2010–11 Maltese Premier League

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 ended in May 2011. Birkirkara are the defending champions, having won their third title last season.

Maltese Premier League
Season2010–11
ChampionsValletta
(20th title)
RelegatedVittoriosa S.
Champions LeagueValletta
Europa LeagueFloriana
Matches played132
Goals scored411 (3.11 per match)
Biggest home winValletta 5-0 Hamrun Spartans
Biggest away winVittoriosa S. 1–6 Floriana
Highest scoringMarsaxlokk 6-3 Hamrun Spartans

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 "Top Six" and teams that finish in positions 7–10 play in the "Play-Out".

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 Play-Out.

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.

Venues

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

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, 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.

Team Location of origin Ground Location of ground
Birkirkara Birkirkara Infetti Ground Birkirkara
Floriana Floriana Victor Tedesco Stadium Ħamrun
Hibernians Paola Hibernians Ground Paola
Hamrun 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 phase

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Valletta 18 13 5 0 42 11 +31 44 Qualification for the Top Six
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 25 0 27
5 Marsaxlokk 18 5 9 4 25 25 0 24
6 Hamrun Spartans 18 7 2 9 31 36 5 23
7 Sliema Wanderers 18 5 7 6 22 26 4 22 Qualification for the Play-Out
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
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions). 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.

Results

Home \ Away BIR FLO HIB HAM MRS QOR SLI TAR VAL VIT
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
Hamrun 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
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second phase

Top Six

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification VAL FLO BIR MRS TAR HAM
1 Valletta (C) 28 18 10 0 59 17 +42 42 Qualification for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–2 5–0
2 Floriana 28 14 5 9 46 32 +14 34 Qualification for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 3–0 1–1 5–1 2–0
3 Birkirkara 28 11 9 8 42 40 +2 29 0–1 1–5 2–0 3–0 2–2
4 Marsaxlokk 28 9 11 8 45 43 +2 26 0–1 4–0 1–4 2–4 6–3
5 Tarxien Rainbows 28 10 7 11 41 45 4 23 0–1 1–2 1–3 0–1 3–3
6 Hamrun Spartans 28 7 6 15 44 66 22 16 1–1 0–2 1–1 2–4 1–4
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions). Points earned in the first round have been halved and rounded up.
(C) Champions
Notes:
  1. Floriana won the 2010–11 Maltese FA Trophy competition. Therefore, Floriana and Birkirkara qualify for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.

Play-Out

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation SLI QOR HIB VIT
7 Sliema Wanderers 24 10 7 7 37 31 +6 26 4–1 0–1 2–0
8 Qormi 24 7 7 10 37 43 6 18 0–4 5–2 2–2
9 Hibernians 24 6 6 12 34 46 12 17 2–3 4–3 2–1
10 Vittoriosa Stars (R) 24 3 6 15 26 48 22 10 Relegation to the 2011–12 Maltese First Division 1–2 1–4 1–0
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions). Points earned in the first round have been halved and rounded up.
(R) Relegated

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Club Goals[2]
1 Nigeria Alfred Effiong Marsaxlokk 17
2 Malta Terence Scerri Valletta 16
3 Malta Gaetan Spiteri Hamrun 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

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