2024–25 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League
Season	2024–25
Dates	16 August 2024 – April or May 2025
Matches played	24
Goals scored	59 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorer	Maxuell Samurai Maia (5 Goals)
Biggest home win	Sliema Wanderers 2–0 Mosta; (16 August 2024); Ħamrun Spartans 3–1 Żabbar St. Patrick; (18 August 2024); Hibernians 2–0 Gżira United; (25 August 2024); Sliema Wanderers 2–0 Balzan; (25 August 2024); Balzan 2–0 Naxxar Lions; (29 August 2024); Gżira United 2–0 Mosta; (29 August 2024)
Biggest away win	Żabbar St. Patrick 0–3 Floriana; (28 August 2024)
Highest scoring	Melita 2–3 Gżira United; (14 September 2024)
Longest winning run	Birkirkara; (3 Games)
Longest unbeaten run	Birkirkara; Floriana; Sliema Wanderers; (4 Games Each)
Longest winless run	Marsaxlokk; (4 Games)
Longest losing run	Marsaxlokk; (4 Games)
	← 2023–24 2025–26 → All statistics correct as of 16 September 2024.

The 2024–25 Maltese Premier League is the 110th season of top-flight league football in Malta. The season began on 16 August 2024 and will end in April or May 2025.

Teams

The league consisted of twelve teams; the top ten teams from the previous season, and two teams promoted from the 2023–24 Maltese Challenge League. Ħamrun Spartans entered the season as defending champions two consecutive seasons. Melita was promoted and returned to the Maltese Premier League after eleven years of absence. And Żabbar St. Patrick was promoted and returned to the Maltese Premier League after twenty years of absence. They replaced Gudja United, Santa Lucia and Sirens who were all relegated after five years in the topflight, and Valletta after seventy-nine years in the topflight.

Location of teams in 2023–24 Maltese Premier League

Team	In league since	City
Balzan	2011	Balzan
Birkirkara	1990	Birkirkara
Floriana	1986	Floriana
Gżira United	2016	Gżira
Ħamrun Spartans	2016	Ħamrun
Hibernians	1945	Paola
Marsaxlokk	2022	Marsaxlokk
Melita	2024	San Ġiljan
Mosta	2011	Mosta
Naxxar Lions	2023	Naxxar
Sliema Wanderers	2023	Sliema
Żabbar St. Patrick	2024	Zabbar

Venues

The matches will be played mainly at the Ta' Qali National Stadium and the Tony Bezzina Stadium. However, the Centenary Stadium and the Victor Tedesco Stadium will be used as well. One match-day from the Closing Round between March 28 and March 31 will be played at the Gozo Stadium thanks to the support of the Ministry for Gozo.

Ta' Qali	Ta' Qali	Paola	Hamrun	Xewkija
Ta' Qali National Stadium	Centenary Stadium	Tony Bezzina Stadium	Victor Tedesco Stadium	Gozo Stadium
Capacity: 16,997	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 2,968	Capacity: 1,962	Capacity: 1,644

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shirt sponsor (sleeve)
Balzan	Dave Rogers	Joma	MBI Group	Visit Malta (Bottom)
Birkirkara	Stefano De Angelis	Nike	McDonald's	Inter Sport (Bottom)
Floriana	Darren Abdilla	Joma	Harmont & Blaine, Greens Supermarket		Go & Fun (Right)
Gżira United	Andrew Cohen	Joma			Miracles Food (Left)
Ħamrun Spartans	Alessandro Zinnari	Puma	JP (Home Kit), Mercury (Away Kit)	Meridianbet, Besteam audio, Visit Malta (Bottom)	Ta' Fonzu (Right), Tescoma (Left)
Hibernians	Branko Nišević	Joma	Bezzina
Marsaxlokk	Winston Muscat	Joma	1padel		Mr. Fitz Restaurant Marsaxlokk (Left)
Melita	Clive Mizzi	Hummel	Atlas Insurance	Burger King (Top).Browns, Eurosport (Bottom)	I nouv (Right), VIBE (Left)
Mosta	Joseph Grech	Macron	Simply Clean	Highbet (Top), Teamsport (Bottom)
Naxxar Lions	George Vella	Joma	VC Service Station	Zarb Coaches, Haier Air Conditioner (Top), McQueen, Sammut Concrete Supplies (Bottom)	Fastdrop (Right),Hi Koki, Würth, Falcotra (Left)
Sliema Wanderers	Paul Zammit	Adidas	NMGroup, Inter Wetter	Visit Malta (Top), Thomas Smith, Zarb Coaches (Bottom)	Fonicom (Left), Domnic Sciberras Roof Repair (Right)
Żabbar St. Patrick	João Janeiro	Erreà	The Shoreline	DL Group (Top), Kristal (Bottom)

Additionally, referee kits are made by Macron

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Żabbar St. Patrick	Emilio Cornago San Pedro	Resigned	17 April 2024	Pre-season	João Janeiro	16 May 2024
Balzan	Oliver Spiteri		4 May 2024		Dave Rogers	3 June 2024
Ħamrun Spartans	Luciano Zauri		13 May 2024		Alessandro Zinnari	17 May 2024
Birkirkara	Jose Borg	End of Contract	13 May 2024		Stefano De Angelis	7 June 2024
Floriana	Mauro Camoranesi	Mutual Consent	15 May 2024		Darren Abdilla	21 May 2024

Format

The new league format, which will come into being from the 2024–25 season, the Maltese Premier League will be made up of 12 teams and be split into an Opening Round and Closing Round in a way that is similar to domestic footballing systems used in South America.^[1]^[2] The Opening Round will see each of the 12 teams play each other once before the league is then split between a Top 6 and a Bottom 6, allowing for the teams in each of those splits to play each other another time. Once the ranking is set, each team will go back down to 0 points and start from scratch in the Closing Round, where the same process will be repeated

Opening Round

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Birkirkara	4	3	1	0	8	3	+5	10	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Sliema Wanderers	4	3	1	0	5	0	+5	10
3	Gżira United	4	3	0	1	6	4	+2	9
4	Floriana	4	2	2	0	9	4	+5	8
5	Ħamrun Spartans	4	2	1	1	6	4	+2	7
6	Hibernians	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1	7
7	Balzan	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	4	Qualification for the Play-Out
8	Melita	4	1	1	2	8	9	−1	4
9	Naxxar Lions	4	1	0	3	3	7	−4	3
10	Żabbar St. Patrick	4	1	0	3	3	7	−4	3
11	Mosta	4	1	0	3	2	6	−4	3
12	Marsaxlokk	4	0	0	4	1	6	−5	0

Updated to match(es) played on 16 September 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Results

Home \ Away	BAL	BIR	FLO	GŻI	ĦAM	HIB	MAR	MEL	MOS	NXR	SLI	ZAB
Balzan	—	3–3	—	3 Oct	21 Sep	1 Nov	—	—	—	2–0	—	0–2
Birkirkara	—	—	7 Nov	—	19 Oct	—	—	—	—	3 Nov	3 Oct	1–0
Floriana	26 Oct	—	—	27 Sep	—	22 Sep	—	3–3	—	—	1 Nov	—
Gżira United	—	26 Oct	—	—	7 Nov	—	—	—	2–0	—	21 Sep	2 Nov
Ħamrun Spartans	—	—	1–1	—	—	2 Oct	2 Nov	2–1	—	—	—	3–1
Hibernians	—	0–2	—	2–0	—	—	—	25 Oct	—	—	0–0	—
Marsaxlokk	28 Sep	0–2	21 Oct	0–1	—	6 Nov	—	1–2	23 Sep	—	0–1	—
Melita	20 Oct	23 Sep	—	2–3	—	—	—	—	3 Nov	—	—	—
Mosta	7 Nov	29 Sep	3 Oct	—	1–0	19 Oct	—	—	—	—	—	27 Oct
Naxxar Lions	—	—	0–2	20 Oct	27 Sep	1–2	27 Oct	3 Oct	2–1	—	6 Nov	—
Sliema Wanderers	2–0	—	—	—	25 Oct	—	—	29 Sep	2–0	—	—	20 Oct
Żabbar St. Patrick	—	—	0–3	—	—	28 Sep	2 Oct	6 Nov	—	22 Sep	—	—

Updated to match(es) played on 16 September 2024. Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Closing Round

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Qualification
1	Balzan	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Birkirkara
3	Floriana
4	Gżira United
5	Ħamrun Spartans
6	Hibernians
7	Marsaxlokk	Qualification for the Play-Out
8	Melita
9	Mosta
10	Naxxar Lions
11	Sliema Wanderers
12	Żabbar St. Patrick

Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).

Results

Home \ Away	BAL	BIR	FLO	GŻI	ĦAM	HIB	MAR	MEL	MOS	NXR	SLI	ZAB
Balzan	—
Birkirkara		—
Floriana			—
Gżira United				—
Ħamrun Spartans					—
Hibernians						—
Marsaxlokk							—
Melita								—
Mosta									—
Naxxar Lions										—
Sliema Wanderers											—
Żabbar St. Patrick												—

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

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 15 September 2024^[3]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Maxuell Samurai Maia	Birkirkara	5
2	Franklin Sasere	Floriana	3
	Luke Montebello	Ħamrun Spartans
	Andre Carlos Penha Da Costa	Melita
5	Udoyen Akpan	Balzan	2
	Kyrian Nwoko	Floriana
	Alex (Lecao) Da Paixao Alves	Gżira United
	Thaylor Aldama	Gżira United
	Joseph Mbong	Ħamrun Spartans
	Aldair Simanca Pena	Melita
11	33 players		1

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Stadium	Date
Maxuell Samurai Maia	Birkirkara	Balzan	3–3 (A)	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali	16 August 2024

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Emeka Kelvin Agu	Sliema Wanderers	4
2	Giacomo Volpe	Birkirkara	3
3	Christoffer Mafoumbi	Floriana	2
	Darijan Zarkov	Gżira United
	Hugo Sacco	Hibernians
6	Danilo Golovic	Balzan	1
	Akpan David Udoh	Mosta
	Matthew Grech	Zabbar St.Patrick

Discipline

Player

Most yellow cards: 3
- Nikola Zerjal (Balzan)
- Pedro Vitor Gualberto De Assis Barreto (Naxxar Lions)
- Geoffrey Edwin Acheampong (Sliema Wanderers)
Most red cards: 1
- Jan Busuttil (Balzan)
- Nikola Zerjal (Balzan)
- Mattia Veselji (Floriana)
- Ryan Camenzuli (Ħamrun)
- Akpan David Udoh (Mosta)
- Geoffrey Edwin Acheampong (Sliema Wanderers)

Club

Most yellow cards: 14
- Balzan
Most red cards: 2
- Balzan
- Żabbar St. Patrick

References

^ Galea, Albert (24 April 2024). "New Premier League explained: 'New format will not be damnation or salvation of Maltese football". Malta Independent.
^ Camilleri, Valhmor (2023-04-13). "Number of Premier League teams down to 12 from 2024-25". SportsDesk. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
^ "Tables & Statistics". maltafootball.com. 20 September 2020.

[1] Galea, Albert (24 April 2024). "New Premier League explained: 'New format will not be damnation or salvation of Maltese football". Malta Independent.

[2] Camilleri, Valhmor (2023-04-13). "Number of Premier League teams down to 12 from 2024-25". SportsDesk. Retrieved 2024-05-22.

[3] "Tables & Statistics". maltafootball.com. 20 September 2020.

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