The Malta Football Association’s Football Social Responsibility (FSR) Department recently hosted the Stop the Hate (STH) Convention, a powerful and inclusive event forming part of the UEFA HatTrick programme for 2025–26. Held at Centenary Hall on Wednesday, 19th March 2025, the convention brought together representatives from all 26 National Amateur League clubs to tackle discrimination, hate, and abuse in football.
The STH project is one of several FSR initiatives aimed at fostering a more inclusive and respectful football environment. It features on-site sessions across National Amateur League clubs, covering a range of social topics such as child and youth protection, UEFA’s Outraged programme, match-fixing prevention, and afterschool education programmes within football clubs. This season, all participating clubs are proudly wearing captains’ armbands bearing the ‘Stop the Hate’ logo to raise awareness on and off the pitch.
The convention opened with remarks by Malta Football Association Head of FSR Peter Busuttil, who introduced keynote speakers including European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef and UEFA Social and Environmental Sustainability Director Michele Uva. Uva emphasised the significance UEFA places on addressing social issues, especially abuse and racism within the sport.
A dynamic panel discussion followed, featuring a diverse group of speakers: veteran broadcaster Peppi Azzopardi, Women’s National Team Coach Manuela Tesse, referees Paula Buttigieg and Gabriel Oladipupo Ibunoluwu, UEFA Human Rights and Inclusion Expert Presilia Mpanu Mpanu, and South End Core representative Brian Chircop. The discussion centred on hate in football—both on and off the field—and encouraged open dialogue between speakers and club representatives.
Participants also engaged in a survey aimed at capturing their perspectives on hate speech within football, further contributing to the FSR’s ongoing research and strategy.
Adding a personal perspective, Malta Women’s National Team player Maya Lucia shared her own experiences of dealing with discrimination, providing insight into the challenges faced by players and reinforcing the importance of creating a safe and respectful football culture.
The convention concluded with closing remarks from Malta Football Association Senior Vice-President Dr Matthew Paris, who called for unity and responsibility within the football community.
“Stop the Hate is not just a slogan, but a movement that we are creating,” he said. “The aim is to ensure that we use social media platforms responsibly. It is okay to express our opinion, but it is definitely not okay to express our opinion in a manner which impinges or disrupts the rights of others.”
Dr Paris underlined the broader mission: to educate football stakeholders and strike the right balance between freedom of expression and respect. “That,” he added, “is the best goal we can ever score.”
