2009–10 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League

Season	2009–10
Champions	Birkirkara (3rd title)
Relegated	Msida Saint-Joseph Dingli Swallows
Champions League	Birkirkara
Europa League	Valletta (via domestic cup) Sliema Wanderers
Matches played	132
Goals scored	433 (3.28 per match)
Top goalscorer	Camilo (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Valletta 6–0 Floriana
Biggest away win	Dingli Swallows 0–6 Ħamrun Spartans
Highest scoring	Qormi 6–2 Floriana Tarxien Rainbows 2–6 Valletta Msida Saint-Joseph 3–5 Ħamrun Spartans
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The Maltese Premier League 2009–10 was the 95th season of the Maltese Premier League, the top-tier football league in Malta. Hibernians were the defending champions. The season began on 21 August 2009 and ended on 5 May 2010. It was won by Birkirkara, who became the league winners for the third time in their history.

Promotion and relegation from 2008–09

Ħamrun Spartans were relegated to the First Division after finishing in last place of the relegation pool. They were joined by Msida Saint-Joseph, who lost a decision match against Tarxien Rainbows on penalties.

Promoted from the First Division were Dingli Swallows as champions and Vittoriosa Stars as runners-up. However, after playing one match in the Premier League, Vittoriosa Stars were relegated to the First Division due to a decision by the Board to Investigate Corrupt Practices. A month later, Marsaxlokk received the same punishment, immediate relegation to the First Division due to their involvement in a bribery scandal. Rather than continue the season with eight clubs, the Maltese FA declared that both the Premier League and First Division would be composed of 10 clubs each. In a meeting on 17 September 2009, it was decided that Msida Saint-Joseph and Ħamrun Spartans would play in the Premier League this season, despite both being relegated last season.

Training Grounds and Locations

Birkirkara

Dingli Swallows

Floriana

Ħamrun S.

Hibernians

Msida Saint-Joseph

Qormi

Sliema W.

Tarxien Rainbows

Valletta

Location of teams in 2009–10 Maltese Premier Division

Team	City of Origin	Ground	City of Ground
Birkirkara	Birkirkara	Infetti Ground	Birkirkara
Dingli Swallows	Dingli	Dingli Ground	Dingli
Floriana	Floriana	Independence Arena	Floriana
Hibernians	Paola	Hibernians Ground	Paola
Ħamrun Spartans	Ħamrun	Victor Tedesco Stadium	Ħamrun
Msida Saint-Joseph	Msida	Ħamrun Junior Lyceum	Ħamrun
Qormi	Qormi	Thomaso Grounds	Qormi
Sliema Wanderers	Sliema	Tigné Point	Sliema
Tarxien Rainbows	Tarxien	Tarxien Ground	Tarxien
Valletta	Valletta	Salinos Ground	Valletta

Competition modus

The Premier League consists of two rounds. In the First Round, every team will play each opponent twice, once home and once away, for a total of 18 games. The league will then be split in two pools. Earned points will be halved (rounded up if necessary). Teams that will finish in positions 1–6 compete in the "Championship Pool" and teams finishing in positions 7–10 play in the "Relegation Pool".

First round

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valletta	18	12	4	2	45	15	+30	40	Qualification to the Championship pool
2	Birkirkara	18	12	3	3	40	18	+22	39
3	Qormi	18	11	2	5	37	22	+15	35
4	Sliema Wanderers	18	9	2	7	29	21	+8	29
5	Hibernians	18	7	6	5	31	28	+3	27
6	Tarxien Rainbows	18	7	5	6	30	29	+1	26
7	Floriana	18	6	5	7	23	35	−12	23	Qualification to the Relegation pool
8	Ħamrun Spartans	18	6	3	9	24	31	−7	21
9	Msida Saint-Joseph	18	3	2	13	12	34	−22	11
10	Dingli Swallows	18	1	0	17	13	51	−38	3

Source: kicker.de (German)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: Teams ranked 1 through 6 will qualify for the championship pool, teams ranked 7 through 10 play in the relegation pool. Earned points will be halved and taken over to the respective pools.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	BIR	DIN	FLO	HIB	ĦAM	MSJ	QOR	SLI	TAR	VAL
Birkirkara		2–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	4–1	2–0	0–1	5–1	1–3
Dingli Swallows	1–3		0–2	1–2	1–3	1–2	1–4	0–2	1–4	0–6
Floriana	1–2	1–2		1–1	1–1	4–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–4
Hibernians	2–2	2–1	2–3		4–2	3–0	2–2	0–1	0–1	2–4
Ħamrun Spartans	0–2	3–0	0–1	2–2		1–0	1–2	3–0	2–2	2–3
Msida Saint-Joseph	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–2		0–3	1–0	1–1	0–1
Qormi	2–5	4–0	6–2	3–1	2–0	3–0		1–0	0–2	0–2
Sliema Wanderers	0–3	3–1	3–0	2–2	5–0	2–0	1–2		4–2	0–1
Tarxien Rainbows	0–2	2–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	1–2	3–1		2–2
Valletta	1–1	4–1	6–0	0–1	4–0	0–0	1–0	1–3	2–2

Source: kicker.de (German)
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second round

Championship Pool

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Birkirkara (C)	28	20	4	4	64	32	+32	45	2010–11 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round
2	Valletta	28	20	4	4	71	25	+46	44	2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round 1
3	Qormi	28	15	2	11	53	36	+17	30
4	Sliema Wanderers	28	14	2	12	41	37	+4	30	2010–11 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
5	Tarxien Rainbows	28	10	6	12	41	50	−9	23
6	Hibernians	28	8	6	14	40	51	−11	17

Source: maltafootball.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Points earned in the first round have been halved.
¹Valletta were the winners of the 2009-10 Maltese Cup competition and qualified for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	BIR	HIB	QOR	SLI	TAR	VAL
Birkirkara		2–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–0
Hibernians	4–5		1–0	1–2	0–1	1–32
Qormi	0–2	3–0		3–0	2–0	1–2
Sliema Wanderers	0–3	3–0	0–4		2–0	2–1
Tarxien Rainbows	3–3	2–0	3–2	0–2		2–6
Valletta	4–2	2–1	3–0	2–0	3–0

Source: Maltese FA
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²Valletta were assigned as home team for both Championship Round matches against Hibernians for unknown reasons; this match was the latter of these two and has been put in this table cell for organisatorical reasons.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Europa league play-off

Due to finishing equal on points, Qormi and Sliema played a play-off match to determine Maltese second UEFA Europa League participant for the 2010–11 season.

1 June 2010 19:30 CEST	Qormi	0 – 2	Sliema Wanderers	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali
			Dronca  51' (pen)  90+5' (o.g.)

Relegation Pool

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Floriana	24	10	6	8	35	41	−6	25
8	Ħamrun Spartans	24	10	4	10	41	39	+2	24
9	Dingli Swallows (R)	24	2	0	22	23	71	−48	5	Relegation to the Maltese First Division
10	Msida Saint-Joseph (R)	24	4	4	16	24	51	−27	011

Source: maltafootball.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Points earned in the first round have been halved.
¹Msida Saint-Joseph were deducted 10 points for failing to honour payments to their former coach and a number of former players.^[1]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away1	DIN	FLO	ĦAM	MSJ
Dingli Swallows		0–3	0–6	5–2
Floriana	4–2		1–0	2–1
Ħamrun Spartans	2–1	2–1		2–2
Msida Saint-Joseph	3–2	1–1	3–5

Source: maltafootball.com
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[2]
1	Camilo	Qormi	24
2	Terence Scerri	Valletta	20
3	Ryan Darmanin	Floriana	17
4	Sylvano Comvalius	Birkirkara	15
	Denni	Tarxien Rainbows	15
	Marcelo Pereira	Ħamrun Spartans	15
7	Michael Galea	Birkirkara	14
8	Josef Okonkwo	Dingli Swallows	13
	Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza	Sliema Wanderers	13
10	Trevor Cilia	Birkirkara	12
	Alfred Effiong	Qormi	12
Goals total			433
Matches total			132
Average per match			3.28

References

1. ^ Floriana, Msida share spoils in draw - Spartans beat Swallows
2. ^ "Scorers". MaltaFootball.com. http://www.maltafootball.com/tables/premier/scorers.htm. 

External links

• Premier League official page
• UEFA website