Msida St Joseph and Hamrun were this evening promoted to football's Premier League, replacing Vittoriosa Stars and Marsaxlokk following their demotion to Division 1 because of corruption.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the council of the Malta Football Association and marks a quick return to the top flight for Msida and Hamrun, who had been relegated at the end of the last season.
The council also decided that the Premier League will resume in the last weekend of this month according to the established programme. The first matches will be those which should have been placed last weekend.
The council meeting was presided by MFA president Joe Mifsud, who spoke of the seriousness of corruption in sport and said there could never be amnesties in cases like this.
In his speech Dr Mifsud also hit back at criticism of the long time it took the Board to reach its verdict on the Marsaxlokk case. “The news conferences held by lawyers show that they are not really conversant with the regulations of the Malta FA,” Dr Mifsud said.
Dr Mifsud confirmed that competition regulations state that the results of the matches from this season’s Premier League will stand, bar those played by the two demoted clubs.
During its meeting, the council agreed that with regards to the Division One Knock-Out, in view of the changes necessitated by the demotion of Vittoriosa and Marsaxlokk, Saturday's fixtures should be rescheduled. The matches, Marsaxlokk vs Melita FC and Vittoriosa Stars vs St George’s, have been postponed until October 24 but the KO competition will kick off on Sunday with the clash between.
The council members authorised the president to rule on clubs’ applications to register out-of-contract players. This move is principally aimed at accelerating the registration process of new players - those who are without a contract - whom the newly-promoted clubs may opt to sign to strengthen their squads.
Tribute was also paid to Joe Sacco, the former MFA secretary, who passed away last week. The MFA president praised Mr Sacco for his sterling contribution to Maltese football. “It is fitting that Mr Sacco is remembered as a person who, as general secretary of the Malta FA, did a lot for Maltese football,” Dr Mifsud said.