2010–11 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League

Season	2010–11
Champions	Valletta 20th title
Relegated	Vittoriosa S.
Champions League	Valletta
Europa League	Floriana
Matches played	132
Goals scored	411 (3.11 per match)
Biggest home win	Valletta 5-0 Ħamrun Spartans
Biggest away win	Vittoriosa S. 1–6 Floriana
Highest scoring	Marsaxlokk 6-3 Ħamrun Spartans
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 Maltese Premier League is the 96th season of the Maltese Premier League, the top-tier football league in Malta. It began in August 2010 and will end in May 2011. Birkirkara are the defending champions, having won their third title last season.

The Premier League consists of two rounds. In the First Round, every team plays each opponent twice, once "home" and once "away" (in actuality, the designation of home and away is purely arbitrary as most of the clubs do not have their own grounds), for a total of 18 games. The league then splits into two pools. Earned points are subsequently halved. Teams that finish in positions 1–6 compete in the "Championship Pool" and teams that finish in positions 7–10 play in the "Relegation Pool".

On 13 January 2011, the Malta Football Association decided to expand the league to 12 teams as from the 2011–12 season.^[1] Therefore changes had to be made to accommodate the new number of teams. Thus only one team would be relegated at the end of this season.

Teams

Dingli Swallows and Msida St. Joseph were relegated to the First Division after finishing in the last two places of the relegation pool.

Promoted from the First Division were Marsaxlokk as champions and Vittoriosa Stars as runners-up. Both of these clubs were supposed to take part in last season's competition, but each of them were found guilty in a corruption scandal and were immediately relegated to the First Division.

Stadia and training grounds

Only a few stadia have the infrastructure needed to host Premier League matches. These are Ta' Qali National Stadium and Centenary Stadium at Ta' Qali, Attard, Victor Tedesco Stadium at Ħamrun and Hibernians Ground at Paola. Additional to that, each team has been assigned to a dedicated training ground. On a few occasions, Hibernians and Hamrun Spartans play at their home ground, but otherwise all games are played on neutral ground, rendering "home" and "away" games purely symbolic.

Birkirkara

Marsaxlokk

Floriana

Ħamrun S.

Hibernians

Vittoriosa Stars

Qormi

Sliema W.

Tarxien Rainbows

Valletta

Location of teams in 2010–11 Maltese Premier Division

Team	Location of origin	Ground	Location of ground
Birkirkara	Birkirkara	Infetti Ground	Birkirkara
Floriana	Floriana	Victor Tedesco Stadium	Ħamrun
Hibernians	Paola	Hibernians Ground	Paola
Hamrun !Ħamrun Spartans	Hamrun !Ħamrun	Victor Tedesco Stadium	Ħamrun
Marsaxlokk	Marsaxlokk	Marsaxlokk Ground	Marsaxlokk
Qormi	Qormi	Thomaso Grounds	Qormi
Sliema Wanderers	Sliema	Tigné Point	Sliema
Tarxien Rainbows	Tarxien	Tarxien Ground	Tarxien
Valletta	Valletta	Salinos Ground	Valletta
Vittoriosa Stars	Vittoriosa	Marsaxlokk Ground	Marsaxlokk

First round

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valletta	18	13	5	0	45	11	+34	44	Qualification to the Championship pool
2	Tarxien Rainbows	18	8	5	5	25	22	+3	29
3	Floriana	18	8	3	7	25	20	+5	27
4	Birkirkara	18	7	6	5	25	25	0	27
5	Marsaxlokk	18	5	9	4	25	25	0	24
6	Ħamrun Spartans	18	7	2	9	31	36	−5	23
7	Sliema Wanderers	18	5	7	6	22	26	−4	22	Qualification to the Relegation pool
8	Qormi	18	5	6	7	22	26	−4	21
9	Hibernians	18	3	6	9	23	33	−10	15
10	Vittoriosa Stars	18	2	5	11	20	36	−16	11

Updated to games played on 13 February 2011
Source:^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: Teams ranked 1 through 6 qualified for the championship pool, teams ranked 7 through 10 played in the relegation pool. Earned points were halved and taken over to the respective pools.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	BIR	FLO	HIB	ĦAM	MRS	QOR	SLI	TAR	VAL	VIT
Birkirkara		0–2	3–1	2–0	2–5	1–4	2–2	0–0	2–2	1–1
Floriana	0–1		1–3	3–1	0–1	4–3	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–0
Hibernians	1–2	1–1		3–4	2–2	0–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	1–2
Ħamrun Spartans	1–1	1–2	2–4		2–3	2–1	3–2	3–1	0–2	2–0
Marsaxlokk	2–0	0–3	2–2	2–1		0–1	0–0	2–4	0–2	2–2
Qormi	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–3	2–2		0–0	2–1	0–4	2–2
Sliema Wanderers	1–4	0–1	4–0	3–1	1–1	0–0		1–1	1–4	4–3
Tarxien Rainbows	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	2–1		0–2	1–0
Valletta	3–1	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	4–0	5–2		3–0
Vittoriosa Stars	0–1	1–6	2–0	2–3	1–1	2–4	0–1	0–1	2–3

Source: Soccerway
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second round

Championship Pool

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valletta (C)	28	18	10	0	59	17	+42	42	2011–12 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round
2	Floriana	28	14	5	9	46	32	+14	34	2011–12 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round 1
3	Birkirkara	28	11	9	8	42	40	+2	29	2011–12 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 1
4	Marsaxlokk	28	9	11	8	45	43	+2	26
5	Tarxien Rainbows	28	10	7	11	41	45	−4	23
6	Ħamrun Spartans	28	7	6	15	44	66	−22	16

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Points earned in the first round have been halved and rounded up.
¹Floriana won the 2010–11 Maltese Cup competition. Therefore, Floriana qualify for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League and Birkirkara qualified for the first qualifying round of the same competition.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	BIR	FLO	ĦAM	MRS	TAR	VAL
Birkirkara		1–5	2–2	2–0	3–0	0–1
Floriana	3–0		2–0	1–1	5–1	1–1
Ħamrun Spartans	1–1	0–2		2–4	1–4	1–1
Marsaxlokk	1–4	4–0	6–3		2–4	0–1
Tarxien Rainbows	1–3	1–2	3–3	0–1		0–1
Valletta	1–1	3–0	5–0	1–1	2–2

Source:^{[citation needed]
1}The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation Pool

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Sliema Wanderers	24	10	7	7	37	31	+6	26
8	Qormi	24	7	7	10	37	43	−6	18
9	Hibernians	24	6	6	12	34	46	−12	17
10	Vittoriosa Stars (R)	24	3	6	15	26	48	−22	10	Relegation to the Maltese First Division

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Points earned in the first round have been halved and rounded up.
¹The winner of the 2010–11 Maltese Cup competition will qualify for the first qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	HIB	QOR	SLI	VIT
Hibernians		4–3	2–3	2–1
Qormi	5–2		0–4	2–2
Sliema Wanderers	0–1	4–1		2–0
Vittoriosa Stars	1–0	1–4	1–2

Source:^{[citation needed]
1}The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alfred Effiong	Marsaxlokk	17
2	Terence Scerri	Valletta	16
3	Gaetan Spiteri	Ħamrun Spartans	14
4	Daniel Nwoke	Floriana	13
	Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza	Sliema Wanderers	13
6	Daniel Mariano Bueno	Tarxien Rainbows	11
	Denni	Valletta	11
8	Sergio	Tarxien Rainbows	10
9	Michael Galea	Birkirkara	9
	Emiliano Lattes	Birkirkara	9
	Ivan Woods	Floriana	9

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/ 

External links

• Premier League official page
• UEFA website