Malta has retained its presence at the highest level of the European governing body of football after Joe Mifsud, the Malta FA president, was re-elected to UEFA's Executive Committee following elections that took place in Cyprus yesterday.
Dr Mifsud was among nine candidates vying to be one of the seven members to secure another four-year term on the 14-man Executive Committee at the vote. However, the MFA head had to settle for a shorter term after losing a second election to Norway's Per Ravn Omdal.
A separate vote was required to determine which of the two candidates got a four-year term after Dr Mifsud and Omdal each polled 33 votes to finish join-seventh, the final seat on the Executive Committee.
Croatia's Vlatko Markovic received 27 votes and failed to win a place.
Omdal then earned the right to serve on the UEFA Executive Committee until 2008 after collecting 29 votes to Mifsud's 23.
However, following the departure of Luxembourg's Henri Roemer from the Executive Committee to take up a new role as special advisor to the UEFA president and CEO on European Union and global affairs, the Malta FA president was re-elected and will serve the remaining two years of Roemer's term.
Speaking to The Times from Limassol, Dr Mifsud said: "I have been re-elected for the next two years and that is what matters most now.
"In this election, I was competing with candidates from the major European powers like Italy, Germany and England. These federations wield a lot of influence in the European arena and there was a certain movement to promote their candidates, especially Italy who were determined to regain their seat. But, as I said, the important thing is to have a seat on the Executive Committee."
Dr Mifsud, who has been serving on the Executive Committee for the past 10 years, said it was too early for him to declare whether he intends to stand for re-election come 2006.
"Let's focus on the next two years first and then we will see," he said.
"Another two-year term on UEFA's Executive Committee means that the Malta FA will continue to rub shoulders with the top federations in the continent and remain updated about all the important matters in European football."
Carraro elected
Meanwhile, Italian FA president Franco Carraro ended Italy's four-year absence from UEFA yesterday by winning election to the Executive Committee.
The 64-year-old former Rome mayor polled 41 votes out of a possible 52, a huge improvement on his last attempt two years ago when he gathered just 18 votes and failed to win a place on the 14-man executive.
Italy were the only major soccer power without a seat on the board since Antonio Matarrese was voted off at the congress in Luxembourg in 2000.
The existing four European members of the FIFA Executive Committee were re-elected at the UEFA Congress - Michel D'Hooghe (Belgium), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia) and Michel Platini (France).
During the congress, Joseph A. Sacco, a former Malta FA general secretary, was awarded the UEFA Order of Merit for his long and sterling services to the game of football.
This was a unique honour never bestowed by UEFA on a Maltese football administrator before.
UEFA Executive Committee Elections
UEFA's 52 member associations yesterday voted for seven new members on the Executive Committee. Nine candidates contested the election. The seven with the highest number of votes will serve four-year terms.
The eighth-placed contestant will serve the remaining two years of Henri Roemer's term. The Luxembourg FA delegate left his seat to become special advisor to UEFA on European Union and global affairs.
European Members On Fifa Executive Committee
A vote to elect the four UEFA members of the executive committee of FIFA was abandoned as a result of the withdrawal on Thursday of Gilberto Madail, of Portugal.
Michel D'Hooge (Belgium), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Michel Platini (France) and Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia) were all re-elected by acclamation by the UEFA Congress delegates.