Football body bans Malta under 21 players for match fixing

Six members of Malta’s Under-21 Championships Team have been banned for match fixing by football’s governing body in Europe UEFA.

A statement announcing the bans identified the matches in question as those against Montenegro on March 23, 2016, and the Czech Republic on March 29, also in 2016.

Lifetime bans from professional football in Europe were handed to Emanuel Briffa and Kyle Cesare after a hearing by the UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary committee, which ruled that they had “acted in a manner that is likely to exert an unlawful or undue influence on the course and/or result of a match or competition with a view to gaining an advantage for himself or a third party”.

Samir Arab was given a two-year ban for not “immediately and voluntarily informing UEFA if approached in connection with activities aimed at influencing in an unlawful or undue manner the course and/or result of a match or competition”.

Ryan Camenzuli is banned for 18 months for the same offence, and Llewelyn Cremona and Luke Montebello are excluded from professional football for 12 months, also under the same regulation.

A seventh player, Matthew Cremona, was not penalised beyond being listed in the disciplinary proceedings.