Malta fines unauthorized padel project linked to Gżira FC president

Malta’s Planning Authority has fined an unauthorized padel project linked to Sharlon Pace €25,000 after ruling that the courts on Manoel Island were built illegally. The sanction covers 20 padel courts already constructed at the site, while permission was also granted for 10 additional courts, turning one club project into a test of how far padel can push against planning law.

The application, PA/07995/25, was filed by Pace on behalf of Gżira football club last November and described the works as the “reinstatement of sports ground having variable sports uses with demountable glass structures” at the Nicholl Ground, the former site of a pitch on Manoel Island. One report identifies Pace as Gżira FC’s president, placing the club’s leadership directly at the center of a dispute that now stretches well beyond a single set of courts.

The Planning Authority had already halted construction on the Manoel Island site before moving to sanction the illegal works. That sequence, first a stop order and then a €25,000 penalty, shows the authority treating the project as more than a paperwork lapse. It is also a sign that regulators are now willing to intervene when padel developments move ahead without the permissions required for new sports uses, lighting, access, and other changes that can affect surrounding land.

The Manoel Island case has drawn public anger, and Graffitti has called a protest over the decision. The backlash matters because the project sits inside a much larger pattern: padel venues are spreading quickly across clubs, hotels, and private sites, and every new court brings questions about noise, traffic, floodlighting, and whether land that was once used for one sport can simply be converted for another.

For club operators and investors, the ruling is a warning that the sport’s commercial momentum does not override local planning controls. For communities around future projects, it is a signal that objections to new courts can now land in a more formal regulatory process, especially when a build-first, permit-later approach runs into the Planning Authority’s enforcement powers.