Jump to content

2024–25 Maltese Premier League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maltese Premier League
Season2024–25
Dates16 August 2024 – April or May 2025
Matches played71
Goals scored187 (2.63 per match)
Top goalscorerMaxuell Samurai Maia (8 Goals)
Biggest home winFloriana 3–0 Balzan
(26 October 2024)
Biggest away winNaxxar Lions 0–6 Ħamrun Spartans
(27 September 2024)
Highest scoringBalzan 3–3 Birkirkara
(16 August 2024)
Żabbar St. Patrick 3–3 Naxxar Lions
(22 September 2024)
Marsaxlokk 2–4 Mosta
(23 September 2024)
Naxxar Lions 0–6 Ħamrun Spartans
(27 September 2024)
Longest winning runBirkirkara
(9 Games)
Longest unbeaten runFloriana
(12 Games Each)
Longest winless runNaxxar Lions
(8 Games)
Longest losing runŻabbar St. Patrick
(7 Games)
2025–26 →
All statistics correct as of 25 November 2024.

The 2024–25 Maltese Premier League is the 110th season of top-flight league football in Malta. The season began on 16 August 2024 and will end in April or May 2025.

Teams

[edit]

The league consisted of twelve teams; the top ten teams from the previous season, and two teams promoted from the 2023–24 Maltese Challenge League. Ħamrun Spartans entered the season as defending champions for two consecutive seasons. Melita was promoted and returned to the Maltese Premier League after eleven years of absence. And Żabbar St. Patrick was promoted and returned to the Maltese Premier League after twenty years of absence. They replaced Gudja United, Santa Lucia and Sirens who were all relegated after five years in the top flight, and Valletta after seventy-nine years in the topflight.

Team In league since City
Balzan 2011 Balzan
Birkirkara 1990 Birkirkara
Floriana 1986 Floriana
Gżira United 2016 Gżira
Ħamrun Spartans 2016 Ħamrun
Hibernians 1945 Paola
Marsaxlokk 2022 Marsaxlokk
Melita 2024 San Ġiljan
Mosta 2011 Mosta
Naxxar Lions 2023 Naxxar
Sliema Wanderers 2023 Sliema
Żabbar St. Patrick 2024 Zabbar

Venues

[edit]

The matches will be played mainly at the Ta' Qali National Stadium and the Tony Bezzina Stadium. However, the Centenary Stadium and the Victor Tedesco Stadium will be used as well. One match-day from the Closing Round between March 28 and March 31 will be played at the Gozo Stadium thanks to the support of the Ministry for Gozo.

Ta' Qali Ta' Qali Paola Hamrun Xewkija
Ta' Qali National Stadium Centenary Stadium Tony Bezzina Stadium Victor Tedesco Stadium Gozo Stadium
Capacity: 16,997 Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 2,968 Capacity: 1,962 Capacity: 1,644

Personnel and kits

[edit]
Team Manager Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (front) Shirt sponsor (back) Shirt sponsor (sleeve)
Balzan England Dave Rogers Joma MBI Group Visit Malta (Bottom)
Birkirkara Italy Stefano De Angelis Nike McDonald's Inter Sport (Bottom)
Floriana Malta Darren Abdilla Joma Harmont & Blaine, Greens Supermarket Go & Fun (Right)
Gżira United Italy Giovanni Tedesco Joma Miracles Food (Left)
Ħamrun Spartans Italy Alessandro Zinnari Puma JP (Home Kit), Mercury (Away Kit) Meridianbet, Besteam audio, Visit Malta (Bottom) Ta' Fonzu (Right), Tescoma (Left)
Hibernians Serbia Branko Nišević Joma Bezzina
Marsaxlokk Italy Enzo Potenza Joma 1padel Mr. Fitz Restaurant Marsaxlokk (Left)
Melita Malta Clive Mizzi Hummel Atlas Insurance Burger King (Top).Browns, Eurosport (Bottom) I nouv (Right), VIBE (Left)
Mosta Malta Joseph Grech Macron Simply Clean Highbet (Top), Teamsport (Bottom)
Naxxar Lions Malta George Vella Joma VC Service Station Zarb Coaches, Haier Air Conditioner (Top), McQueen, Sammut Concrete Supplies (Bottom) Fastdrop (Right),Hi Koki, Würth, Falcotra (Left)
Sliema Wanderers Malta Paul Zammit Adidas NMGroup, Inter Wetter Visit Malta (Top), Thomas Smith, Zarb Coaches (Bottom) Fonicom (Left), Domnic Sciberras Roof Repair (Right)
Żabbar St. Patrick Italy Aniello Parisi Erreà The Shoreline DL Group (Top), Kristal (Bottom)
  • Additionally, referee kits are made by Macron

Managerial changes

[edit]
Team Outgoing manager Manner of
departure
Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Żabbar St. Patrick Argentina Emilio Cornago San Pedro Resigned 17 April 2024 Pre-season Portugal João Janeiro 16 May 2024
Balzan Malta Oliver Spiteri 4 May 2024 England Dave Rogers 3 June 2024
Ħamrun Spartans Italy Luciano Zauri 13 May 2024 Italy Alessandro Zinnari 17 May 2024
Birkirkara Malta Jose Borg End of Contract 13 May 2024 Italy Stefano De Angelis 7 June 2024
Floriana Italy Mauro Camoranesi Mutual Consent 15 May 2024 Malta Darren Abdilla 21 May 2024
Marsaxlokk Malta Winston Muscat Sacked 24 September 2024 12th Italy Enzo Potenza 24 September 2024
Żabbar St. Patrick Portugal João Janeiro Mutual Consent 4 October 2024 12th Italy Aniello Parisi 10 October 2024
Gżira United Malta Andrew Cohen Resign 9 November 2024 7th Italy Giovanni Tedesco 14 November 2024

Format

[edit]

The new league format, which will come into being from the 2024–25 season, the Maltese Premier League will be made up of 12 teams and be split into an Opening Round and Closing Round in a way that is similar to domestic footballing systems used in South America.[1][2] The Opening Round will see each of the 12 teams play each other once before the league is then split between a Top 6 and a Bottom 6, allowing for the teams in each of those splits to play each other another time. Once the ranking is set, each team will go back down to 0 points and start from scratch in the Closing Round, where the same process will be repeated

Opening Round

[edit]

First phase

[edit]

League table

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Birkirkara 11 9 1 1 19 8 +11 28 Qualification for the Top Six
2 Floriana 11 6 5 0 21 8 +13 23
3 Sliema Wanderers 11 6 4 1 15 5 +10 22
4 Hibernians 11 6 3 2 13 7 +6 21
5 Mosta 11 5 1 5 15 16 −1 16
6 Ħamrun Spartans 11 4 2 5 19 15 +4 14
7 Gżira United 11 4 2 5 15 15 0 14 Qualification for the Play-Out
8 Melita 11 3 3 5 16 19 −3 12
9 Marsaxlokk 11 3 3 5 13 16 −3 12
10 Balzan 11 2 3 6 11 19 −8 9
11 Naxxar Lions 11 1 4 6 7 21 −14 7
12 Żabbar St. Patrick 11 1 1 9 12 27 −15 4
Updated to match(es) played on 7 November 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Results

[edit]
Home \ Away BAL BIR FLO GŻI ĦAM HIB MAR MEL MOS NXR SLI ZAB
Balzan 3–3 2–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–2
Birkirkara 1–3 3–2 1–0 1–0 1–0
Floriana 3–0 2–1 1–1 3–3 0–0
Gżira United 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–2 3–1
Ħamrun Spartans 1–1 0–2 2–3 2–1 3–1
Hibernians 0–2 2–0 2–0 0–0
Marsaxlokk 2–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–4 0–1
Melita 2–0 0–3 2–3 1–2
Mosta 2–2 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–0 4–2
Naxxar Lions 0–2 1–1 0–6 1–2 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–3
Sliema Wanderers 2–0 1–0 2–2 2–0 2–0
Żabbar St. Patrick 0–3 1–2 1–3 1–3 3–3
Updated to match(es) played on 7 November 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second phase

[edit]

Top Six

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BIR FLO SLI HIB ĦAM MOS
1 Birkirkara 13 10 1 2 21 10 +11 31 Opening Round Winners 7 Dec 14 Dec 0–2 2–0
2 Floriana 13 8 5 0 24 8 +16 29 17 Dec 2–0 8 Dec 1–0
3 Sliema Wanderers 13 7 5 1 19 7 +12 26 3–1 1–1
4 Hibernians 13 6 3 4 14 12 +2 21 7 Dec
5 Ħamrun Spartans 13 5 3 5 22 16 +6 18 17 Dec
6 Mosta 13 5 1 7 15 20 −5 16
Updated to match(es) played on 30 November 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Play-Out

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation GŻI MAR MEL NXR BAL ZAB
7 Gżira United 13 5 3 5 18 17 +1 18 8 Dec 1–1 15 Dec 2–1
8 Marsaxlokk 13 5 3 5 18 18 0 18 15 Dec 2–1
9 Melita 13 3 3 7 17 25 −8 12 1–3 0–3 8 Dec 14 Dec
10 Naxxar Lions 13 2 5 6 11 22 −11 11 8 Dec
11 Balzan 13 2 3 8 13 23 −10 9 Opening Round Relegation 1 Dec
12 Żabbar St. Patrick 13 2 1 10 15 30 −15 7
Updated to match(es) played on 1 December 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Closing Round

[edit]

First phase

[edit]

League table

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Balzan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for the Top Six
2 Birkirkara 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Floriana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Gżira United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Ħamrun Spartans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Hibernians 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Marsaxlokk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Qualification for the Play-Out
8 Melita 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Mosta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Naxxar Lions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Sliema Wanderers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Żabbar St. Patrick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Results

[edit]
Home \ Away BAL BIR FLO GŻI ĦAM HIB MAR MEL MOS NXR SLI ZAB
Balzan
Birkirkara
Floriana
Gżira United
Ħamrun Spartans
Hibernians
Marsaxlokk
Melita
Mosta
Naxxar Lions
Sliema Wanderers
Żabbar St. Patrick
Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

[edit]

Scoring

[edit]

Top scorers

[edit]
As of 23 November 2024[3]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Brazil Maxuell Samurai Maia Birkirkara 9
2 Nigeria Franklin Sasere Floriana 7
3 Brazil Andre Carlos Penha Da Costa Melita 6
4 England Udoyen Akpan Balzan 5
Brazil Alex (Lecao) Da Paixao Alves Gżira United
Malta Gabriel Mentz Bohre Gżira United
Malta Luke Montebello Ħamrun Spartans
Malta Jurgen Degabriele Hibernians
Brazil Alex De Aguiar Gomes Marsaxlokk

Hat-tricks

[edit]
Player For Against Result Stadium Date
Brazil Maxuell Samurai Maia Birkirkara Balzan 3–3 (A) Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali 16 August 2024

Clean sheets

[edit]
Rank Player Club Clean sheets
1 Italy Giacomo Volpe Birkirkara 8
Nigeria Emeka Kelvin Agu Sliema Wanderers
3 Republic of the Congo Christoffer Mafoumbi Floriana 6
4 Malta Hugo Sacco Hibernians 3
5 Croatia Darijan Zarkov Gżira United 2
Malta Henry Bonello Ħamrun Spartans
Spain Pablo Sanchez Nino Hibernians
Malta Gosef Mizzi Melita
Nigeria Akpan David Udoh Mosta
Malta Matthias Debono Naxxar Lions
11 Serbia Danilo Golovic Balzan 1
Serbia Marko Drobnjak Marsaxlokk
Malta Matthew Grech Zabbar St.Patrick

Discipline

[edit]

Player

[edit]
  • Most yellow cards: 6
    • Brazil Pedro Vitor Gualberto De Assis Barreto (Naxxar Lions)
    • Brazil Murilo Henrique Freire Bernardo (Sliema Wanderers)
    • Brazil Joao Pedro De Sa Mendonca (Żabbar St. Patrick)
  • Most red cards: 2
    • Serbia Strahinja Jovancic (Żabbar St. Patrick)

Club

[edit]

Monthly awards

[edit]
Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Goal of the Month Save of the Month
Manager Club Player Club Player Club Player Club
August Malta Clive Mizzi Melita Brazil Maxuell Samurai Maia Birkirkara Greece Giannis Bastianos Hibernians Nigeria Kelvin Emeka Agu Sliema Wanderers
September Italy Stefano De Angelis Birkirkara Malta Carlo Zammit Lonardelli Floriana Nigeria Franklin Sasere Floriana Brazil Celio Da Paz Silva Filho Ħamrun Spartans
October Malta Alexander Satariano Birkirkara Malta Jurgen Degabriele Hibernians Italy Giacomo Volpe Birkirkara

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Galea, Albert (24 April 2024). "New Premier League explained: 'New format will not be damnation or salvation of Maltese football". Malta Independent.
  2. ^ Camilleri, Valhmor (2023-04-13). "Number of Premier League teams down to 12 from 2024-25". SportsDesk. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  3. ^ "Tables & Statistics". maltafootball.com. 20 September 2020.