Luke Montebello and Stephania Farrugia win MFA Player of the Year Award

Ħamrun Spartans forward Luke Montebello and Stephania Farrugia, the Birkirkara FC defender, were the main winners at the Malta FA Awards after being named Player of the Year on Saturday night.

For Montebello this was his second major individual award in the past few weeks after earlier this month, the Ħamrun Spartans striker was named as the MFPA Men’s Best Player award.

The Malta striker is coming from a very impressive campaign with the Spartans as his prolific form not only helped the team to secure their tenth Premier League title but also topped the goalscorers’ list with 21 goals.

The other finalists in the Men’s Player of the Year award were Joseph Mbong, of Ħamrun Spartans, and Floriana trio Kemar Reid, Dunstan Vella and Carlo Zammit Lonardelli.

On her part, Farrugia was a key figure for Birkirkara FC this season as the 32-year-old defender helped the Stripes to a treble of honours after winning the Women’s League, the Knock Out competition as well as the Super Cup.

Added to that, Farrugia was one of the inspirational figures in the women’s national team that last December secured an historic promotion to League B in the UEFA Women’s League.

In the other categories, former Floriana coach Mauro Camoranesi was rather surprisingly named as Coach of the Year when he finished ahead of Luciano Zauri, the former Ħamrun Spartans coach who led the team to the Premier League title, and Sliema Wanderers coach Paul Zammit who guided the team to the FA Trophy success.

Marsaxlokk forward Yuri Messias was named as the Best Foreign Player while Floriana defender Owen Spiteri won the Best Young Player of the Year award.

Newly-promoted Premier League side Melita won two awards on the night as Matthew Debattista was named the Best Player in the Challenge League while his team-mate Andre Carlos took the top scorer award.

During the night, the MFA awarded the Football Social Responsibility Award that went to Fgura United.

Meanwhile, former Floriana, Sliema Wanderers and Malta stalwart Joe Cini was inducted into the Malta FA Hall of Fame.

LIST OF WINNERS

Assikura Best Youth League Player (Women): Kaysia Micallef (Swieqi United).

Best Youth League Player (Men): Ensell Attard (Mosta).

BOV Best Young Player of the Year: Owen Spiteri (Floriana).

Izibet Amateur League Best Player: Kurt Borg (Mtarfa).

Fair Play Award: Sirens FC.

The Gozitan Achievement Award: Ann Marie Said (Birkirkara).

Foreign Player of the Year: Yuri Messias (Marsaxlokk).

President’s Award: Miguel Mifsud.

The Football Social Responsibility Award: Fgura United.

Top Scorers

Premier League: Luke Montebello (Ħamrun Spartans).

Challenge League: Andre Carlos Penha da Costa (Melita).

Amateur League: Kurt Borg (Mtarfa).

Women’s League: Salamatu Abdulai (Swieqi United).

BOV Challenge League Best Player: Matthew Debattista (Melita).

Coach of the Year Award: Mauro Camoranesi (Floriana).

Hall of Fame: Joe Cini.

Best Goal of the Year Award: Kaiden Fenech (Birkirkara F.C.) Footballer of the Year (Women): Stephania Farrugia (Birkirkara).

Footballer of the Year (Men): Luke Montebello (Ħamrun Spartans).