07/10/2026
LEFT WITHOUT A HOME FOR TOO LONG: MTARFA FC AT BREAKING POINT
Mtarfa FC’s current situation cannot be understood without recognising the five years of struggle behind it.
Mtarfa was once administered as part of Rabat, before electing its own Local Council in 2000. Yet the football ground situated within Mtarfa remains occupied by Rabat Ajax, while the club representing our locality is still without a permanent home of its own. Mtarfa’s football community deserves secure, adequate facilities within its own locality.
For years, Mtarfa FC used the ground and facilities at the former government secondary school. That site was subsequently granted under concession for the development of Haileybury, whose Mtarfa campus has now opened. Our club lost the facilities it depended on, without the promised permanent replacement being delivered.
In May 2021, an MOU was signed and the Government publicly announced an agreement intended to give Rabat Ajax and Mtarfa FC their respective grounds. More than five years later, Mtarfa FC is still waiting for that solution.
Throughout these years, President Angelo Borg and the committee attended meeting after meeting with the authorities concerned. We repeatedly warned that operating without our own ground and premises would eventually place the club in an unsustainable financial position.
Despite these difficulties, under Angelo Borg’s presidency, Mtarfa achieved two promotions from the Amateur League to the Challenge League, in 2022 and 2024, and secured its Challenge League status for a further season in 2025. These achievements reflect the dedication of our players, coaches, volunteers and management through exceptionally difficult circumstances.
It is unfair to place the blame for the present situation solely on the club and its management while overlooking these longstanding obstacles and repeated warnings. The effort required to keep the club going for five years deserves recognition.
We have stretched our resources, time and energy to sustain Mtarfa FC. We are proud of our perseverance and sporting achievements, but commitment alone cannot sustain a club indefinitely without a permanent home.
We are now at breaking point. Without a concrete solution for our ground and premises, the club’s survival is at serious risk.
After more than five years of meetings, warnings and an agreement awaiting implementation, who is responsible for allowing this situation to remain unresolved? Who will now take responsibility for delivering the permanent home Mtarfa FC was promised?
We call on the authorities concerned to deliver the solution announced in 2021, with a clear timetable and practical support in the meantime.
Mtarfa FC deserves a home, and Mtarfa’s football community deserves a future.
