1999–2000 Maltese Premier League

The 1999–2000 Maltese Premier League (known as the Rothmans Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Maltese Premier League, and the 85th season of top-tier football in Malta. It was contested by 10 teams, and Birkirkara F.C. won the championship.

Maltese Premier League

Season	1999–2000
Dates	24 August 1999 – 29 April 2000
Champions	Birkirkara (1st title)
Relegated	Gozo Żurrieq
Champions League	Birkirkara
UEFA Cup	Sliema Wanderers Valletta
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Floriana
Matches played	132
Goals scored	462 (3.5 per match)
Top goalscorer	Michael Mifsud (21 goals)
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

Teams

Birkirkara

Floriana

Hibernians

Gozo

Naxxar L.

Pietà H.

Rabat A.

Sliema W.

Valletta

Żurrieq

Locations of the 1999–2000 Maltese Premier League teams

The following teams were promoted from the First Division at the start of the season:

• Gozo
• Żurrieq

From the previous Premier League season, the following teams were relegated to the First Division:

• St. Patrick
• Ħamrun Spartans

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Birkirkara	18	15	2	1	39	9	+30	47	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Valletta	18	13	1	4	58	22	+36	40
3	Floriana	18	11	1	6	35	24	+11	34
4	Sliema Wanderers	18	10	3	5	41	23	+18	33
5	Pietà Hotspurs	18	7	5	6	33	36	−3	26
6	Hibernians	18	5	7	6	28	25	+3	22
7	Naxxar Lions	18	4	4	10	27	40	−13	16	Qualification for the Play-out
8	Gozo	18	3	5	10	14	29	−15	14
9	Żurrieq	18	3	3	12	20	55	−35	12
10	Rabat Ajax	18	2	3	13	19	51	−32	9

Source: RSSSF

Results

Home \ Away	BKR	FRN	GZO	HIB	NXR	PTA	RBT	SLM	VLT	ŻRQ
Birkirkara	—	2–1	2–0	2–0	5–2	3–1	4–0	2–1	2–0	2–0
Floriana	0–1	—	5–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	4–3	1–0	3–1	3–2
Gozo	1–0	0–1	—	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–0
Hibernians	0–0	0–1	3–1	—	3–3	2–2	3–0	1–1	3–2	1–2
Naxxar Lions	1–5	3–0	2–1	0–0	—	2–3	2–3	2–3	2–4	3–0
Pietà Hotspurs	0–1	3–2	2–3	1–4	1–0	—	2–1	0–0	2–5	2–1
Rabat Ajax	0–2	1–4	2–1	0–3	2–3	2–2	—	0–2	0–9	1–3
Sliema Wanderers	0–1	2–1	4–1	3–3	3–0	2–3	3–1	—	1–3	5–0
Valletta	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	5–3	2–1	1–2	—	9–1
Żurrieq	1–4	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–4	1–1	2–7	0–6	—

Source: RSSSF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second phase

Top Six

Floriana-Pieta Hotspurs at Ta'Qali

The teams placed in the first six positions in the league table qualified for the Top Six, and the points obtained during the first phase were halved (and rounded up) before the start of second phase. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the second phase: Birkirkara 24 points, Valletta 20, Floriana 17, Sliema Wanderers 17, Pietà Hotspurs 13 and Hibernians 11.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BKR	SLM	VLT	FRN	PTA	HIB
1	Birkirkara (C)	10	7	1	2	22	5	+17	46	Qualification for the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League		—	2–0	2–1	1–1	5–0	0–1
2	Sliema Wanderers	10	7	1	2	21	13	+8	39	Qualification for the 2000–01 UEFA Cup		0–2	—	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–1
3	Valletta	10	5	1	4	17	14	+3	36			1–5	1–2	—	3–0	4–2	2–1
4	Floriana	10	3	1	6	15	20	−5	27	Qualification for the 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup		0–3	4–5	0–2	—	2–0	3–0
5	Pietà Hotspurs	10	3	0	7	12	21	−9	22			1–0	0–3	0–2	2–3	—	4–0
6	Hibernians	10	3	0	7	9	23	−14	20			0–2	2–5	2–1	2–1	0–3	—

Source: RSSSF
(C) Champions

Play-out

The teams which finished in the last four league positions were placed in the play-out and at the end of the phase the two lowest-placed teams were relegated to the First Division. The points obtained during the first phase were halved (and rounded up) before the start of second phase. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the second phase: Naxxar Lions 8 points, Gozo 7, Zurrieq 6, Rabat Ajax 5.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation		NXR	RBT	GZO	ŻRQ
7	Naxxar Lions	6	4	1	1	17	9	+8	21			—	3–3	1–0	6–2
8	Rabat Ajax	6	3	3	0	15	11	+4	17			3–2	—	1–1	5–3
9	Gozo (R)	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	12	Relegation to the 2000–01 Maltese First Division		1–3	0–0	—	3–1
10	Żurrieq (R)	6	1	0	5	12	22	−10	9			0–2	2–3	4–3	—

Source: RSSSF
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Sliema Wanderers' Michael Mifsud finished as the league top scorer with 21 goals.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[1]
1	Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers	21
2	Gilbert Agius	Valletta	17
	Stefan Giglio	Valletta
4	Nikolai Kirilov	Żurrieq	15
	Nenad Veselji	Valletta
6	Michael Galea	Birkirkara	14
	Rufin Oba	Floriana
	Orosco Anonam	Naxxar Lions
9	Malcolm Licari	Pietà Hotspurs	12
10	Edmond Lufi	Pietà Hotspurs	11