2017–18 Maltese Premier League

The 2017–18 Maltese Premier League (known as the BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 103rd season of top-flight league football in Malta. The season began on 18 August 2017 and ended on 22 April 2018. Hibernians were the defending champions, having won their 12th title the previous season.

Maltese Premier League

Season	2017–18
Dates	18 August 2017 – 22 April 2018
Champions	Valletta (24th title)
Relegated	Naxxar Lions Lija Athletic
Champions League	Valletta
Europa League	Balzan Gżira United Birkirkara
Matches played	182
Goals scored	505 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Amadou Samb (21 goals)
← 2016–17 2018–19 → All statistics correct as of 21 April 2018.

Balzan and Valletta contended the league title for the whole season and were head-to-head in the final phases.^[1] On the last day of the season, on 21 April 2018, Valletta defeated Gżira United 2–1, while Balzan slipped in a 0–1 defeat against Hibernians, and as a result Valletta were crowned champions for the 24th time in their history.^[2]

Teams

Balzan

Birkirkara

Floriana

Gżira

Ħamrun

Hibernians

Lija

Mosta

Naxxar

Senglea

Sliema Wanderers

Tarxien Rainbows

Valletta

Locations of the 2017–18 Maltese Premier League teams

Pembroke Athleta are relegated after they finished twelfth the previous season. They are replaced by Lija Athletic the 2016–17 Maltese First Division champions, Senglea Athletic the 2016–17 Maltese First Division runners-up, and Naxxar Lions the 2016–17 Maltese First Division Third Place.

Team	In league since	City	Training Stadium	Capacity
Balzan	2011	Balzan	Victor Tedesco Stadium	6,000
Birkirkara	1990	Birkirkara	Ta' Qali National Stadium	17,797
Floriana	1986	Floriana	Independence Arena	3,000
Gżira United	2016	Gżira	Ta' Qali National Stadium	17,797
Ħamrun Spartans	2016	Ħamrun	Victor Tedesco Stadium	6,000
Hibernians	1945	Paola	Hibernians Ground	2,968
Lija Athletic	2017	Lija	Lija Stadium	500
Mosta	2011	Mosta	Charles Abela Memorial Stadium	600
Naxxar	2017	Naxxar	Centenary Stadium	2,000
Senglea Athletic	2017	Senglea	Ta' Qali National Stadium	17,000
Sliema Wanderers	1984	Sliema	Tigne Sports Complex	1,000
Saint Andrews	2015	St. Andrew's	Luxol Stadium	800
Tarxien Rainbows	2008	Tarxien	Tony Cassar Sports Ground	1,000
Valletta	1944	Valletta	Centenary Stadium	2,000

Kits

Team	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Balzan	Joma	Investors Mutual Limited
Birkirkara	Adidas	McDonald's
Floriana	Joma	Scotts Supermarket
Gżira United	Joma	Tipbet
Ħamrun Spartans	Sportika SA	Talocan
Hibernians	Joma	Bezzina
Lija Athletic	Adidas	The Falzon Group Of Companies
Mosta	Macron	Computer Domain
Naxxar	Macron	VINC
Senglea Athletic	Acerbis
Sliema Wanderers	Adidas	DIZZ
Saint Andrews	Macron	Tipico
Tarxien Rainbows	Erreà	Cassar Ship Repairs
Valletta	Joma	Iniala

• Additionally, referee kits are made by Adidas, sponsored by TeamSports and FXDD, and Nike has a new match ball.

Venues

Ta' Qali Tony Bezzina Stadium Victor Tedesco Stadium	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

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Balzan	Oliver Spiteri	Mutual consent	5 May 2017[3]	Pre-season	Marko Mićović	24 May 2017[4]
Valletta	Paul Zammit	Resigned	30 May 2017[5]		Zoran Popović	18 June 2017[6]
Birkirkara	Nikola Jaroš	End of contract	1 June 2017[7]		Peter Pullicino	1 June 2017[7]
	Peter Pullicino	Sacked	1 September 2017[8]	11th	Paul Zammit	1 September 2017[8]
St. Andrews	Danilo Dončić	Resigned	7 September 2017[9]	9th	Marko Glumac	12 September 2017
Naxxar	Dennis Fenech			13th	Stuart Watkiss	8 September 2017[10]
Valletta	Zoran Popović	Mutual consent	20 December 2017	3rd	Danilo Dončić	20 December 2017[11]
Hibernians	Mark Miller	Resigned	5 March 2018[12]	6th	Mario Muscat Neil Zarb Cousin	6 March 2018[13]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valletta (C)	26	17	7	2	40	11	+29	58	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Balzan	26	16	7	3	42	19	+23	55	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Gżira United	26	15	6	5	52	33	+19	51	Qualification for the Europa League preliminary round
4	Birkirkara	26	15	2	9	44	28	+16	47
5	Hibernians	26	13	7	6	43	16	+27	46
6	Floriana	26	12	10	4	48	18	+30	46
7	Sliema Wanderers	26	11	7	8	35	26	+9	40
8	Hamrun Spartans	26	10	5	11	39	33	+6	35
9	Senglea Athletic	26	7	5	14	29	47	−18	26
10	Mosta	26	7	5	14	28	52	−24	26
11	St. Andrews	26	6	6	14	21	41	−20	24
12	Tarxien Rainbows (O)	26	6	5	15	34	56	−22	23	Qualification for the Relegation Play-Offs
13	Naxxar Lions (R)	26	5	7	14	27	41	−14	22	Relegation to the 2018–19 Maltese First Division
14	Lija Athletic (R)	26	1	3	22	23	84	−61	6

Source: Malta Football Association, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).^[14]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Results

Each team plays every other team in the league home-and-away for a total of 26 matches played each.

Home \ Away	BAL	BIR	FLO	GŻI	HAM	HIB	LIJ	MOS	NAX	SEN	SLI	STA	TAR	VAL
Balzan	—	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	4–3	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	2–1
Birkirkara	1–3	—	1–1	4–0	4–2	1–3	2–1	2–0	3–2	5–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	0–3
Floriana	1–1	0–2	—	1–1	1–0	0–1	6–0	5–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	5–0	1–1
Gżira United	1–2	2–0	0–0	—	4–0	3–2	3–2	2–2	3–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–1
Ħamrun Spartans	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	—	0–1	1–1	5–2	2–0	3–0	2–3	1–1	2–1	0–0
Hibernians	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	—	7–0	3–0	1–1	5–1	0–1	4–0	2–2	0–0
Lija Athletic	0–3	0–2	2–6	0–4	1–5	0–3	—	1–5	0–4	2–3	0–2	1–2	0–4	1–3
Mosta	0–5	0–3	2–2	3–5	0–2	0–0	3–1	—	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1
Naxxar Lions	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–4	0–0	1–1	2–0	—	3–0	1–5	3–1	1–2	0–1
Senglea Athletic	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–3	0–1	2–0	5–2	2–1	—	3–0	2–1	2–2	0–1
Sliema Wanderers	1–2	3–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	—	1–0	1–1	0–1
St. Andrews	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–3	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–2	—	2–3	0–1
Tarxien Rainbows	3–1	1–3	0–2	1–2	1–4	0–3	2–3	0–1	5–2	1–1	2–1	0–0	—	0–2
Valletta	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	2–1	4–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	6–0	—

Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

A play-off match took place between the twelfth-placed team from the Premier League, Tarxien Rainbows, and the third-placed team from the First Division, Zejtun Corinthians, for a place in the 2018–19 Maltese Premier League.

Tarxien Rainbows (1) v Zejtun Corinthians (2)

27 April 2018	Tarxien Rainbows (1)	1–0	Zejtun Corinthians (2)	Paola
19:00 CEST	J. Brincat 8'			Stadium: Hibernians Stadium Referee: Stefan Pace

Top scorers

As of 21 April 2018^[15]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Amadou Samb	Gżira United	21
2	Mario Fontanella	Floriana	17
3	Bojan Kaljevic	Balzan	14
4	Jake Grech	Birkirkara	11
	Erjon Beu	Lija Athletic
	Jurgen Degabriele	Hibernians
7	Clayton Failla	Hibernians	10
	Emmanuel Okoye	Gżira United
	Samba Tounkara	Tarxien Rainbows
	Ricardo da Silva Faria	Tarxien Rainbows

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month
	Player	Club
August[16]	Michael Mifsud	Valletta
September[17]	Amadou Samb	Gżira United
October[18]	Cadú	Balzan
November[19]	Cadú	Balzan
December[20]	Maurizio Vella	Floriana
January[21]	Kemar David Reid	St. Andrews
February[22]	Jackson Lima	Hibernians
March[23]	Matteo Piciollo	Valletta
April[24]	Kevaughn Atkinson	St. Andrews

Attendances

#	Football club	Average attendance
1	Valletta FC	2,166
2	Gżira United	1,421
3	Ħamrun Spartans	1,325
4	Balzan FC	976
5	Hibernians FC	945
6	Floriana FC	892
7	Sliema Wanderers	732
8	Birkirkara FC	674
9	Senglea Athletic	493
10	Mosta FC	481
11	St. Andrews FC	402
12	Tarxien Rainbows	389
13	Naxxar Lions	268
14	Lija Athletic	230