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 "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
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 round

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 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 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 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
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. 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 round

Championship Pool
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 Champions League first qualifying round — 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–2 5–0
2 Floriana 28 14 5 9 46 32 +14 34 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1] 1–1 — 3–0 1–1 5–1 2–0
3 Birkirkara 28 11 9 8 42 40 +2 29 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 1] 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) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored. Points earned in the first round have been halved and rounded up.
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. Floriana 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.

Relegation Pool
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 First Division 1–2 1–4 1–0 —
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.
(R) Relegated.

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Alfred Effiong Marsaxlokk 17
2 Terence Scerri Valletta 16
3 Gaetan Spiteri Hamrun Spartans 14
4 Daniel Nwoke Floriana 13
Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza Sliema Wanderers 13
6 Daniel Mariano Bueno Tarxien Rainbows 11
Denni Valletta 11
8 Sergio Tarxien Rainbows 10
9 Michael Galea Birkirkara 9
Emiliano Lattes Birkirkara 9
Ivan Woods Floriana 9
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References
  1. Changes to National League, FA Trophy format approved
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