2002–03 Maltese Premier League

The 2002–03 Maltese Premier League was the 23rd season of the Maltese Premier League, and the 88th season of top-tier football in Malta. The league started on 24 August 2002 and finished on 11 May 2003. Hibernians were the defending champions.

Maltese Premier League

Season	2002–03
Dates	24 August 2002 – 11 May 2003
Champions	Sliema Wanderers (24th title)
Relegated	Marsa Mosta
Champions League	Sliema Wanderers
UEFA Cup	Birkirkara Valletta
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Hibernians
Matches played	132
Goals scored	419 (3.17 per match)
Top goalscorer	3 players (18 goals)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Teams

Birkirkara

Floriana

Hibernians

Ħamrun S.

Marsa

Marsaxlokk

Mosta

Pietà H.

Sliema W.

Valletta

Locations of the 2002–03 Maltese Premier League teams

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

• Marsaxlokk
• Mosta

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

• Naxxar Lions
• Lija Athletic

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sliema Wanderers	18	14	2	2	51	16	+35	44	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Birkirkara	18	13	1	4	46	24	+22	40
3	Valletta	18	12	1	5	42	18	+24	37
4	Hibernians	18	9	3	6	35	26	+9	30
5	Pietà Hotspurs	18	6	5	7	19	22	−3	23
6	Marsaxlokk	18	7	0	11	27	38	−11	21
7	Floriana	18	6	2	10	22	31	−9	20	Qualification for the Play-out
8	Ħamrun Spartans	18	5	2	11	25	40	−15	17
9	Marsa	18	4	4	10	25	45	−20	16
10	Mosta	18	2	4	12	14	46	−32	10

Source: RSSSSF

Results

Home \ Away	BKR	FRN	HIB	ĦMR	MRS	MXK	MST	PTA	SLM	VLT
Birkirkara	—	1–2	0–3	4–2	3–0	4–2	2–0	2–1	1–3	1–3
Floriana	0–3	—	1–0	0–1	1–3	2–0	1–3	0–0	2–5	1–2
Hibernians	1–3	4–1	—	3–2	2–2	1–2	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–5
Ħamrun Spartans	2–3	2–0	0–3	—	2–3	1–4	2–2	2–3	0–5	2–1
Marsa	0–6	2–3	2–2	2–1	—	1–3	1–1	0–1	0–5	1–2
Marsaxlokk	1–3	1–3	0–4	1–3	2–0	—	3–0	1–0	0–3	3–5
Mosta	0–3	1–4	2–1	1–2	0–5	1–4	—	0–2	1–3	0–4
Pietà Hotspurs	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–0	3–0	—	2–2	0–3
Sliema Wanderers	3–3	1–0	2–3	2–0	3–1	2–0	4–0	5–0	—	2–1
Valletta	1–3	1–0	2–0	2–0	6–0	4–0	0–0	0–1	0–2	—

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

Second phase

Top Six

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: Sliema Wanderers 22 points, Birkirkara 20, Valletta 19, Hibernians 15, Pietà Hotspurs 12 and Marsaxlokk 11.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SLM	BKR	VLT	HIB	PTA	MXK
1	Sliema Wanderers (C)	10	6	2	2	19	12	+7	42	Qualification for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League		—	3–2	0–2	3–0	2–1	3–0
2	Birkirkara	10	5	2	3	18	10	+8	37	Qualification for the 2003–04 UEFA Cup		0–0	—	7–2	2–1	2–0	0–1
3	Valletta	10	4	4	2	15	13	+2	35			0–3	2–0	—	0–0	0–0	2–1
4	Hibernians	10	5	2	3	18	10	+8	32	Qualification for the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup		5–2	0–1	1–1	—	2–1	2–0
5	Pietà Hotspurs	10	1	4	5	8	21	−13	19			2–2	0–0	0–5	0–5	—	3–2
6	Marsaxlokk	10	1	2	7	7	19	−12	16			0–1	0–4	1–1	0–2	1–1	—

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: Floriana 10 points, Ħamrun Spartans 9, Marsa 8 and Mosta 5.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation		ĦMR	FRN	MRS	MST
7	Ħamrun Spartans	6	3	3	0	7	3	+4	21			—	0–0	1–1	3–1
8	Floriana	6	2	4	0	10	3	+7	20			1–1	—	5–1	1–1
9	Marsa (R)	6	2	2	2	8	8	0	16	Relegation to the 2003–04 Maltese First Division		0–1	0–0	—	5–1
10	Mosta (R)	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	6			0–3	0–1	0–1	—

Source: RSSSF
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[1]
1	Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	18
	Michael Galea	Birkirkara
	Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians
4	Ndubisi Chukunyere	Hibernians	12
	Lucian Dronca	Birkirkara
6	Daniel Bogdanović	Valletta	11
	Chris Oretan	Valletta
	Stefan Sultana	Ħamrun Spartans
	Johann Zammit	Marsaxlokk
10	Malcolm Tirchett	Marsa	10

Hat-tricks

Player[2][3]	For	Against	Result	Date
Daniel Bogdanović	Valletta	Marsaxlokk	5–3	27 October 2002
Rumen Galabov	Valletta	Pietà Hotspurs	5–0	6 April 2003
Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	Sliema Wanderers	5–2	20 April 2003
Nicolò Baldacchino	Floriana	Marsa	5–1	3 May 2003
Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	Pietà Hotspurs	5–0	4 May 2003