Malta FA Exco approves two schemes worth €473,500

The Malta FA Executive Committee has approved the two new schemes announced at the 2018 Malta FA Annual General Meeting, held on 21st July. The Malta Football Association has allocated a combined yearly budget of €473,500 for these 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 homegrown player aged under 21 years that plays a minimum of 30 minutes during a competitive match. These incentives are primarily aimed at encouraging clubs to include more young players who are eligible to play for the national teams, in the process increasing the pool of homegrown talents. The Malta FA 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. 'FOURTH SUBSTITUTE'Meanwhile, the Malta FA Executive Committee has proposed that the ‘fourth substitution’ rule be adopted locally in light of the recent changes to the Laws of The Game. Under the proposal, from season 2018-19 local teams will be allowed to make an additional substitution (four substitutions in total) in matches from knock-out competitions and deciders that go into extra-time. FIFA, the world governing body of football, ratified the use of a fourth substitute in extra-time earlier this year and the rule was applied at the World Cup in Russia.