The five contenders for the MFA Footballer of the Year Award, the most coveted individual honour in Maltese football, are Hibernians FC duo Andrei Agius and Bjorn Kristensen, Birkirkara FC players Gareth Sciberras and Joseph Zerafa, and Balzan FC midfielder Paul Fenech.
Of the five finalists in this year’s MFA Footballer of the Year category, only Paul Fenech has won the award in the past, in the 2012/13 season when he was on the books of Birkirkara FC.
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All five nominees have represented Malta at senior level while the three finalists for the Young Player of the Year prize – Jean Borg (Valletta FC), Jurgen Degabriele (Hibernians FC) and Jake Grech (Ħamrun Spartans FC) – are members of the Malta Under-21 squad.
Journalists, club coaches and captains, and coaches from the Malta FA Technical Centre took part in the voting process which came to a close last Friday.
The three shortlisted candidates in seven other categories – Coach of the Year, Foreign Player of the Year, BOV First Division Best Player, BOV Second Division Best Player, BOV Third Division Best Player, BOV Women’s League Best Player and Best Youth League player – have also been announced.
The public will decide the winner of the 2016/17 best goal award.
The MFA Awards Organising Committee will issue a shortlist of 10 goals in the coming days and each entry will be assigned an SMS number for voting purposes.
The list will be eventually whittled down to five with the public voting remaining open until the night of May 14 when the winner will be announced during the eagerly-anticipated MFA Awards at the MCC.
The nominees
MFA footballer of the year
• Andrei Agius (Hibernians)
• Paul Fenech (Balzan)
• Bjorn Kristensen (Hibernians)
• Gareth Sciberras (Birkirkara)
• Joseph Zerafa (Birkirkara)
Coach of the year
• Danilo Doncic (St Andrews)
• Mark Miller (Hibernians)
• Oliver Spiteri (Balzan)
Young player of the year
• Jean Borg (Valletta)
• Jurgen Degabriele (Hibernians)
• Jake Grech (Ħamrun Spartans)
Foreign player of the year
• Alan Da Silva Souza (Balzan)
• Bojan Kaljevic (Balzan)
• Jackson Lima (Hibernians)
BOV First Division Best Player
• Erjon Beu (Lija Athletic)
• Juninho Conceicao Cabral (Senglea Athletic)
• Yuri De Jesus Messias (Naxxar Lions)
BOV Second Division Best Player
• Giovanni Galea (Qrendi)
• Tanaka Kumpei (Żejtun Corinthians)
• Alan Tabone (Żejtun Corinthians)
BOV Third Division Best Player
• Luke Galea (Dingli Swallows)
• Ryan Sell (Kalkara)
• Timothy Thomas (Kalkara)
BOV Women’s League Best Player
• Ann Marie Said (Birkirkara)
• Stephania Farrugia (Birkirkara)
• Shona Zammit (Hibernians)
Best Youth League Player
• Jan Busuttil (Pietà Hotspurs)
• Neil Frendo (Mosta)
• Kurt Shaw (Sliema Wanderers)