Maltese football league system
The Maltese football leagues system of association football is made up of a set of leagues organised and controlled by the Malta Football Association. Malta has had a top level football division since 1909, it continues on today with the current system.
Old system
Currently the system includes 4 tiers. All of the leagues are currently sponsored by Bank of Valletta:
| Level | League/Division |
|---|---|
| 1 | Maltese Premier League 10 clubs |
| 2 | Maltese First Division 10 clubs |
| 3 | Maltese Second Division 10 clubs |
| 4 | Maltese Third Division 21 clubs in two groups |
Premier League
The Maltese Premier League is probably most criticised for a format that is similar to that of the Scottish Premier League, where the league is split up into two phases, a first one with two rounds (home and away – formally, since the league is played within 3 or 4 stadiums only), and the second phase accommodates a split of the 12 teams into a Championship Pool (top 6 teams) and the Relegation Pool (bottom 6 teams).[1][2] Also, a particular characteristic of the Maltese Premier League is that once the split takes place, the points gathered in the previous two rounds, are halved, supposedly to create more competition.[3][4]
Other competitions
In parallel to these leagues run a number of Knock Out competitions, the most prominent one being the FA Trophy.
New Format
On January 13, 2011, the Malta Football Association decided to restructure the format of the leagues as from season 2011–12.[5]
Thus the system in force from season 2011–12 came to read:
| Level | League/Division |
|---|---|
| 1 | Maltese Premier League 12 clubs |
| 2 | Maltese First Division 12 clubs |
| 3 | Maltese Second Division 14 clubs |
| 4 | Maltese Third Division 15 clubs |
2014/15-present
|
Level |
League(s)/Division(s) | |||||||||||
|
1 |
Maltese Premier League | |||||||||||
| ↓↑ 2-3 clubs | ||||||||||||
|
2 |
Maltese First Division | |||||||||||
| ↓↑ 3 clubs | ||||||||||||
|
3 |
Maltese Second Division | |||||||||||
| ↓↑ 3 clubs | ||||||||||||
|
4 |
Maltese Third Division | |||||||||||
There are hopes in the future that Gozitan clubs from the Gozo Football League First Division and the Gozo Football League Second Division may enter the Maltese Leagues in order to have an opportunity of playing in Europe.
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.maltafootball.com/2010/02/21/championship-pool-kicks-off-on-friday/
- ↑ http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100206/sport/city-condemn-spartans-to-relegation-pool
- ↑ http://www.timesofmalta.com.mt/articles/view/20100226/sport/stripes-blues-out-to-make-statement-of-intent
- ↑ http://www.mfa.com.mt/maltafootballassociation/content.aspx?id=158765
- ↑ Changes to National League, FA Trophy format approved
External links
- Maltafootball.com – news
- Malta Football Association website
- League321.com - Maltese football league tables, records & statistics database.
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