LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS) – Former Floriana FC head coach, Italian national Gianluca Atzori has been awarded compensation of over €90,000 by FIFA following a lengthy contractual dispute with the Maltese Premier League club.
The FIFA Players’ Status Chamber, and later the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), sided with the Italian coach in a decision that concluded a two-year battle over unpaid wages and contract breaches. Floriana FC must now pay Atzori a total of €87,765 plus interest, after the governing bodies ruled that he had been forced out of his role due to financial and professional mismanagement by the club.
Atzori, a former Sampdoria and Reggina manager, took charge of Floriana in 2021. In his first season, he guided the Maltese club to a second-place finish in the Premier League and clinched the FA Trophy. However, the club struggled the following year, finishing seventh and failing to qualify for European competition.
Despite the club initially announcing in May 2023 that Atzori had voluntarily stepped down with a year remaining on his contract, the Italian coach later revealed in an interview with The Times of Malta that he had been forced to resign due to unpaid salaries and a breakdown in working conditions. Atzori claimed he had not been paid for three months and that additional bonuses, including those related to European qualification, had also gone unpaid. “When I was left with no other option but to step down, my only request was to receive unpaid wages covering my work at the club,” Atzori told The Times of Malta.
These verdicts simply confirm the right and fair way of doing things.” FIFA initially ruled on December 14, 2023, that Floriana FC owed Atzori €25,765 in outstanding wages plus interest, along with €62,000 in compensation for breach of contract. Floriana appealed the ruling to CAS, but their challenge was dismissed on February 28, 2025. Following the club’s continued non-compliance, FIFA imposed sanctions in March 2025, issuing an international transfer ban on Floriana.
The ban, which prevents the club from registering new players internationally, will remain in place for up to three registration periods or until the full amount is paid. FIFA has also requested the Malta FA to enforce a similar ban on a national level. Floriana FC has not issued a statement in response to the ruling. Despite the bitter legal dispute, Atzori chose to reflect on his time in Malta with positivity.
“Floriana FC represents a positive experience in my career of which I have fond memories” he said. “I believe we had started an ambitious football project which could have gone very far. But it was not meant to be. That is football, that is life”. He also thanked the club’s supporters for their ongoing encouragement, urging them to continue supporting the team “in their unique passionate way”.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS)
