34-699: The Maltese National Amateur League I (referred to as the IZIBet Amateur League for sponsorship reasons) is the third-highest division in Maltese football , replacing the Maltese Second Division and Maltese Third Division during the 2020–21 season following the premature end of the previous football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Following the merger of the Maltese Second and Third Divisions
68-572: A further loss. On 10 April 2022 Sliema Wanderers lost against Valletta with a 2–1 result, and were relegated to Maltese Challenge League after thirty-seven years in the top flight. As of 4 September 2024. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. See Sliema Wanderers F.C. Managers Post- WWII season-by-season performance of
102-483: 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
136-400: 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
170-506: A lengthy transfer saga that was complicated by International Transfer Clearance issues and compensation fees. Sliema Wanderers clinched a Maltese FA Trophy in season 2015-16 . Keith Perry was confirmed as president in the beginning of season 2016-17 despite rumours. John Buttigieg was appointed as Head Coach. The club endured a rough start to the 2020s. The club started off with a bang, signing former Arsenal F.C. midfielder Denílson . Further players were signed and Keith Perry
204-437: 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
238-550: A technical point of view. Despite signing two new players in Djibouti international Warsama Hassan and Japanese Yuki Uchida, up until 19 November 2021, the club had not yet won a match, and sat at the bottom of the Maltese Premier League. The first win came on 20 November, stunning Valletta with a 2–1 result. The dying minutes of the match however, proved fatal, as Warsama Hassan was introduced at 90 minutes. However,
272-473: 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
306-471: Is reserved for the winner of the promotion play-offs. The play-offs take place between the clubs that finished second to fourth in each group with the winning team gaining promotion to the Challenge League. In March 2021, Luqa St. Andrew's became the first champions of the league and were promoted from group stage along with Melita and Mġarr United . They were joined in the 2021-22 Challenge League by
340-526: 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
374-461: 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
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#1732869056248408-554: 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
442-497: 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
476-407: 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
510-796: 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
544-603: 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
578-525: The Wanderers, under the presidency of Robert Arrigo , win their 26th Maltese Premier League title. Part of this success was Michael Mifsud's return to his boyhood club after being leaving 1.FC Kaiserslautern on a free. Season 2005-06 started with a UEFA Champions League qualifier against Sheriff Tiraspol . Much to Arrigo's chagrin, lost Michael Mifsud to Lillestrøm SK , in a move made possible by Nikki Dimech who acted as his representative, albeit being
612-459: The club, proceeding with resignations such as Perry and team manager Alex Muscat . Players went unpaid for months, with another sponsor, Sixt, finally paying the players directly just before Christmas. Eventually a new sponsor was brought on board. Farrugia was later ousted as Keith Perry returned in the President's seat in preparation for the upcoming season. Season 2021-22 was disastrous from
646-422: The detriment of the Maltese leagues and the Malta national football team . Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club , nicknamed " tax-Xelin " ( of the shilling ), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema . It currently plays in the Maltese Premier League . The club was founded in 1909. The club competed in
680-475: The first ever Maltese Premier League season in 1909–10 and finished in second position to Floriana after the five-game season came to an end. Ten years down the line Sliema Wanderers finally made their mark in Maltese football by winning the Maltese Premier League title in the 1919–20 season. Since then the team have gone on to win the title 26 times, a record for Malta; the last three being in 2002–03 , 2003–04 and 2004–05 . Sliema Wanderers also hold
714-650: 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
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#1732869056248748-478: The league is made up of two groups. Over the course of the season, each team plays twice against the others in their group. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. The teams are ranked in the table by: In the need of a tie-breaker, a play-off game is played. At the end of the season, the top team from each group is directly promoted to the Challenge League ; an additional place
782-409: 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
816-600: The most successful team in the history of Maltese football with approximately 113 honours. Sliema Wanderers train at the Tigne Sports Complex, in Sliema. Sliema Wanderers also had a futsal team, which participated in Malta's top futsal league. The 2000s saw Sliema Wanderers becoming a dominant club in the Maltese scene again. Summer 2003 had President Robert Arrigo signing Maltese internationals Jamie Pace , Djibril Sylla and Daniel Bogdanovic . Season 2004-05 saw
850-507: 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
884-422: The player had just returned from Egypt , where he had featured for his Djibouti national football team in a match against Algeria . Warsama was supposed to be in quarantine, having returned from a Dark Red listed country. Valletta lodged a formal complaint, which was upheld by the Malta Football Association , awarding a 3–0 win to Valletta. Sliema Wanderers' next match was against Birkirkara F.C. , resulting in
918-399: The record for the most FA Trophy wins, with their first coming in 1935, when they overpowered Floriana with a 4–0 victory. The club have gone on to win this particular honour 20 times, most recently in 2000, 2004 and in 2009 ; the last title was won against Valletta 7–6 on penalties after the match finished 3–3 following extra time. With all these honours, Sliema Wanderers are currently
952-559: The winners of the promotion play-offs Rabat Ajax who had beaten Kirkop United in the final. With five teams being relegated from the Challenge League in 2021, and four being promoted from the Amateur League, the 2021-22 season saw an overall increase of clubs to 23. This article about a Maltese association football competition is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Football in Malta Football in Malta
986-452: 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
1020-401: 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
1054-520: Was appointed chairman of the club, and Jeffrey Farrugia took over as president. A sponsorship deal was struck with Catco Group, an oil investment company based in China and Tunisia . Catco Group however, failed to pay its dues, citing technical reasons. This gave way to unrest within the club, with captain Mark Scerri and head coach Andrea Pisanu making public statements regarding the financial situation of
Maltese National Amateur League I - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-482: 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
1122-411: 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
1156-417: 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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