially for matches being played at the same time. The Tony Bezzina Stadium and National Stadium will still be used.”
Dr Muscat concluded by thanking Ministers Byron Camilleri and Clifton Grima, the Prime Minister. He also thanked the Plannign Authority,saying that there is no need for a local plan review as it is full in line with PA policies. He went on to thank Transport Malta, the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, Infrastruture Malta and also Kurt Formosa from Kommunita regarding the financing of this project.
“We will be filing our plans shortly and by the end of the year we will hopefully have the permits. Works would then start in early 2027 and the project would be completed by 2030. Hopefully it should be up and running, hopefully earlier,” said Dr Muscat.
Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Dr Clifton Grima said that in late 2017, they had emphasised on the direct investment in athletes – and recent past showed what one could achieve by this – and then the investment in infrsastructure.
“We had a lot of investment in sports facilities in Malta and Gozo. Investment related to big events which also left a legacy. Here we have a sports village with new facilities for athletics gymnastics, weightlifting, netball and squash. Thanks to this initiative, we will have another faciltiy which would help our clubs and the community. Investment in the community not only strengthens the sports aspect but also the social aspect,” concluded Dr Grima.
