The Primary Schools’ Football Festival was played in the week of the 1st of March. This event is organised by the Sport Promotion Unit (SPU) within SportMalta and the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education (DQSE) together with the Malta Football Association’s Grassroots Department within the Technical Centre.
This friendly event, held for Year 5s and Year 6s for both Boys and Girls saw the following 28 schools participating with 56 teams; Pembroke Primary, Sliema Primary, St. Julian’s Primary, Gzira Primary, Rabat Primary, Mellieha Primary, San Gwann Primary, Marsaskala Primary, Tarxien Primary, Marsaxlokk Primary, Zurrieq Primary, Zejtun Primary, Cospicua Primary, Qrendi Primary, Fgura Primary, Birzebbugia Primary, Marsaskala Primary, Hamrun S.S. Primary, Sta. Venera Primary, Zebbug Primary, Valletta Primary, Floriana Primary, Pieta’ Primary, Paola B. Primary, Qormi S. S. Primary, Birkirkara Primary, Luqa Primary, Siggiewi Primary and Verdala International School.
Following the first phase where teachers selected the team to represent each school, this phase saw schools under the same college playing against each other. The PE teachers are now selecting the elite players from among the teams who took part in this penultimate phase to represent the college team in the final phase.
This year saw a historic change for the girls, where rather than including mixed boys and girls’ teams (with girls being represented by 2 out of a team of 5), schools were to participate with two (2) teams – one team of boys and one team of girls. This falls part of the MFA Long term development plan to further the growth in the women’s game.
The tournament has been held at the new SportMalta Sta. Venera Sports Complex seeing over 700 boys and girls aged 9 to 11.
The organisers would again like to express their satisfaction and thank all the participants from all schools, sponsors TeamSport and GSD Marketing Ltd. for making the tournament a success. The MFA and Educational entities are looking forward to an exciting final phase in April.