Norman Darmanin Demajo and Antoine Portelli, two candidates for the Malta FA elections, were this evening granted accreditation to attend the annual general meeting at the Centenary Hall, on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Darmanin Demajo, who will be contesting the post of president, and Portelli, a candidate for the treasurer’s post, had told The Times that they had delivered a letter by hand to the MFA headquarters on July 28, requesting to attend the annual general meeting.

However, MFA general secretary Joe Gauci was unable to confirm their authorisations, they contended.

In reaction, Gauci denied that the accreditations had been denied to the two candidates.

In a statement, he said Darmanin Demajo and Portelli, who have no right to attend the meeting according to the MFA statute, had reached a hasty conclusion that they were denied access to the AGM after receiving no response to their request from the MFA which is not bound by deadlines to decide such matters.

The statement added that on Thursday president Joe Mifsud opted to leave the decision at the hands of all association officials who agreed to follow the same lines adopted three years ago when Peter Fenech was allowed to be present for the meeting despite not being eligible to attend.