A proposal for a general amnesty has been approved by the council members of the Malta Football Association, the local governing body announced in a statement.

“Norman Darmanin Demajo, as per statute article 90 (i) proposed the granting of an amnesty to all players and officials with a pending suspension for a specified number of matches originating from all competitions organised by the Malta FA and all of its member associations from a decision of the Disciplinary Commissioner as at August 4, 2016,” the statement said.

“The Council approved the amnesty and thus the list of suspensions was cleared and voided.”

The Malta FA pointed out that suspensions related to doping, bribery and corruption do not fall within the amnesty.

One of the main beneficiaries following this decision is St Andrew’s coach Jose Borg who last season was handed a ten-match suspension from the MFA Disciplinary Commissioner following comments he passed to match officials during his team’s match against Birkirkara last April.

Borg was forced to watch the Saints’ final four league matches of the season from the stands and faced the prospect of sitting out of his team’s first six matches of the 2016-17 campaign.

However, he will now be able to sit in his team’s dug-out for his the Saints’ opening Premier League match, again against Birkirkara, on August 19.