The Malta Football Players Association represented local players in key discussions during a country visit by the European Professional Football Social Dialogue Taskforce. Representatives from UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), FIFpro (International Federation of Professional Footballers), MFA (Malta Football Association), ECA (European Clubs Association) and EPFL (European Professional Football League), were also present for the round table discussions.

The taskforce was in Malta as a continuation to meetings held under the auspices of the European Union and which in 2012 resulted in a signed agreement between all counterparts as to the minimum requirements in standard contracts of professional players. In essence, the aim of this meeting was for the taskforce to investigate how and why Malta’s contract is still not fully compliant and discuss a way forward.

MFPA voiced its concern over various issues that are still pending and still have a negative impact on its members namely;

• The Transfer Fees for Out of Contract Players (a.k.a parameters), still applicable in Malta. What this essentially means, is that a player is still financially bound to a club even after the player’s contractual obligations have been fully satisfied. A system which has kept Maltese football some 20 years behind the rest of Europe. MFPA has been advocating for the removal of these archaic fees since its inception and will continue to do so relentlessly until the matter is satisfactorily resolved.

• The issue of Access to National Courts, or lack thereof. In Malta Players need the permission of the MFA to seek legal remedies in the National Law Courts. A permission which has as yet never been granted. MFPA has been vociferously against this, because it goes against the right of every Maltese and EU Citizen to access national courts.

Discussions about various changes that need to be effected in the local standard contract ensued, and a deadline for January 2018 was set. By then all changes must be finalised for full compliance to be reached.

MFPA hails this taskforce meeting successful and fruitful. It extends its collaborative hand to MFA, in order to ensure that full compliance of the 2012 agreement is reached by the set deadline. This can be done not only by implementing technical changes, but also by respecting the spirit within which the agreement was signed, i.e. fair and just protection for professional football players.