Elite Referee Philip Farrugia and assistant referees Ryan Aquilina and Rick Heckenlaible have just been awarded a UEFA diploma following their participation at the 24th CORE (Centre of Refe-reeing Excellence) Programme in Switzerland.

UEFA established the CORE programme to provide development courses for new match officials in all parts of the continent.

Farrugia, 26, Aquilina, 28, and Heckenlaible, 24, were the fifth trio from the country to take part in the programme since its inception in January 2010 during an executive meeting in Malta.

Farrugia’s coach at the course was Manuel Lopez Fernandez (Spain) and Tom Murphy (Scotland) was the appointed assistant referees’ mentor for Aquilina and Heckenlaible.

Following an introductory course in October last year, the three Maltese match officials were invited back for a seven-day consolidation course that was held between March 26 and April 1 at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

The highlight of the second course was a league match between UGS Geneve and Sarraz Eclepens (3-0), a challenging encounter with two penalties awarded and a red card against the away team.

In Nyon, Farrugia, Aquilina and Heckenlaible were assessed in various areas, including fitness conditions, technical performances, attitude, organisation and also the fluency in the English language.

The Malta Football Association Refereeing Department said in a statement that the success of its three relatively young match officials speaks volumes about the organisation’s continuous efforts to support the development of the country’s talented referees and assistant referees.