Valletta, Pieta protests turned down

The Malta FA Protests Board confirmed a previous ruling on the validity of Luke Dimech's move to Birkirkara after it turned down the protests lodged by Valletta and Pietà Hotspurs last night.

The two Premier League clubs claimed that Dimech's transfer to Birkirkara during the January transfer window breached FIFA regulations on the grounds that he was not entitled to move back to Maltese football after he had been issued with an international registration transfer certificate earlier in the season.

The Citizens filed their protest after a 7-2 defeat to Birkirkara on February 22 and Pietà made theirs after holding the Stripes to a goalless draw on March 1.

Hibernians had also made a similar complaint after their 1-0 defeat to Birkirkara last month but their protest was rejected by the Protests Board.

On that occasion, Joe Gauci, the Malta FA secretary, sought clarification from FIFA over Dimech's position.

In his reply, Gianpaolo Monteneri, Head of Players' Status (Legal Services) at the world soccer governing body, outlined the association's regulations for the status and transfer of players as well as the exceptions to the provisions laid down by the FIFA rules.

Monteneri's letter was taken into consideration by the Protests Board before it declared that Dimech's registration was valid.

Valletta and Pietà still opted to challenge this ruling by filing separate protests over Dimech's registration.

The Citizens also requested that the members of the board for their protest hearing be different from those who looked into the complaint made by Hibs. Their request was not accepted because the complainants' objection had not been filed together with the protest as stated in the MFA statute.