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

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.

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
Ħamrun Spartans 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 42 11+31 44 Qualification to 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 25 250 27
5 Marsaxlokk 18 5 9 4 25 250 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 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:
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; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away[1] BIR FLO HIBĦAMMRSQORSLITARVALVIT
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
1 ^ The 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:
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; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away[1] BIR FLO ĦAMMRSTARVAL
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:
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 Maltese First Division

Source:
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; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away[1] HIB QOR SLIVIT
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:
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 Nigeria Alfred Effiong Marsaxlokk 17
2 Malta Terence Scerri Valletta 16
3 Malta Gaetan Spiteri Ħamrun Spartans 14
4 Nigeria Daniel Nwoke Floriana 13
Malta Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza Sliema Wanderers 13
6 Brazil Daniel Mariano Bueno Tarxien Rainbows 11
Brazil Denni Valletta 11
8 Brazil Sergio Tarxien Rainbows 10
9 Malta Michael Galea Birkirkara 9
Argentina Emiliano Lattes Birkirkara 9
Malta Ivan Woods Floriana 9

References

  1. ↑ Changes to National League, FA Trophy format approved

External links