Says Master Plan on National Stadium project to be published by the end of year
The past few months provided a lot of challenges for the Malta FA, both on and off the pitch. President Bjorn Vassallo sat down with Valhmor Camilleri on the Sportsdesk podcast to discuss the 2024-25 season, as well as a number of projects that will shape the future of the Beautiful Game in Malta…
The past campaign has seen a lot of new concepts introduced in Maltese football, the biggest being Premier League clubs taking over the organisation of the country’s top-flight from the Malta FA, and introduced a revolutionary format that has instigated a lot of discussion.
Bjorn Vassallo said that the MFA’s decision to hand the responsibility over the commercial aspect of the championship to the 12 top-flight clubs was a very positive step forward, and said that in these early stages, the most crucial aspect is not so much the level of entertainment for fans but the level of commercialisation it generated.
“For the first time this season, we have decided to pass the autonomy of the Premier League championship to the clubs, a strategic idea that was initially launched four years ago and which has now come into effect,” Vassallo told the Sportsdesk Podcast.
“I think more than looking at the level of interest and entertainment, the most crucial aspect is to focus on the clubs’ sustainability from a financial aspect.
“It’s crucial that our clubs are commercially stronger and are involved in certain situations that will provide them revenue, which will then be reinvested so that they acquire better-quality players, become more financially sustainable, and then can focus on increasing fan engagement.
“But we are still at an early stage. We are coming from a season that was completely different from others in the past, had a new format, and was played without one of the biggest clubs on the island, Valletta, so we need time to make certain conclusions.”
Vassallo said that next season, the MFA will pass the operational phase of the championship to the Malta Premier League and will make sure that the transition will be smooth.
“Obviously, there will always be situations that could have been dealt with better, but there is no doubt it was a promising start and we have a good starting base to build on to increase the level of professionalism of this championship,” Vassallo said.
There has been a lot of talk in the past week or so that match officials will be aided by video technology next season, and Vassallo confirmed that the MFA has started talks so the Video Challenge system is introduced at the top level of Maltese football.
“The refereeing system falls under the jurisdiction of the MFA, and if any technology is introduced, it has to be decided by the MFA in collaboration with the MPL,” Vassallo said.
“We started discussions this week through the head of the referees’ sector, Alan Mario Sant, who had meetings on this subject after I spoke to FIFA on the matter.
“Next week, we are going to extend a session with FIFA so we are more knowledgeable on the system and understand what kind of investment is needed.
“We have spoken with the MPL, who made it clear that the full VAR system at the moment is not financially viable, and we went for the Video Challenge option, and in the next few weeks, we will decide if we are going to introduce it or not.
“If it’s introduced, we will use it in top-level competitions such as the FA Trophy, the Super Cup final as well as the 125 Jubilee Cup.”
As regards the MFA’s upcoming infrastructure projects, Vassallo confirmed that the new Technical Centre is set for a soft opening in September and will provide a major boost for Maltese football’s development.
“The National Technical Centre is close to completion and we are planning a soft opening in September,” Vassallo said.
“The venue will have its main function of hosting the national team set-up there but it will also be used by our club members, particularly by the youth sector and club academies, and will be the centre that will provide the education needed so we can grow in our technical project.
“The technical centre will also help us in terms of sports tourism as it will provide us with better facilities to host foreign teams here.
“Added to that, we hope that it will provide us with an opportunity to grow in terms of sports medicine and sports science, which will enable us to develop better football players and thus we will boast of a stronger national team.”
There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks regarding the National Stadium’s regeneration project, and Vassallo said that this initiative, which he described as the biggest in the history of Maltese football, needs time to be completed.
“You need millions of euros if we are going to complete the National Stadium’s regeneration project,” Vassallo admitted.
“This year, the MFA had a positive financial year, where we managed to make a small profit. The COVID-19 pandemic hit our financial coffers very hard, but I believe that we are starting to recover, and despite the difficult situation, we are determined to continue to invest in sports infrastructure.
“We invested in a new Technical Centre while at club level, we changed several training synthetic pitches.
“As regards the National Stadium project, we are planning to have a Master Plan by the end of the year, which will provide us with a way forward on how we can make regenerate this venue on a commercial level and how to make this stadium more functional and provide a better match-day experience to the fans.
“We plan to give our fans not just the experience of the 90-minute match but something to do for all members of the family, and we come close to what Maltese fans experience when they travel abroad and watch football matches.
“This is a very ambitious project that has to be done in partnership with the private sector and we already have a lot of interest from private companies who are ready to invest.
“But the first step has to be the Master Plan, and once the new Technical Centre is open, we can move the MFA personnel stationed on the Enclosure stand to the Technical Centre and then start to implement the National Stadium project master plan and take it one step at a time.”
Turning his sights on the MFA National Teams Technical Project, Vassallo said that he is very encouraged by the work being carried out by the technical staff in both the men’s and women’s categories and has no doubt that Maltese football can reach a higher level of performance in the near future.
“The technical project which started under my presidency four years ago boasts today of a very good team of coaches that is working very well,” Vassallo said.
“This is a project that needs time, and we need to be patient, but we are confident in our potential, and we can reach a higher standard of performance.
“Hopefully, the women’s national team will win promotion in the Nations League.
“We have a very strong team that has given us a lot of satisfaction over the years, and we are sure they can finish the job and win promotion again.
“As regards the men’s team, we are building a squad that will give us much more satisfaction in the future. We hope that the World Cup qualifiers will help the players to establish themselves in the national team.
“We have young and experienced players as well as players of Maltese descent that are new to the group, and I cannot exclude that we will have more foreign-based players joining this team to make our side more competitive.
“Our main goal is to win the promotion play-off in the Nations League and push our national team to a higher level of performance as well as improve our ranking position in the FIFA list and become a side that can give a good challenge to any national team both at home and away from our shores.”
Vassallo admitted that the MFA is still looking to bring more players of Maltese descent to joint the national team, something that even bigger countries are doing at the moment, he argued.
“Our birth-rate in Malta is decreasing and we need to be on the lookout for players of Maltese origins to join our national team and make sure we don’t miss out on this opportunity,” the MFA chief said.
Asked whether he is concerned by the poor results being achieved by the national team youth teams, Vassallo responded: “No. At youth level it is something that I am not too worried about because our main concern is to maximise the potential of our players and help them reach a level of performance that makes them good enough to play for our senior national team.
“Our investment in the youth sector has tripled when compared to the past, and we are seeing young players making it into the senior set-up, such as Gunner Elliot, who has been included into the squad named by Emilio De Leo for the June qualifiers.
“We have created the pathway for our youngsters to prove that they are good enough for the national team and it’s up to them to show discipline, dedication and hard work to make the grade.”
As regards women’s football, Vassallo said that Manuela Tesse, who was given a new four-year contract this year, was central to the project of developing the game here but admitted that more work needs to be done to increase the level of the game in Malta.
“I believe that we need to look beyond our women’s national team and start focusing on our clubs,” Vassallo said.
“In the past few years a lot of work has been done to improve the level of the women’s league and also our clubs. We need to look at areas that we rarely looked at in the past so that we can improve the level of women’s football in Malta.
“We need to make important decisions towards the use of better stadiums to host women’s league matches, introduce a more competitive format not just at senior level but also for our junior teams so that we can increase the numbers of players’ participation.
“We need to continue to strengthen player welfare. The association has already took some important decisions to safeguard female players, but there is more to be done.
“Should the women’s team win promotion it will inject a some feel-good factor in the environment and add more energy to try and lift the women’s game to a higher level.”
2025 is a very important year for the MFA as it is celebrating 125 years from its foundation and Vassallo said that they are focusing their celebrations around inclusion and social responsibility.
“There are different ways how football can infiltrate in our society and community and breach barriers,” Vassallo said.
“Many of the activities that we are organising have a touch of social responsibility and social inclusion to unite the people together and that in my view should be the legacy that our anniversary celebrations should leave not jus at elite level but throughout the whole Maltese football pyramid.
“We are going out of Ta’ Qali and into our communities, where we have been given a great welcome by everyone as football remains the most popular sport in Malta and is loved by everyone.”