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.
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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 12 clubs |
| 4 | Maltese Third Division 21 clubs split in two Sections: A and B |
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 10 teams into a Championship Pool (top 6 teams) and the Relegation Pool (bottom 4 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]
In parallel to these leagues run a number of Knock Out competitions, the most prominent one being the FA Trophy.
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 14 clubs |
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