2008–09 Maltese First Division

The 2008–09 Maltese First Division season (known as 2008–09 BOV First Division for sponsorship reasons) started in October 2008 and ended in May 2009. Pieta Hotspurs and Mqabba were relegated from the Premier League. The promoted teams were San Gwann and Rabat Ajax. Dingli Swallows and Vittoriosa Stars finished the league as joint first with the same number of points. Both were promoted but a decider had to be played to decide who the champions would be. The decider was won by Dingli by the score of 2–1. At the other end Rabat Ajax and Senglea Athletic were relegated to the Second Division.

Maltese First Division

Season	2008–09
Champions	Dingli Swallows
Promoted	Dingli Swallows
Relegated	Rabat Ajax Senglea Athletic
Goals scored	276
Average goals/game	3.06
Top goalscorer	Simon Shead and Anthony Eviparker (15)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Teams

These teams will contest the Maltese First Division 2008-09 season:

• Dingli Swallows
• Mosta
• Mqabba
• Pietà Hotspurs
• Rabat Ajax
• San Ġwann
• St. George's
• Senglea Athletic
• St. Patrick
• Vittoriosa

Changes from previous season

• Tarxien Rainbows and Qormi were promoted to the Premier League. They were replaced with Pieta Hotspurs and Mqabba, both relegated from 2007–08 Maltese Premier League
• Mellieha and Marsa were relegated to the 2008–09 Maltese Second Division. They were replaced with San Gwann and Rabat Ajax.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Dingli Swallows (C)	18	10	4	4	33	17	+16	34	Promoted to 2009–10 Maltese Premier League
2	Vittoriosa Stars[a]	18	10	4	4	34	20	+14	34
3	Pietà Hotspurs	18	9	6	3	34	23	+11	33
4	St. George's	18	8	3	7	34	32	+2	27
5	St. Patrick	18	7	6	5	24	24	0	27
6	Mqabba	18	5	9	4	28	24	+4	24
7	Mosta	18	6	4	8	20	22	−2	22
8	San Ġwann	18	6	4	8	31	38	−7	22
9	Rabat Ajax (R)	18	5	2	11	20	36	−16	17	Relegation to 2009–10 Maltese Second Division
10	Senglea Athletic (R)	18	2	2	14	18	40	−22	8

Source: ^[1]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vittoriosa Stars were promoted. However, after playing one match in the Premier League, Vittoriosa Stars were relegated to the First Division due to a decision by the Board to Investigate Corrupt Practices.

Championship play-offs

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Dingli Swallows	2–1	Vittoriosa Stars

Results

Home \ Away	DIN	MOS	MQA	PIE	RAB	SĠW	SEN	STG	STP	VIT
Dingli Swallows	—	1–0	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	0–1	2–0
Mosta	0–1	—	3–1	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–2
Mqabba	3–0	1–1	—	2–2	1–1	2–1	2–0	4–4	0–0	1–1
Pietà Hotspurs	1–3	2–2	2–1	—	3–0	3–3	4–2	1–2	2–2	0–3
Rabat Ajax	0–4	0–4	2–0	0–1	—	1–2	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–3
San Ġwann	4–3	0–2	1–1	0–1	3–3	—	4–2	0–3	4–1	1–2
Senglea Athletic	0–5	2–2	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–1	—	2–1	3–0	0–1
St. George's	2–1	1–0	2–2	1–4	1–2	7–2	2–0	—	3–3	0–4
St. Patrick	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	2–0	3–2	1–0	—	1–3
Vittoriosa Stars	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–1	5–2	1–2	3–2	2–1	1–1	—

Source: ^[2]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

As of 17 May 2009^[3]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Simon Shead	Pietà Hotspurs	15
	Anthony Eviparker	Vittoriosa Stars
3	Uchenna Anyanwu	Dingli Swallows	13
4	Martin Deanov	Pietà Hotspurs	11
5	John Nwoba	St. George's	10