The Malta Football Association has suspended the Italian coach, Devis Mangia, who has been at the helm of the archipelago national team since 2019.
In the announcement of the decision, the MFA speaks generically of "a report received on an alleged violation of federal policies".
The Maltese media claim that the 48-year-old Lombard technician was accused by a footballer of sexual harassment and of having made repeated advances that were also recorded.
The case will be investigated in a meeting of the Maltese federal bodies, but in the meantime Mangia did not go on the bench for the friendly against Israel at the national stadium of Ta Qali.
In his place the deputy, Davide Mazzotta from Lecce.
The former Italy Under 21 coach, former coach of Palermo, Spezia, Bari and Ascoli, has been married since 2019.
"The Maltese Federation will not make any further comments until the next steps are discussed within the respective decision-making bodies in an open and transparent way."
But according to the "Times of Malta", which cites federal sources, Mangia - former Under 21 coach, who has been in charge of Malta since December 2019 - would be held accountable for "sexual harassment" of a national team player.
The player in question, among other things, according to "Net News" was in the group but did not take the field on the occasion of Friday's defeat in Estonia.
The issue - taken "very seriously" by the Federation - will be entrusted to an independent disciplinary body and the coach will be given the opportunity to defend himself.
Federal sources cited by local media say that previous allegations made against Mangia when he worked in Romania as a coach of the Universitatea Craiova will also be examined.
It was his successor, Victor Piturca, who claimed that Mangia had made advances to a player but then the club owner, Mihai Rotaru, specified that the manager had not been fired but had agreed to leave the club after a confrontation on the issue. .
Also according to the local media, which bring up similar events dating back to the period in which the technician worked in Ascoli, the Maltese police are also investigating on the basis of a video that would demonstrate the sexual harassment by Mangia against the player.