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28-531: The Association organises the Maltese Football League for both men and women and several other competitions, including knockout competitions for the top teams for both genders. The men's national team , women's national team , as well as several youth representative teams compete regularly in international competitions organised by UEFA and FIFA . These include the European Championships and

56-483: A golden age in the 1990s winning five championships and four league cups. A re-juvenated Floriana won the championship in 1993, as well as two league cups, and Sliema Wanderers , Ħamrun Spartans and Hibernians also picked up notable honours. 1995 also saw the start of the Maltese Women's League , initially at only 5-a-side, though rapidly expanding to full 11-a-side in the start of the millennium. A second division

84-400: A good challenge to Sliema Wanderers and Floriana , winning eight championships between them, and three league trophies. The 1980s saw the monopolization of Sliema Wanderers and Floriana finally come to an end with four clubs taking most of the honours in this decade. The inauguration of the new national stadium, Ta' Qali could have been a reason for this, with a large re-structuring of

112-437: A name for themselves in the women's league, winning a number of titles and wresting dominance from Hibernians F.C. However, by the 2019/20 season, Hibernians F.C. were spent and quickly fell out of the title races, leaving Birkirkara FC unbeaten champions across the next 4 seasons! The first Malta Football Association Premier League (1st Division) 1909-1910: The fourth season of the women's league, 1998-1999: Currently

140-531: A professional team within the Italian football league system . The MFA is structured by having 53 member clubs, as well as 10 member associations. The clubs compete in four divisions; the premier, first, second and third. The member associations are specialised football associations who organise competitions for clubs affiliated to them. The member associations include: Maltese Football League Football in Malta

168-508: Is approximately 316 km (122 sq mi) in area. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide harbours. The landscape of the islands is characterised by high hills with terraced fields. The highest point, at 253 metres, Ta' Zuta on mainland Malta. The capital is Valletta . Malta has a total area of 315.718 km , with land making up 315.718 km and water taking up zero area. Compared to other political entities, this makes Malta: Excluding 56 km from

196-538: Is now called the Maltese Premier League trophy. Birkirkara FC are the notable new force in the Maltese league, after winning their first championship in the year 2000, and the team from Malta's largest town has regularly picked up honours since propelling itself into the history books. Other teams to have made relative impact were Żurrieq in the 1980s and Valletta in the late 1990s. Birkirkara FC have also made

224-526: Is run by the Malta Football Association and was introduced to Malta during British rule in the mid-19th century. The sport at the time was new to England , and was used as a means of entertainment for the soldiers stationed in Malta at the various barracks around Malta at the time. In 1863 a football association was formed which governed rules and regulations for this quickly changing sport, which

252-710: Is situated in Southern Europe , it is located farther south than Tunis , capital of Tunisia , Algiers , capital of Algeria , Tangier in Morocco and also Aleppo in Syria , and Mosul in Iraq in the Middle East . Only the three largest islands – Malta , Gozo and Comino – are inhabited. Other (uninhabited) islands are: Cominotto , Filfla and the St.Paul's Islands . The country

280-461: The Maltese FA in the 1940s, doubling the size of the number of registered clubs within ten years. Many of today's familiar names joined the league including Valletta and Hibernians . Interest in the Maltese league continued throughout the 1950s, 1960's and 1970s with fifteen more clubs joining the league including Birkirkara FC in 1950 . It was however Hibernians and Valletta who put together

308-554: The Mediterranean Sea . Normal league activity resumed in the 1945, after the end of the war with the league format of four teams joining including Sliema Wanderers and Floriana . The Maltese football association league format soon changed however, to a multiple tier format as from the 1946 season. The passing of the North Africa conflict saw the Maltese football associations largest interest with fifteen clubs registering to join

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336-497: The Maltese Third Division during season 2009-10 . This ended up in a rivalry between the two teams who boasted stronger squads when compared to the other Third Division teams, thus attracting larger crowds than usual. However attendances remain relatively low in numbers. It is important to note that very few statistics are available. Most Maltese people prefer to watch English and Italian leagues. This traces its beginning to

364-407: The Maltese league program to coincide with Maltese football 's new impressive home. Hibernians F.C. went on to win the Maltese league championship in 1981 and 1982, Rabat Ajax (formed 1930) won in 1985, and 1986, however the real surprise came from one of Malta's oldest clubs, Ħamrun Spartans who won the league three times in 1983, 1987 and 1988, and won a five league trophies. Floriana did win

392-748: The Maltese men's national and official system consists of 54 teams within 4 divisions. These are the Maltese Premier League , the Maltese Challenge League , and the Maltese National Amateur League I &II. The FA Trophy is a knockout competition for all clubs taking part in league competitions in Malta and Gozo; the winners play the Premier League champions in the Maltese Super Cup . A similar structure follows for

420-603: The Maltese one. During World Cups Maltese generally side with either the English or the Italians. Popular foreign clubs are mainly Manchester United , Liverpool , Juventus , Milan and Inter . Popular national teams apart from their own are mainly England and Italy , with Brazil in the third place, followed by Germany and the Netherlands to a lesser extent. These foreign fandoms generally divert attention from Maltese football to

448-741: The World Cup. Malta also compete in the UEFA Futsal Championship , though not the UEFA Women's Futsal Championship to date. The MFA manages the National stadium and the Centenary Stadium nearby. This complex is based in Ta` Qali and includes training grounds, a gymnasium, a swimming pool and physiotherapy and medical clinics. The complex is also used by foreign clubs during the winter months, due to

476-467: The detriment of the Maltese leagues and the Malta national football team . Maltese archipelago Download coordinates as: The geography of Malta is dominated by water. Malta is an archipelago of coralline limestone , located in Europe , in the Mediterranean Sea , 81 kilometres south of Sicily , Italy , and nearly 300 km north (Libya) and northeast (Tunisia) of Africa . Although Malta

504-650: The higher quality of foreign leagues (especially the Italian Serie A and the English Premier League ), slow-paced football, low interest, relatively unknown players, lack of professionalism and perceived corruption. This has improved since the promotion of Qormi to the top tier, a team which has had a strong following ever since getting promoted. A phenomenon also occurred in the lowest tier, where Zejtun Corinthians and Naxxar Lions , two sides from relatively large localities, started to push for promotion from

532-443: The island of Gozo, Malta has a coastline of 196.8 km. Its maritime claims of territorial sea are 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi), contiguous zone is 24  nmi (44.4 km; 27.6 mi), continental shelf is 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation, and Malta's exclusive fishing zone spans 25 nmi (46.3 km; 28.8 mi). Mediterranean with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The lowest point

560-409: The league trophy in 1981, but were relegated to Malta 's second league in the 1985 season. The last decades of the century saw the league format expand to its fourth tier, now with fifty clubs registered in the league. A diverse range of clubs now sharing the trophies in the Maltese league's top tier to contribute to an entertaining and high quality semi-professional football league. Valletta enjoyed

588-568: The mild temperatures of the Maltese Islands. The association is one of the oldest and one of the best in Europe, having been founded in 1900 with the first national league being organised in season 1909–1910. There are several important landmarks in the history of Maltese football, especially since Malta played its first official international friendly match against Austria in February 1957. The result

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616-507: The nation's political past, where in the 1930s a hot political issue was the Language Question , i.e. whether Malta had to adopt either Italian or English as an official language. This created pro-British and pro-Italian factions within the Maltese, virtually splitting the population in two. This rivalry now remains subtly in the nation's main political parties, but also in football, where as said before Maltese prefer foreign leagues to

644-452: The women's temas, albeit smaller in scale. The Maltese Women's League is the only league currently in place, with a similar knockout tournament coming with the Maltese Women's Cup . Other football competitions run in Malta include: In the latest decades, particularly the 1990s the Maltese leagues have not had high attendances except for particular derby matches or league deciders. This has often been attributed to various reasons, including

672-618: Was a narrow 3–2 defeat for Malta. It took until 1959 for the MFA to join FIFA , also joining UEFA the year after in 1960. From then onwards, Malta become an ever-present in international competitions at national teams as well as at club levels. During 2019, the MFA has also entered into talks with the Italian Football Federation and the Lega Pro to discuss the possibility for the MFA to field

700-401: Was also briefly active, though the small number of teams involved meant that it was not maintained. It would return for several seasons across 2008-17, however. Hibernians F.C. were the main force in the early days of the league, winning 8 titles in a row from 1998 onwards. At present there are a number of clubs with the resources and capability of winning the men's championship trophy, which

728-531: Was implemented in the 1935 season which Sliema Wanderers and Floriana continued to dominate up to the Second World War between them. Unfortunately due to the Second World War , the league had to break-off since many Maltese players were drafted in to the defence of the island during the early 1940s when the Maltese archipelago were heavily involved in the North Africa conflict due to its strategic position in

756-411: Was still in amateur competition stage and played in an un-scheduled format until 1909 when a league format was introduced. The association runs the men's national football team , the women's national team , as well as administering the semi-professional Maltese Premier League , Maltese Women's League and the respective cups for club sides. The first Maltese championship in the 1909-1910 season

784-417: Was won by Floriana . The league regularly changed in numbers as teams changed administrators, dropped out of the league, and new teams re-entered. Up until the season of 1939-1940 this first league remained the only league in Maltese football , and was called the Maltese division one. Sliema Wanderers and Floriana dominated, winning all but four championships up to 1940. The Maltese football league trophy

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