Mifsud elected UEFA vice president

Maltese football may be under a dark cloud at the moment following the two cases in court of match-fixing that rocked the local game from its seams.

However, on the administrative side there was good news for the country's football authorities yesterday when it was announced that Malta FA president Joe Mifsud was elected as one of UEFA vice-presidents for the next two years.

These past few months were indeed hectic for Dr Mifsud as the MFA Executive Committee met on several occasions to discuss the enactment of effective measures to counter the corruption threat and improve the tarnished image of the local game.

And with the two World Cup qualifiers coming up on Saturday and Wednesday, few inside the MFA environs had mentioned Dr Mifsud's chances of enhancing his already fine reputation outside our shores by being nominated for the vice president's post during this week's UEFA Ordinary Congress in Copenhagen.

The Malta FA, in a short statement yesterday announced that Dr Mifsud will now be vice-president at the European governing body of football until 2011.

The decision at the Bella Congress Centre was unanimous.

"During a meeting of the newly-formed UEFA Executive Committee, held immediately at the end of the Ordinary Congress today in Copenhagen, the Executive Committee, on the proposal of president Michel Platini, unanimously elected Dr Joe Mifsud as one of the UEFA vice-presidents for the coming two years," the statement said.

Dr Mifsud, 58, was elected to the UEFA Executive Committee for the first time in 1994 during an Ordinary Congress in Vienna.

He has been re-elected ever since, the last time being in 2007 during another Congress in Dusseldorf. On that occasion, he was elected for a period of four years. He will now continue his term as vice president. Between 1998 and 2000 he was also a European member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

At home, Dr Mifsud has now been at the helm of the Maltese football organisation for almost 17 years. In July 2007, he won a narrow vote against Norman Darmanin Demajo for another three-year term at the office. He was first elected in 1992.

Delegates from all 53 member associations at UEFA assembled in Copenhagen this week and among the main items on the agenda was the vote for nine new candidates in the Executive Committee for the 2009-2013 period.

Reports on the UEFA administration were submitted for approval as the congress also heard reports from the chairmen of the UEFA committees and updates on the ambitious HatTrick assistance programme across the continent.

Refs convention

Meanwhile, Malta FA yesterday officially joined the UEFA Convention on Referees.

The signing was made by Dr Mifsud and secretary Joe Gauci in the presence of UEFA head Michel Platini. Patrick Fenech, a former referee and member of the MFA Referees Board, was also present at yesterday's signing.

The MFA described the event as a red-letter day for Maltese referees as "the Convention ensures that the advances made in this sector will not only be consolidated but will continue to flourish".

Joining the Convention will give referees more technological aides to further improve their performance, both locally and on the international scene, the MFA said.

A bold drive, intended to encourage more men and women to take up a career in refereeing, is now expected to be launched in the coming weeks.