Representatives of the Malta Football Players Association, Carlo Mamo and Konrad Sultana together with Mark Barbara, attended the FIFPro General Assembly. This year the FIFPro General Assembly was held between the 27th and the 30th of October in Tokyo the capital city of Japan.

Together with Malta, another two countries were accepted as full members, Guatemala (AFG) and Venezuela (AUFPV). The new members signed an affiliation agreement that promotes FIFPro values such as loyalty, integrity and fairness and also the principles of good governance, transparency in communications, democratic processes, checks and balances, solidarity and corporate social responsibility.

Two other countries, Botswana and Kazakhstan were elevated to the list of 'Candidate Members', which is one step away from becoming a fully-fledged member of FIFPro. In addition, Georgia, Kenya, China, South Korea and Tunisia have been recognised as ‘Observers’.

Carlo Mamo, MFPA General Secretary and one of the founders of the association commented on this achievement “ We are delighted that after almost 4 years we are now full members of FIFPro. This will enable us to take part in all FIFPro initiatives, which eventually help us to continue improving the working conditions of footballers in Malta. In January FIFPro delegates will be visiting Malta to discuss together with UEFA, MFA and MFPA the implementation of the minimum requirements that all football contracts will have to adhere to from next season. I would like to thank all our members, as only with their support this could have been possible. Our aim is to improve the player’s conditions but by doing so we are also improving the local game in general. We would like to thank the majority of Maltese clubs and the Maltese federation as well, as after some initial difficulties today all stakeholders including clubs recognized that we should be working together and not against each other for the benefit of the local game.

The congress was addressed by special guests including 1978 World Champion Osvaldo Ardiles, ex EPL striker Jason Roberts and John Abbott, Chairman INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Initiative.

Various topics were discussed during this General Assembly including overdue payables to players and respect for contracts, third party ownership of players, racism and a transfer system overhaul. An anti match fixing campaign has been launched; “Recognise, Resist, Report – Say No To Match-Fixing” were FIFPro teamed up with FIFA and INTERPOL.

Next year’s Annual Congress shall be held in Amsterdam, the home of FIFPro to celebrate the World’s Football Players Union 50th anniversary.