August 21 start for 2015/16 championship

Champions Hibernians and FA Trophy winners Birkirkara will herald the start of the 2015/16 season when they meet in the BOV Super Cup on August 12.

The BOV Premier League, the first in which teams can field up to seven foreign players, gets underway on August 21. Bank of Valletta have agreed to extend their sponsorship of the national football leagues as well as the annual Super Cup.

The FA Trophy kicks off on September 11-13 leading up to the final on May 14, 2016, the last fixture of the 2015/16 campaign.

While the Malta FA already have one eye on next season after finalising the calendar for all its competitions, the thrills and spills that set the 2014/15 season alight will come into sharp focus on Friday night at the annual MFA Awards, being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

The season’s outstanding performers and top scorers in every division and competition organised by the Malta FA will be honoured during Friday’s event which has now established itself as one of the most prestigious appointments in the association’s annual calendar.

The finalists in all the categories were announced on Friday following the conclusion of the voting process which, in the main, involved national coaches, club coaches, team captains and journalists.

Inevitably, Hibernians have the highest number of nominees in this year’s awards after storming to the top-flight title in the 100th championship organised by the MFA.

The coveted MFA footballer of the year award will have a new winner as Malta midfielder Ryan Fenech, who claimed the accolade last year, has failed to make the final shortlist.

Hibs trio Andrei Agius, Andrew Cohen and Clayton Failla are vying for the honour along with Birkirkara duo Paul Fenech and Zach Muscat.

“Friday’s ceremony rewards the protagonists who play a key role in domestic football but not only that,” Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA general secretary, told a news conference yesterday.

“I take the opportunity to pay tribute to all those who, during the football season, make a big contribution to the local game through their time and dedication, namely the match officials, club administrators, the officials of the MFA’s member associations, players, technical staff and the thousands of football fans and followers.”

Vassallo said the Malta FA Awards will officially bring the curtains down on another eventful season that featured more than 3,000 games at all levels.

“This amount of fixtures requires planning and intensive work, week in week out,” Vassallo said. “Thanks to the competitions department, we can put our minds at rest that everthing is done in a smooth manner.”

The Malta FA general secretary also announced that the draw of the first two rounds of the 2015/16 BOV Premier League will be made during Friday’s ceremony.

Nicola Berti, the former Inter stalwart, will be the guest of honour at this year’s MFA Awards.

Chris Bonett, the Malta FA vice-president, went through the list of awards being handed out on Friday as well as the 10 nominations for the best goal award.

The 10 shortlisted goals include some stunning strikes from domestic games as well as the two outstanding goals scored by Paul Fenech and Alfred Effiong in last week’s 2-0 win over Lithuania in an international friendly.

Each entry has an SMS number associated with it as clips of the selected goals are being shown regularly on TVM and TVM2.

The general public has until tomorrow to vote for their favourite goal after which the list will be cut to five.

Voting for the five shortlisted goals will reopen during Friday’s ceremony.

Also present for yesterday’s news conference were Ivan Mizzi, the MFA treasurer who thanked the sponsors for their support, and Peter Cossai, the head of sport at Public Broadcasting Services.

The 2014/15 MFA Awards will be screened live on TVM2 on Friday.

2015/16 calendar (key dates)

• August 12 – BOV Super Cup final.
• August 21 – Start of BOV Premier League.
• September 11 – Start of Division One championship.
• September 11-13 – FA Trophy first round matches.
• September 18 – Start of Division Two league.
• September 19 – Start of Division Three league.
• October 6 – Start of BOV Women’s League.
• February 14 – End of Premier League’s first phase.
• February 20 – Start of second phase (round 3).
• April 19 – End of Women’s League.
• April 23 – End of Division Two league.
• April 24 – End of Division One league.
• April 30 – End of Premier League.
• May 7/8 – FA Trophy semi-finals.
• May 14 – FA Trophy final.