‘The Association today signed a new agreement with IZIBET, which I thank for choosing to partner with this sport and the Malta FA to promote their brand. After years without an official sponsor, the FA Trophy will now have a new sponsor, covering three football seasons. The competition will also now be renamed as IZIBET FA TROPHY’, said Malta FA President Bjorn Vassallo in the unveiling event for the Izibet FA Trophy.
Mr Vassallo reiterated that it is with pleasure that local businesses are showing their interest in backing up initiatives surrounding the beautiful game. The President said that commercial agreements are crucial for football which nowadays cannot survive without the involvement of the marketing aspect. This competition, which is the second largest in the domestic football, is eagerly awaited by both Maltese and Gozitan clubs. ‘The winning of this award is always high on the agenda of the local clubs due to the prestige of the competition and also because it gives access to UEFA club competitions. It is infact a strategic objective to create more fascinating and competitive competitions which will add to the fan engagement in order to continue fostering the passion of the supporter in this country’, said President Vassallo.Izibet’s Chief Commercial Officer Franco Degabriele, stated that both parts will benefit from this agreement that will inject the needed financial boost into this competition. Helping sport thrive and assisting football to increase in popularity has always been top on the priority list of Izibet. Mr Degabriele said that the FA Trophy always evokes emotions especially in the late stages of the competition. ‘We are happy and proud to partner with the MFA in sponsoring such competition’ stated Mr Degabriele. This season, following two seasons, where the competition did not finish due to the Covid-19 restrictions, will mark the 82nd time the trophy will be awarded with Sliema Wanderers being the team which holds the record for the most FA Trophy wins (21), closely followed by Floriana (20). The first competition was organised in the season 1934-35. A total of 46 teams will compete in this season’s edition, 4 of whom will be the semi-finalists of the National Amateur Cup together with 8 Gozitan clubs and all the clubs participating in the Premier League and the Challenge League respectively.Izibet is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority under licence MFA/B2C/345/2016.