The Malta Football Association Executive Committee has approved the two new schemes announced at the 2018 Annual General Meeting, held on July 21.

The Malta FA has allocated a combined yearly budget of €473,500 for the new assistance programmes – the Young Players Development Fund and Guaranteed Gate Income Scheme.

From season 2018-19, clubs in all four divisions will be receiving solidarity payments for every home-grown player aged under 21 years who plays a minimum of 30 minutes during a competitive match.

These incentives are primarily aimed at encouraging clubs to introduce more young players who are eligible to play for the national teams, in the process increasing the pool of homegrown talent.

The association has allocated a budget of €210,000 for this scheme.

The Guaranteed Gate Income Scheme will see clubs benefiting from a fixed amount of gate revenue every season, regardless of the attendance figures for their matches.

The estimated cost of this assistance programme, which follows discussions with the stakeholders over the past months, is €263,500.

Taking into account the two other schemes launched a few months ago – the Facilities Grant Scheme and the Club Administrators Scheme – the Malta FA is committing over €750,000 for these four initiatives.

The Malta FA Executive Committee has proposed that the ‘fourth substitute’ rule be adopted locally in light of the recent changes to the Laws of The Game.

According to the proposed amendment, from season 2018-19 local teams will be allowed to make an additional substitution (four substitutions in total) in knock-out matches and deciders that go into extra- time.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, ratified the use of a fourth substitute during extra-time earlier this year and the rule was applied at the World Cup in Russia.