TM CEO Kurt Farrugia appointed Valletta FC's director of commercial operations
Valletta was relegated last season but are returning to top-flight football this year
Transport Malta CEO Kurt Farrugia has been appointed Valletta FC’s new director of Commercial Operations.
The club said said he would bring a "wealth of experience" through "steering Malta's economic growth" and "leading national institutions".
“Kurt joins the Valletta FC management team to help drive commercial growth, partnerships, and off-pitch success, all while proudly supporting the badge that represents our city,” Valletta FC said.
In its statement, Valletta FC said Farrugia’s experience in communications and enterprise will make him “a perfect fit” at the football club.
Farrugia, whose family is from Valletta, headed Malta Enterprise until his Transport Malta appointment last August.
He has also been a key internal figure in the Labour Party's electoral campaigns in 2013, 2017, 2022, and last year’s European and local council elections, and was one of Joseph Muscat’s top advisers during the former prime minister’s tenure in Castille.
Joseph Muscat now chairs the Malta Premier League, the association that represents Malta’s top-flight clubs.
'Sustainability'
Valletta FC, one of Malta’s most followed football teams, was shockingly relegated to the second tier of Maltese football last April.
The relegation to the Challenge League meant that Valletta were not in Malta’s top-flight league for the first time in their history.
They will be returning to the Premier League after comfortably winning the Challenge League this season.
After the triumph, Valletta FC president and former PN MP Claudio Grech said the club will be a major force in the coming season’s Premier League.
Contacted for comment on Thursday, Farrugia said he will be assisting on the business aspect of the club and will not be directly involved in the technical aspect of football itself.
“There already is a very professional set-up that I am coming into,” he said.
Farrugia said he was excited to join the club because it is a rebuilding of Valletta FC, which has a glorious past in Maltese football history.
“Valletta is adopting a model of sustainability, meaning that the revenue the club generates is enough to support its operations.”
“That is not a one-year project but one that will take several years.”