The Youth Football Association

That was essentially the very first nursery in Malta with hundreds of children attending one or two weekly sessions covering different sports - football, basketball, athletics and gymnastics. Slowly but surely, the early eighties gave birth to the football nursery in practically every town and village in Malta. was officially established in 1982 comprising the first eight nurseries and clubs, prog

ressing rapidly to the present day. The aims of the educational sports centre, as the name denotes, was to educate children through sports. Although the Youth F.A. and the nurseries do not refer directly to education, the essence of their mission remains to form the characters of children and youths through the beautiful game of football. Legendary football player Pele’ used to say that a player needs first to become a Man and then a Player. Unless there is a sense of sacrifice and respect for the Laws of the Game and coaching discipline, any child with the best talent in the world will never become a complete player. We at the Youth Football Association strongly believe in this and we address all our efforts to form a strong character of all the children who take part in our events. In doing this, we also strive, with the help of good and qualified coaches as well as a sound administration system, to support the development of the football talents that the Maltese children undoubtedly possess. For 39 years, the Youth FA was led by Fr Hilary Tagliaferro who not only founded the Association but instilled the values which are at the heart of the Youth FA’s work till this present day. In June 2021, Fr Hilary called time on his long tenure as President of the Youth F.A. He has been succeeded by Norman Darmanin Demajo, the former president of the Malta Football Association. With the organisation of the youth leagues now in the hands of the newly-established Inhobb il-Futbol Foundation within the MFA, the Council of the Youth F.A., under the leadership of Mr Darmanin Demajo, agreed that the Association’s priorities for the coming years should be:

- Provide more opportunities for young children, boys and girls, to play and enjoy football, through the newly-launched Coaches On Wheels programme;

- Offer greater support and assistance to the youth nurseries based on their individual needs;

- Organise a series of festivals for different age-groups throughout the season;

- Strengthen the social responsibility programme.


‘Football, Live It With Love!’, the phrase coined by Fr Hilary to reflect the essence of the Beautiful Game, has been adopted as the motto of the Coaches on Wheels initiative. The first pilot project kicked off in Gozo in November, 2021.