2003–04 Maltese Premier League

The 2003–04 Maltese Premier League (known as the MIA Premier League^[1] for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th season of the Maltese Premier League, and the 89th season of top-tier football in Malta. The league started on 22 August 2003 and finished on 9 May 2004. Sliema Wanderers successfully defended last season's league triumph, equalling Floriana's league title record of 25 championships.

Maltese Premier League

Season	2003–04
Dates	22 August 2003 – 9 May 2004
Champions	Sliema Wanderers (25th title)
Relegated	Balzan Ħamrun Spartans
Champions League	Sliema Wanderers
UEFA Cup	Birkirkara Marsaxlokk
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Hibernians
Matches	132
Goals	407 (3.08 per match)
Top goalscorer	Danilo Dončić (19 goals)
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Teams

Balzan

Birkirkara

Floriana

Hibernians

Ħamrun S.

Marsaxlokk

Msida SJ

Pietà H.

Sliema W.

Valletta

Locations of the 2003–04 Maltese Premier League teams

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

• Msida Saint-Joseph
• Balzan Youths

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

• Marsa
• Mosta

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sliema Wanderers	18	13	2	3	37	15	+22	41	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Birkirkara	18	11	2	5	41	18	+23	35
3	Hibernians	18	10	4	4	31	25	+6	34
4	Marsaxlokk	18	9	4	5	30	22	+8	31
5	Floriana	18	7	6	5	33	26	+7	27
6	Pietà Hotspurs	18	7	6	5	28	25	+3	27
7	Valletta	18	6	5	7	27	29	−2	23	Qualification for the Play-out
8	Balzan	18	5	3	10	22	37	−15	18
9	Msida Saint-Joseph	18	2	4	12	18	35	−17	10
10	Ħamrun Spartans	18	0	4	14	11	46	−35	4

Source: RSSSSF

Results

Home \ Away	BZN	BKR	FRN	HIB	ĦMR	MXK	MSD	PTA	SLM	VLT
Balzan	—	0–1	1–5	1–0	1–0	2–4	2–1	2–0	1–3	1–2
Birkirkara	3–0	—	0–2	2–4	3–0	3–2	0–0	5–1	0–1	4–1
Floriana	2–2	2–1	—	1–2	4–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–1
Hibernians	2–1	2–1	2–4	—	2–1	3–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–2
Ħamrun Spartans	1–1	0–6	1–1	1–2	—	0–1	0–2	0–3	0–3	2–2
Marsaxlokk	5–1	0–1	0–0	3–2	1–1	—	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–1
Msida Saint-Joseph	1–1	1–7	2–4	2–3	2–2	0–1	—	0–2	0–1	0–2
Pietà Hotspurs	2–1	2–3	1–1	2–1	4–0	1–1	1–1	—	0–3	3–3
Sliema Wanderers	4–2	0–1	4–1	0–0	4–0	2–1	1–4	1–3	—	1–0
Valletta	1–2	0–0	2–1	2–4	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–2	0–3	—

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 21 points, Birkirkara 18, Hibernians 17, Marsaxlokk 16, Floriana and Pietà Hotspurs 14.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SLM	BKR	HIB	MXK	PTA	FRN
1	Sliema Wanderers (C)	10	7	1	2	24	12	+12	43	Qualification for the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League		—	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	4–1
2	Birkirkara	10	6	3	1	18	12	+6	39	Qualification for the 2004–05 UEFA Cup		2–1	—	3–1	1–3	1–1	2–0
3	Hibernians	10	6	0	4	16	13	+3	35	Qualification for the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup		3–0	0–1	—	0–3	1–0	3–1
4	Marsaxlokk	10	3	2	5	16	17	−1	27	Qualification for the 2004–05 UEFA Cup[a]		0–2	3–4	1–4	—	0–0	0–0
5	Pietà Hotspurs	10	2	3	5	12	15	−3	23			1–5	1–1	0–1	2–0	—	2–3
6	Floriana	10	1	1	8	8	25	−17	18			0–2	0–1	1–2	1–5	1–4	—

Source: RSSSF
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Marsaxlokk qualified to the 2004–05 UEFA Cup as losing finalists in the 2003–04 Maltese FA Trophy.

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: Valletta 12 points, Balzan Youths 9, Msida Saint-Joseph 5 and Ħamrun Spartans 2.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation		VLT	MSD	BZN	ĦMR
7	Valletta	6	5	0	1	14	4	+10	27			—	1–3	3–1	3–0
8	Msida Saint-Joseph	6	4	1	1	14	7	+7	22			0–1	—	2–1	3–3
9	Balzan (R)	6	2	0	4	6	14	−8	11	Relegation to the 2004–05 Maltese First Division		0–5	0–3	—	2–0
10	Ħamrun Spartans (R)	6	0	1	5	5	14	−9	3			0–1	1–3	1–2	—

Source: RSSSF
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[2]
1	Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	19
2	Etienne Barbara	Marsaxlokk	15
3	Michael Galea	Birkirkara	14
4	Daniel Bogdanović	Sliema Wanderers/Marsxalokk	13
	Daniel Nwoke	Msida Saint-Joseph
6	Gilbert Agius	Valletta	10
	Haruna Doda	Birkirkara
	Ivan Woods	Pietà Hotspurs
	Stefan Giglio	Sliema Wanderers
10	Olumuyiwa Aganun	Msida Saint-Joseph	9
	Stefan Zahra	Balzan

Hat-tricks

Player[3][4]	For	Against	Result	Date
Daniel Nwoke	Msida Saint-Joseph	Sliema Wanderers	4–1	29 August 2003
Michael Galea	Birkirkara	Msida Saint-Joseph	7–1	13 September 2003
Etienne Barbara	Marsaxlokk	Balzan	4–2	10 October 2003
Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	Valletta	4–2	19 December 2003
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Pietà Hotspurs	3–0	7 February 2004
Jonathan Holland	Floriana	Msida Saint-Joseph	4–2	8 February 2004
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Pietà Hotspurs	5–1	12 April 2004
Ian Zammit	Valletta	Balzan	5–0	18 April 2004
Daniel Bogdanović	Marsaxlokk	Floriana	5–1	29 April 2004

Awards

Monthly awards

Month[5]	Player of the Month
	Player	Club
August/September	Etienne Barbara	Floriana
October	Gilbert Agius	Valletta
November	Daniel Dengaky	Ħamrun Spartans
December	Gilbert Agius	Valletta
January	Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers
February	Haruna Doda	Birkirkara
March	Stefan Giglio	Sliema Wanderers
April	Daniel Bogdanović	Marsaxlokk
May	Stefan Giglio	Sliema Wanderers