In an official ceremony at MFPA’s headquarters on Wednesday 14 February 2018, MFPA extended its Life After Football, educational campaign by launching the ‘MFPA Life After Football Scholarship’ in collaboration with ITS and MCAST.

The Scholarship will allow beneficiaries to be able to attend courses at MCAST or ITS on a flexible schedule, whilst training with their clubs on a full-time basis. MFPA will act as a liaison between beneficiaries and the educational institutes to ensure that lectures and exams do not clash with training and game schedules. The Maltese players’ union will also be helping the beneficiaries financially, by paying for course and exam fees, as well as by giving beneficiaries an annual allowance.

Speaking on behalf of MFPA, Dr Anthony Galea and Mr Carlo Mamo spoke about the idea behind this Scholarship. The Scholarship has been set up with the intention of giving players in Malta the opportunity to study while training and playing as a full-time football player. The need for such opportunities is threefold. First, since football players are facing an extremely short career, it is imperative that they gain other employable skills for their Life After Football. Second, juggling studies with a strict training schedule is incredibly difficult, which usually leads players to have to choose between the two. Last but not least, as an Association for football players, MFPA aims at increasing the professional standard of players, and adding training time will help towards this aim.

Mr Victor Satariano, Vice-President of MCAST’s Board of Governors and Mr Louis Aquilina, MCAST Director Partnerships Office, hailed MFPA for this unique initiative. Mr Satariano described it as a ‘golden opportunity’ for players, with the potential to elevate football standard in Malta by incentivising players to follow both a professional sport career whilst investing for their life after football. Mr Aquilina re-affirmed MCAST’s commitment to help make this Scholarship a success.

Mr Carlo Micallef, Chairperson of ITS’ Board of Governors talked about the need for more professional personnel in the hospitality and tourism sector, with ITS at the forefront at providing qualified workforce. He welcomed with open arms the opportunity to work with MFPA, to help young football players gain an education at ITS.

Mr Pierre Fenech, ITS Chief Executive Officer said that, ITS has been working towards excelling in providing individuals with the opportunity to study at their own convenience. This Scholarship fits perfectly with this effort and ITS are committed towards accommodating football players’ schedule should they decide to follow a career path in the the tourism or hospitality sector.

The agreements signed between MFPA and MCAST and between MFPA and ITS marks a historical and important occasion, because it sees three important entities pooling together to ensure that young football players in Malta are given every opportunity to invest in their own future.

Applications will be open this coming May 2018. For more information, one may contact MFPA on scholarship@maltafpa.com