Maltese FA Trophy

Maltese FA Trophy

Founded	1933
Region	Malta
Number of teams	20
Current champions	Floriana
Most successful club	Sliema (20 titles)
Website	MaltaFootball.com
2010–11 Maltese FA Trophy

The U Bet FA Trophy, formerly known as the Rothman's Trophy, is a football competition that takes place in Malta.

Widely known as the F.A. Trophy, it was a gift from the British by The Football Association in 1933. This followed a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933, to where a number of pro-British Maltese supporters travelled to support the English side. In recognition, the Football Association donated a silver trophy to be played on the model of the F.A. Cup.

The cup's holders are Floriana, who won the cup by defeating Valletta 1-0. The team who wins the cup, wins a place in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. This competition is now played on a knock-out basis between the clubs in the Premier and First Division.

The cup winners' play a match for the Maltese Super Cup against the champions of the season.

Format

The 10 teams from the First Division and the teams which placed from 4th to the 10th position in the previous season's league, participate in the 1st round. The cup holders and the top 3 teams are seeded. The 8 winning teams play again in the 2nd round, after which, 4 teams remain. The top three teams in the previous' year league and the cup holders enter straight in the quarter-final phase, together with the other four winning teams.

Starting with the 2009–10 competition, the reigning champions of the Gozo First Division will also be entered into the competition. This will be the case unless Gozo FC, a club based on Gozo but which plays in the Maltese leagues, are playing in either the Maltese Premier League or Maltese First Division and would take the place of the Gozo champion.

On 13 January 2011, the Malta Football Association decided to restructure the format of the trophy as from season 2011-12. Following the success of the MFA League Anniversary Cup, where the then 21 teams of the Maltese 4-tiered system participated in the competition, the MFA decided to include all the clubs of Maltese leagues, together with the clubs from the Gozo First Division and the Gozo Second Division. The Gozitan clubs and those from the Maltese Third Division would take part in the First Round, joined by the Maltese Second Division and Maltese First Division clubs in the Second Round, and joined by the Maltese Premier League clubs in a Third Round, where the first 6 teams of the previous season and the Trophy holder would be seeded. The competition remains on a knock-out basis.^[1]. The inclusion of Gozitan clubs would probably see the exclusion of Gozo F.C. from Maltese competitions, while the inclusion of Maltese lower league clubs would make the Second & Third Division Knock-Out only open if 8 teams apply in a given season.

Winners by year

Previous winners are:^[2]

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1935	Sliema	4–0	Floriana
1936	Sliema	2–1	Floriana
1937	Sliema	2–0	St.George's
1938	Floriana	2–1	Sliema
1939	Melita	4–0	Sliema
1940	Sliema	3–2	Melita
No competitions between 1941 and 1944 due to World War II
1945	Floriana	2–1	Sliema
1946	Sliema	2–1	Ħamrun
1947	Floriana	3–0	Valletta
1948	Sliema	3–2 (aet)	Hibernians
1949	Floriana	5–1	Sliema
1950	Floriana	3–1	St.George's
1951	Sliema	5–0	Hibernians
1952	Sliema	4–4 (aet) 4–3 pens.	Hibernians
1953	Floriana	1–0	Sliema
1954	Floriana	5–1	Rabat
1955	Floriana	1–0	Sliema
1956	Sliema	1–0	Floriana
1957	Floriana	2–0	Valletta
1958	Floriana	2–0	Sliema
1959	Sliema	2–1 (aet)	Valletta
1960	Valletta	3–0	Floriana
1961	Floriana	2–0	Hibernians
1962	Hibernians	1–0	Valletta
1963	Sliema	2–0	Hibernians
1964	Valletta	1–0	Sliema
1965	Sliema	4–2	Floriana
1966	Floriana	2–1	Hibernians
1967	Floriana	1–0	Hibernians
1968	Sliema	3–2	Hibernians
1969	Sliema	3–1	Ħamrun
1970	Hibernians	2–1	Valletta
1971	Hibernians	3–1 (aet)	Sliema
1972	Floriana	3–1	Sliema
1973	Gżira	0–0 (aet) 2–0 pens.	Birkirkara
1974	Sliema	1–0	Floriana
1975	Valletta	1–0	Hibernians
1976	Floriana	2–0	Valletta
1977	Valletta	1–0	Floriana
1978	Valletta	3–2	Floriana
1979	Sliema	2–1	Floriana
1980	Hibernians	2–1	Sliema
1981	Floriana	2–1	Senglea
1982	Hibernians	2–0	Sliema
1983	Ħamrun	2–0	Valletta
1984	Ħamrun	1–0 (aet)	Żurrieq
1985	Żurrieq	2–1 (aet)	Valletta
1986	Rabat	2–0	Żurrieq
1987	Ħamrun	2–1	Sliema
1988	Ħamrun	4–2	Floriana
1989	Ħamrun	1–0	Floriana
1990	Sliema	1–0	Birkirkara
1991	Valletta	2–1 (aet)	Sliema
1992	Ħamrun	5–4 (aet)	Valletta
1993	Floriana	5–0	Sliema
1994	Floriana	2–1	Valletta
1995	Valletta	1–0	Hibernians
1996	Valletta	1–0 (aet)	Sliema
1997	Valletta	2–0	Hibernians
1998	Hibernians	2–1	Valletta
1999	Valletta	1–0 (aet)	Birkirkara
2000	Sliema	4–1	Birkirkara
2001	Valletta	3–0	Birkirkara
2002	Birkirkara	1–0	Sliema
2003	Birkirkara	1–0	Sliema
2004	Sliema	2–0	Marsaxlokk
2005	Birkirkara	2–1	Msida
2006	Hibernians	1–0	Floriana
2007	Hibernians	1–1 (aet) 3–0 pens.	Sliema
2008	Birkirkara	2–1	Ħamrun
2009	Sliema	3–3 (aet) 7–6 pens.	Valletta
2010	Valletta	2–1	Qormi
2011	Floriana	1–0	Valletta

Results by team

Club	Wins	Last final won	Last final lost
Sliema Wanderers	20	2009	2007
Floriana	19	2011	2006
Valletta	12	2010	2011
Hibernians	9	2007	1997
Ħamrun Spartans	6	1983	1992
Birkirkara	4	2002	2008
Melita	1	1939
Gzira	1	1973
Zurrieq	1	1985
Rabat	1	1986

References

1. ^ Changes to National League, FA Trophy format approved, http://www.maltafootball.com/2011/01/13/changes-to-national-league-fa-trophy-format-approved/ 
2. ^ "Malta - List of Cup Finals". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/maltcuphist.html. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 

External links

• Trophy on MaltaFootball.com