Malta forthcoming friendlies cancelled

Due to the travel restrictions and health measures concerning COVID-19 currently in place in our country and across Europe, Malta’s upcoming friendly matches have been cancelled.

The national team were due to play against Gibraltar on March 26 and Azerbaijan on March 30 at the National Stadium but these international friendlies have been called off.

Liechtenstein were also due to travel to Malta to play against Azerbaijan and Gibraltar but these friendlies have also been cancelled.

The exceptional circumstances caused by the outbreak of COVID19 has also led the FIFA Bureau to decide that the general football rules obliging clubs to release their players for national team matches will not apply during the upcoming international windows in March and April.

The cancellation of the national team’s friendly matches in the last week of March comes a few days after the Malta Football Association Bureau decided to suspend all domestic football and futsal competitions until March 22 at the earliest with the situation being kept under constant review.

Regarding the Malta Under-21 team’s UEFA U-21 European Championship home qualifying matches against Ukraine and Finland, scheduled to take place at the Gozo Stadium later this month, the Malta FA is awaiting direction from UEFA with the matter set to be discussed during a video conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

The UEFA Boys Youth Development Tournament, due to have taken place in Malta between April 8 and 13, 2020, has been postponed by UEFA. Along with Malta, the Under-16 teams of Gibraltar, Montenegro and San Marino were going to take part in this tournament.

While reiterating that the health and well-being of all is the foremost priority, the Association renews its appeal to the general public to follow the advice and instructions given by the health authorities.