MFA Council to vote for composition of national competitions for 2021-22 season on Tuesday

The Malta Football Association is set to decide the composition of the national competitions for season 2021-22 when the Council convenes on Tuesday.

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of discussion on how the national competitions will look next season following the Malta FA Executive Committee decision to bring to an early end this year’s competitions following the authorities’ reluctance of lifting the legal notice that banned organised sport before the end of April due to COVID-19.

As things stand at the moment, the Challenge League is the only competition that was abandoned after it failed to reach the 75 per cent threshold of matches scheduled to be played, as requested by the MFA regulations, to allow the classification to stand when the championship was terminated.

At present, the MFA EXCO is proposing that the Premier League next season will be formed by 12 teams, the Challenge League will have 22 teams while the National Amateur League will be composed of 19 teams.

Despite the proposals made by the Executive Committee, it is the Council who will rubberstamp this decision on Tuesday and this scenario could change if the club representatives deem to do so.

It is expected that some clubs present a motion to challenge this composition and it will be up to the Council members to decide whether they will accept their argument or not.

During the meeting, the MFA Council will also discuss the Memorandum of Understanding that was recently agreed upon by the MFA EXCO.

The MoU has a duration of one season and touches on aspects of direct relevance to the clubs such as agreement on the key dates of the season calendar and access to a number of support schemes that have been reconfirmed.

During the meeting the MFA will also present a number of amendments to its competitions that include the number of overseas players each club can field next season.

In the Premier League, it is being proposed that clubs can register up to 12 overseas players. However, it is being proposed that only seven can be on the field at the same time with the number of foreign players included on the substitute bench increased to a maximum of two.

In the Challenge League, clubs can register four overseas players. A fifth foreign player will be eligible to register if he can play in the Youth League.

Clubs can include four foreigners in their squad list but only three can be on the field at the same time.

In the National Amateur League, clubs can register two overseas players.