MFA favour foreign option

The Malta FA are prepared to take their time before appointing a new national coach but the job will almost certainly be offered to a foreigner.

The post has been vacant since the MFA parted company with John Buttigieg late last month, just over two years into his five-year contract.

In announcing that the Executive Committee favour the recruitment of a foreign coach to succeed Buttigieg, Norman Darmanin Demajo, the Malta FA president, also dropped a very strong hint that Dusan Fitzel could be one of the leading candidates.

“We discussed the national coach issue at the Executive Committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday),” Darmanin Demajo said during yesterday’s council meeting.

“It was the first time we talked about this matter, in a general manner, since the termination of the contracts of John Buttigieg and Carmel Busuttil. Once again, we had an open, frank discussion as this is the way to go about such important matters.

“There is no chance that, out of the blue, I will come here and announce the appointment of a new coach. There’s going to be transparency all the way.

“The next match for the national team (a friendly against Liech-tenstein) is towards the end of February and I don’t think we should rush into appointing a coach before then.

“At the Exco meeting, we did discuss whether we should opt for a Maltese or foreign coach. There is a general consensus that, for the right deal, we should appoint a foreigner.

“We have received over 25 applications from foreign coaches but I’ve passed all the material to the people in charge of the technical centre.”

Fitzel, who led Malta to a spate of positive results in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, has been strongly linked with a return and Darmanin Demajo confirmed that the Czech has been spoken of very highly during the last Exco meeting.

“It’s no secret that Dusan Fitzel has been mentioned,” he said.

“He did well during his time as Malta coach (between 2006 and 2009) and there were very positive comments about his management and leadership.

“Fitzel is familiar with our football and the Maltese players but he currently has another job elsewhere (Fitzel is the technical director of the Czech FA).

“We are prepared to wait until March, April and possibly May before appointing a new coach. For the Liechtenstein friendly, we shall have a Maltese caretaker coach.”

It is believed that apart from Fitzel, the other outstanding candidate for the job is an Italian coach.

Darmanin Demajo reaffirmed the Malta FA’s commitment towards boosting youth development as that is the best way forward to raise the level of our game.

“When we say that our priority is to develop the grassroots, we mean it,” he said.

“At present, we are focusing on this small project... we are devising a programme for a group of boys, born in 1998, who are deemed to have potential.

“Sergio Soldano is working closely with these boys. He is very capable and he’s also collaborating with our coaches.

“We have employed him on a part-time basis as we want to see how he integrates here before deciding whether to give him a full-time job.

“There will be constant monitoring of our youngsters. It’s not as if those who are part of this group have their place guaranteed... if our coaches spot better players, they will make changes.”

Darmanin Demajo also revealed that the Exco members have agreed to offer a new two-year contract to Luca Pagani, the national teams’ physical trainer.

The plan, he said, is for Pagani to work with the younger selections in addition to his duties with the senior national team.

Givova saga

The MFA have explored the possibility of rescinding their contract with Givova, the national teams’ kit suppliers, but the threat of hefty damages and exorbitant legal expenses prompted the association not to follow that course of action.

“After the end of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, I expressed my views about our agreement with Givova,” Bjorn Vassallo, the MFA CEO, told club officials.

“In the first two years of our contract with Givova, we encountered several difficulties as the technical equipment and payments stipulated in the contract didn’t arrive.

“We’ve been having problems to kit out our national teams. The Exco considered the option of dissolving the contract but to do that, we’d have had to file a case with the Naples tribunal, not to mention the risk of incurring massive fines if we fail to honour our obligations.

“I was a member of the MFA Exco when this contract was agreed but we were not aware of the terms of the deal at the time. I will not go into the merits of that decision but this contract shouldn’t have been signed.”

Vassallo said that he had contacted clubs in Italy that also have Givova as their technical partners.

“They confirmed that they have the same problems as us,” he said.

“But, we are prepared to discuss this matter around a table to try and improve the situation,” Vassallo said.