NEWS | Wednesday, 31 December 2008

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Tempers rise as football presidents go head-to-head

Matthew Vella
The president of Birkirkara FC yesterday said he is seeking legal advice over allegations by Joe Mifsud, the president of the Malta Football Association, who claimed Birkirkara had not forwarded receipts of its footballers’ national insurance contributions, earning the MFA a citation from UEFA.
Mifsud lambasted Victor Zammit during a press conference on Monday over the latter’s claims that the MFA was fined for not distributing UEFA monies to Maltese clubs.
The issue concerns allegations that some 300,000 Swiss francs in UEFA funds were never distributed to the clubs by the MFA from the European football body’s HatTrick Programme.
Five football club presidents have met to discuss the matter and take up the matter with the MFA.
Joe Mifsud, the MFA president who is also a member on the executive committee of UEFA, told MaltaToday the money belongs to the association.
“They are assuming the money belongs to them but in reality it is for the MFA, which has the right to use these funds to cover expenses concerning licences,” Mifsud said.
Instead he accused Victor Zammit of being responsible for a caution the MFA received from UEFA over undisclosed national insurance receipts.
“Zammit is claiming the MFA was fined over this matter, but in reality it received a caution from UEFA because it did not collect receipts of the national insurance contributions paid by Birkirkara FC for its players. We just rested on the club’s declarations,” Mifsud said.
Zammit yesterday told MaltaToday that the UEFA circular, dating back to 2004, says the money was to be used for the licences required by clubs to play in European competitions, or for the MFA to distribute to the clubs for their administrative expenses, such as auditing and accounting services.
“We were never told of the scheme, and we only got to know about the money now. And what we are simply asking for is to know what the MFA did with that money,” Zammit said.
He added that it was UEFA which publicly stated that “fines and warnings” had been issued to Malta, Finland and Azerbaijan, concerning spot-checks carried out by UEFA in 2007.
Yesterday, the directors of Birkirkara FC issued a statement saying they fully supported Zammit’s request to seek clarification on the HatTrick funds.
The club said it was not “involved in any other controversies or other issues” between the MFA with “other third parties and that it is not dragging itself in such issues.”
The club said it will be asking for a meeting with the MFA in the coming days to clarify its position.
The presidents of the Valletta, Hibernians, Birkirkara, Sliema Wanderers and Marsaxlokk clubs met on 20 December to discuss a UEFA circular sent to the MFA, concerning funds which they claim had to be used to apply for a licence to play in the European competitions.
According to Valletta president Victor Sciriha, the money was never distributed.
The money forms part of UEFA’s HatTrick programme, which supports European national associations with some 500 million Swiss francs. The money serves for financial assistance, with a one-off contribution of up to 2.5 million francs to each association, and annual solidarity payments of more than 1 million francs.
A four-year investment plan means that associations can request financial assistance to improve infrastructures in areas such as stadium construction, training centre construction, association HQs and grassroots and social projects.
UEFA’s HatTrick programme helped fund the laying of a state-of-the-art FIFA two-star artificial pitch at the Centenary Stadium in Ta’ Qali.

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below.
Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.

All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.

Saviour Balzan
Did you say Vince?

Harry Vassallo
All the best