Former national team coaches present judical protest against MFA

Former national team coaches, John Buttigieg and Carmel Busuttil have presented a judical protest against the Malta Football Association (MFA) for their "unfair and illicit" sacking.

Former national team head coach Buttigieg and his assistant Busuttil had signed contracts with the MFA in September 2009. The contracts were valid until June 2014. However both coaches were dismissed last October.

The two coaches, who had stellar careers as players at club and international level, cited that the MFA had no valid reason to terminate their contract and the MFA is obliged to pay the two coaches half the wages due to them in the remaining three years of their contracts.

The protest says that the MFA had declared and promised Buttigieg and Busuttil to honour all legal obligations but the association is dragging its feet and the payments were never honoured.

Buttigieg and Busuttil's protest says that the MFA's actions are illegal, unfair and discriminatory according to industrial law and is causing the two coaches irreparable harm. The protests says that the two expect the MFA to honour the contract agreements and payments, including the bonus for Malta's positive result against Georgia in September 2011 and the payment of all taxes due.

The MFA had justified the termination of Buttigieg's and Busuttil's contracts following the poor performances and results of the National A Team during the qualifying stages of the UEFA EURO 2012 competition. The performances "fell short of expectations," the MFA had said in October 2011. Malta exited the Euro 2012 qualifying group with only one point from 10 games.