2021–22 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League
Season	2021–22
Dates	13 August 2021 – 7 May 2022
Champions	Hibernians (13th title)
Relegated	Sliema Wanderers
Champions League	Hibernians
Europa Conference League	Floriana; Ħamrun Spartans; Gżira United
Matches played	126
Goals scored	350 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Maxuell; (17 goals)
Biggest home win	Floriana 3–0 Valletta; (11 September 2021) Ħamrun Spartans 3–0 St. Lucia; (28 November 2021) Gżira United 4–1 Ħamrun Spartans; (5 February 2022)
Biggest away win	Sirens 1–6 Balzan; (21 November 2021)
Highest scoring	Valletta 5–3 St. Lucia; (30 October 2021)
Longest winning run	5 matches; Floriana
Longest unbeaten run	18 matches; Hibernians
Longest winless run	14 matches; Sliema Wanderers
Longest losing run	7 matches; Sliema Wanderers
	← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 9 May 2022.

The 2021–22 Maltese Premier League was the 107th season of the Maltese Premier League, the top-flight league football in Malta. Ħamrun Spartans were the defending champions, having won their eighth title in the previous season.

On 9 April, the previous season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta.^[1] Following the decision of the Maltese Football Association Executive Committee, the teams that had finished in the relegation places in the previous Premier League season would be relegated to the Challenge League due to having played the prerequisite 75% of matches for the seasons result to stand. However, as the Challenge League teams did not complete 75% of matches, they would not be promoted to the Premier League to replace the exiting teams, meaning that the 2021–22 season will have only 12 teams competing.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The Premier League consists of two rounds. In the first round, every team plays each opponent twice, once "home" and once "away" (in actuality, the designation of home and away is purely arbitrary as most of the clubs do not have their own grounds), for a total of 22 games. The league then splits into two groups. Teams that finish in positions 1–6 compete in the "Top Six" and teams that finish in positions 7–12 play in the "Play-Out".

Teams

Location of teams in 2021–22 Maltese Premier League

Twelve teams will compete in the league.

Team	In league since	City
Balzan	2011	Balzan
Birkirkara	1990	Birkirkara
Floriana	1986	Floriana
Gudja United	2019	Gudja
Gżira United	2016	Gżira
Ħamrun Spartans	2016	Ħamrun
Hibernians	1945	Paola
Mosta	2011	Mosta
St. Lucia	2019	Santa Luċija
Sirens	2019	St. Paul's Bay
Sliema Wanderers	1984	Sliema
Valletta	1944	Valletta

Venues

Ta' Qali	Ta' Qali	Paola
Ta' Qali National Stadium	Centenary Stadium	Tony Bezzina Stadium
Capacity: 16,997	Capacity: 3,000	Capacity: 2,968

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Balzan	Alejandro Pantoja (Caretaker)	Joma	Investors Mutual Limited
Birkirkara	Jonathan Holland (Caretaker)	Nike	McDonald's (Front), Inter Sport (Back Top), Visit Malta (Back Bottom)
Floriana	Gianluca Atzori	Joma	Harmont & Blaine, Boggi
Gudja United	Thane Micallef	Macron	All Nuts, Handy Man, Green Finance
Gżira United	Darren Abdilla	Puma
Ħamrun Spartans	Branko Nišević	Puma	J. Portelli Projects
Hibernians	Stefano Sanderra	Joma	Bezzina
Mosta	Joseph Grech	Macron	Dimbros, Nilmar
Sirens	Winston Muscat	Macron	Café del Mar Malta (Front), Welbee's (Front), Malta National Aquarium (Back), Ozo Group (Sleeves Both)
Sliema Wanderers	Noel Turner (Caretaker)	Jartazi	NM group, Sixt
Santa Lucia	Giovanni Tedesco	Capelli Sport	Multivend, avanza
Valletta	Danilo Dončić	Puma	Iniala

Additionally, referee kits are made by Macron, sponsored by TeamSports and FXDD.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Sirens	Giovanni Tedesco	Resign	27 May 2021	Pre-season	Winston Muscat	27 May 2021
Floriana	John Buttigieg	End of Contract	14 June 2021	Pre-season	Gianluca Atzori	17 June 2021
Balzan	Mark Miller	Mutual consent	19 October 2021	9th	Paul Zammit	23 October 2021
Santa Lucia	Oliver Spiteri	Sacked	20 January 2022	11th	Giovanni Tedesco	12 January 2022
Valletta	Cardoso Mendes		3 February 2022	7th	Danilo Dončić	3 February 2022
Ħamrun Spartans	Mark Buttigieg		14 February 2022	5th	Branko Nišević	15 February 2022
Sliema Wanderers	Andrea Pisanu		16 February 2022	12th	Noel Turner (Caretaker)	16 February 2022
Balzan	Paul Zammit		15 April 2022	11th	Alejandro Pantoja (Caretaker)	23 April 2022
Birkirkara	André Paus		20 April 2022	3rd	Jonathan Holland (Caretaker)	20 April 2022

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hibernians	22	13	8	1	39	18	+21	47	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Floriana	22	13	6	3	36	19	+17	45
3	Birkirkara	22	9	9	4	30	22	+8	36
4	Ħamrun Spartans	22	10	5	7	28	22	+6	35
5	Gżira United	22	9	6	7	39	33	+6	33
6	Gudja United	22	9	2	11	26	25	+1	29
7	Sirens	22	7	6	9	28	38	−10	27	Qualification for the Play-Out
8	Valletta	22	7	5	10	28	34	−6	26
9	Mosta	22	6	7	9	32	41	−9	25
10	Balzan	22	7	2	13	30	33	−3	23
11	Santa Lucia	22	4	10	8	28	38	−10	22
12	Sliema Wanderers	22	2	6	14	12	33	−21	12

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	GUD	GŻI	ĦAM	HIB	MOS	SIR	SLI	SLC	VAL
Balzan	—	1–2	1–2	1–0	1–3	2–2	1–2	2–3	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–1
Birkirkara	3–2	—	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–3	1–1
Floriana	2–1	1–0	—	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–4	2–0	1–2	2–0	2–2	3–0
Gudja United	1–0	0–1	0–1	—	1–2	1–3	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–0
Gżira United	1–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	—	4–1	1–3	3–4	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–1
Ħamrun Spartans	0–1	0–0	2–2	0–1	0–1	—	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–1	3–0	1–2
Hibernians	1–0	2–3	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	—	3–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1
Mosta	2–1	0–3	1–1	0–3	2–2	1–2	1–1	—	2–3	1–0	1–0	2–2
Sirens	1–6	3–2	0–3	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–3	1–1	—	2–2	2–1	2–1
Sliema Wanderers	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–3	1–3	0–2	0–3	2–3	1–0	—	1–1	0–3^[a]
Santa Lucia	3–3	2–0	1–3	0–3	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–3	0–0	—	2–1
Valletta	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–3	0–2	0–1	1–4	3–1	3–1	1–0	5–3	—

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

^ Valletta were awarded a 3–0 win after the Malta Football Association's Protests Board upheld their protest. Originally, the match ended in a 2–1 to Sliema Wanderers.^[5]

Second phase

Top Six

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	HIB	FLO	ĦAM	GŻI	BIR	GUD
1	Hibernians (C)	27	15	9	3	46	23	+23	54	Qualification for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League	—	0–0	—	—	3–1	—
2	Floriana	27	14	9	4	38	21	+17	51	Qualification for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League	—	—	0–0	0–1	—	—
3	Ħamrun Spartans	27	13	6	8	33	24	+9	45		2–1	—	—	2–0	—	—
4	Gżira United	27	12	7	8	46	38	+8	43		2–1	—	—	—	1–1	3–1
5	Birkirkara	27	10	11	6	35	27	+8	41		—	0–0	0–1	—	—	3–0
6	Gudja United	27	10	2	15	29	35	−6	32		0–2	1–2	1–0	—	—	—

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).
(C) Champions

Play-Out

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation	VAL	SIR	MOS	BAL	SLC	SLI
7	Valletta	27	10	6	11	39	40	−1	36		—	—	2–3	—	2–1	3–1
8	Sirens	27	9	7	11	40	48	−8	34		0–3	—	—	2–3	—	—
9	Mosta	27	8	8	11	41	50	−9	32		—	2–3	—	3–2	1–1	—
10	Balzan	27	9	3	15	37	42	−5	30		1–1	—	—	—	0–3	—
11	Santa Lucia^[a]	27	5	12	10	36	45	−9	27	~~Relegation to the 2022–23 Maltese Challenge League~~	—	2–2	—	—	—	1–2
12	Sliema Wanderers (R)	27	4	6	17	16	43	−27	18	Relegation to the 2022–23 Maltese Challenge League	—	0–5	1–0	0–1	—	—

Updated to match(es) played on 7 May 2022. 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).
(R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Santa Lucia were originally relegated to 2022–23 Maltese Challenge League. On 16 June 2022 the Malta Football Association decide that they will play in the Premier League instead of Pembroke Athleta (originally Promoted) due to Financing Problems.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 6 May 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[6]
1	Maxuell	Gżira United	17
2	Jurgen Degabriele	Hibernians	14
3	Mario Fontanella	Valletta	12
4	Luke Montebello	Birkirkara	11
	Sunday Akinbule	Mosta
	Jefferson Assis	Gżira United
7	Jake Grech	Hibernians	9
	Kemar Reid	Floriana
	Vitor da Silva Vieira	Sirens
10	Vito Plut	Santa Lucia	8
10	Bogdan Gavrila	Sirens	8

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Mario Fontanella	Valletta	Sirens	3–1 (H)	17 October 2021
Jefferson Assis	Gżira United	Ħamrun Spartans	4–1 (H)	5 February 2022

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Georgi Kitanov	Floriana	11
2	Henry Bonello	Ħamrun Spartans	10
3	Glenn Zammit	Gudja United	9
4	Ibrahim Koné	Hibernians	7
5	Daniel Fernandes	Birkirkara	5
5	Amara Sylla	Birkirkara	5
7	Alessandro Guarnone	Valletta	4
8	Justin Haber	Santa Lucia	3
9	Vukasin Vranes	Balzan	2
	Anthony Curmi	Gżira United
	Matthew Calleja Cremona	Hibernians
	Timothy Aquilina	Sliema Wanderers
	Rashed Al-Tumi	Sliema Wanderers
	Julani Archibald	Santa Lucia
	Ini Etim Akpan	Mosta
	Johnathan Debono	Sirens

Discipline

Player

Most yellow cards: 11
- Leandro Almeida (Hibernians)

Most red cards: 2
- Enrico Pepe (Birkirkara)
- Luke Tabone (Gżira United)
- Claude Dielna (Ħamrun Spartans)
- Victor Luiz (Santa Lucia)
- Danny Holla (Sliema Wanderers)

Club

Most yellow cards: 94
- Sliema Wanderers
Most red cards: 6
- Valletta

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August and September	Stefano Sanderra	Hibernians	Jake Grech	Hibernians
October	Winston Muscat	Sirens	Luke Montebello	Birkirkara
November	Stefano Sanderra	Hibernians	Jake Grech	Hibernians
December	Paul Zammit	Balzan	Jurgen Degabriele	Hibernians
January	Thane Micallef	Gudja United	Kurt Shaw	Sliema Wanderers
February	Gianluca Atzori	Floriana	Jan Busuttil	Floriana
March	Stefano Sanderra	Hibernians	Jurgen Degabriele	Hibernians
April and May	Stefano Sanderra	Hibernians	Jan Busuttil	Floriana

References

^ "Sports ban forces termination of domestic competitions". MFA. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
^ "MFA EXCO step up fight against money laundering and bad practices in Maltese football". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
^ "MFA Exco approve proposals to increase of number of overseas players in matchday squads". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
^ "New format proposed by MFA EXCO for expanded Challenge League". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
^ "Valletta protest upheld". Malta Football Association. 26 November 2021. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
^ "Top Scorers". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 6 May 2022.

External links

Official website

[table_note_1_SLI_VAL0.40059959394885-6] Valletta were awarded a 3–0 win after the Malta Football Association's Protests Board upheld their protest. Originally, the match ended in a 2–1 to Sliema Wanderers.^[5]

[table_note_SLC0.75610199466166-7] Santa Lucia were originally relegated to 2022–23 Maltese Challenge League. On 16 June 2022 the Malta Football Association decide that they will play in the Premier League instead of Pembroke Athleta (originally Promoted) due to Financing Problems.

[1] "Sports ban forces termination of domestic competitions". MFA. Retrieved 9 April 2021.

[2] "MFA EXCO step up fight against money laundering and bad practices in Maltese football". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.

[3] "MFA Exco approve proposals to increase of number of overseas players in matchday squads". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.

[4] "New format proposed by MFA EXCO for expanded Challenge League". Times of Malta. Retrieved 14 May 2021.

[5] "Valletta protest upheld". Malta Football Association. 26 November 2021. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2021.

[8] "Top Scorers". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 6 May 2022.

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