FIFA President Gianni Infantino has met with Bjorn Vassallo, President of the Malta Football Association (MFA), and held constructive discussions about a number of topics related to the development of men’s, women’s and youth football across the country. President Infantino said: “It is always a great joy to meet with my friend, President Vassallo; Bjorn. Since his election in 2019 he has done – and continues to do – an incredible job, working tirelessly to develop football infrastructure, facilities and initiatives across Malta. I wish him, and the MFA, every success in their future projects and I look forward to working closely with them over the coming years.” As well as receiving updates on the status of football development projects within Malta, the two presidents were also able to look back at the work already carried out together, and ahead to the opportunities created by FIFA Forward 3.0 – the new cycle of FIFA’s football development funding mechanism.

“Everything today is concentrated on the FIFA Forward programme. I think it’s a great outreach by FIFA, because we can use the funds coming from football,” President Vassallo said. “I think me, coming from a very small association, Malta, we need these funds because it will help us grow to the next step; it will help us to build football in every part of our country. Going forward, whatever is being given to us by [FIFA] Forward has left an impact in the last years, but will leave a greater legacy in the future.” Another key pillar of President Infantino’s Vision to make football truly global, is to work towards increasing global competitiveness across world football. Something, President Vassallo stands firmly behind. “Hopefully FIFA can continue to bring football everywhere in the world, because in the end this is all about football development,” he added. “Hopefully also the topics that have [come] up the agenda in recent months are really looked into so that we can have a fairer and crucially a very strong football world in the coming years.”