Mifsud stresses MFA’s bold stance against corruption

Malta FA president Joe Mifsud has reaffirmed the association’s zero-tolerance stance on corruption in football.

“We will continue with our crusade against corruption in football,” Dr Mifsud said before the draws of the national leagues’ fixtures yesterday.

“Bribery is the bane of football. Last season, the MFA maintained its bold fight against corruption. I believe that our efforts helped to lure more people to the stadia as there has been an overall increase of 40,000 fans on the previous term.

“True, we had an extra competition last season, the National League 100 Anniversary Cup, but we have also recorded an increase in the amount of fans for the BOV Premier League matches while the total attendance for Division Three matches was double that of the previous year.

“Yet, despite our resolve to combat corruption, there are still people who choose to ignore our warnings. My message is that those who set out to tarnish our game should be reported.

“In the last few years, the MFA has investigated all allegations of corruption, including those cited in unsigned letters. It’s not easy to probe anonymous claims because for all our determination to catch the culprits, we also have to safeguard justice.”

Dr Mifsud voiced his satisfaction at the encouraging results obtained by the three Maltese clubs in European competitions so far this season.

Birkirkara are still in with a chance of going through to the third qualifying round of the Champions League after they followed up their 7-3 aggregate win over FC Santa Coloma with a 1-0 home victory over Slovakia’s MSK Zilina in the first leg of their second qualifying round tie.

The second leg is tomorrow.

Valletta are also still in contention for a place in the third qualifying round of the Europa League after a 1-1 draw against Polish team Ruch Chorzow in the home leg last week.

The second leg will be played on Thursday.

Sliema Wanderers held Croatia’s HNK Sibenik to a goalless draw in the away leg but then crashed to a 3-0 loss at the Centenary Stadium.

Encyclopedia

The MFA president also announced that an agreement has been reached with football historian Carmel Baldacchino to publish an encyclopedia on Maltese football.

“A novelty this year will be the publication of the first volume of an encyclopedia on Maltese football,” Dr Mifsud said.

“This is being compiled and written by Carmel Baldacchino, one of the leading historians on local football. We have reached an agreement with the author to assist him in this interesting project.”

Baldacchino, who writes the weekly Shadows from the Past column in The Times, explained that the encyclopedia will comprise 10 volumes.

The first volume, covering the period 1800 to 1923, is due to be published in October.

“As football is an on-going thing, the encyclopedia can’t take the form of an A to Z account of past events because it immediately becomes outdated,” Baldacchino said.

“Every volume will be divided into four main parts (history of the game, national team, Maltese clubs against foreign opposition and personalities of the game) and the plan is to print one volume annually for the next 10 years.”