Birkirkara skipper Michael Galea and Andrew Cohen, the Hibs striker, are the front-runners for the 2005-2006 MFA Player of the Year award.

Only two points separated Galea (56) from Cohen (54) at the end of a voting session by the committee for this award. Of the 30 persons on the selection panel, made up predominantly of MFA council members and football journalists, only 15 turned up for yesterday's assembly at the MFA Technical Centre.

Galea and Cohen, winner of this coveted honour last year, presently enjoy a substantial advantage over the other three shortlisted candidates, namely Etienne Barbara, also of champions Birkirkara, Branko Nisevic, the Valletta defender, and Sliema's Ivan Woods.

Barbara amassed 41 points, four more than Nisevic and Woods who garnered 37 points each. There were 10 nominees for this year's award but five were eliminated after the first vote. These were: Simon Agius, Adrian Mifsud (both Floriana), Daniel Nwoke (Msida SJ), Carlo Mamo (Marsaxlokk) and Kristian Galea (Sirens).

The result of yesterday's ballot constitutes a hefty percentage of the overall outcome but it is not conclusive as each of the five finalists will have his tally of points revised according to a complex formula. Points will be awarded for every appearance in the Premier League, FA Trophy and for the national team but the leading contenders will be penalised for every yellow and red card they incurred last season.

The winner of the 2005-2006 award will be announced at the next MFA council meeting, due to take place on the morning of June 29.

Top five

M. Galea 56
A. Cohen 54
E. Barbara 41
B. Nisevic, I. Woods 37

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.