Attard FC has been handed a five-year suspension from international competitions after breaching regulations of bribery and betting.

The amateur club has also been handed a €1,000 fine and a nine-point penalty by the Malta Football Association.

In January, a former Attard FC committee member, Rudgear Scerri, was handed a €50,000 fine along with a suspended sentence for attempting to bribe an amateur league match.

The sentence was seen as undermining the work of the MFA in combating match-fixing and corruption in football, with president Bjorn Vassallo stating that the 21-year-old should have received a harsher sentence.

However, the MFA has since taken matters into its own hands and used the court’s judgment in the Scerri case to lay out its charges against the club.

“Although the charges brought against Rudgear Scerri by the MFA have not been determined and have been put off at the prosecution’s request, the judgment given by the Court of Magistrates, and the guilty pleas filed by the accused, are more than enough evidence for the prosecution to prove the charges brought against the club,” the MFA board to adjudicate charges relating to bribery and illegal betting said in a statement.

Moreover, the Malta Football Players Association, in tandem with local police and the MFA, has launched a ‘Red Button’ app to encourage players to anonymously report a match-fixing approach or attempt.

The app provides players with a mechanism to report match-fixing whilst preserving their anonymity.

MFPA members can request a unique code that allows them to access the web-based app and file a report.

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