2023–24 Maltese Premier League

The 2023–24 Maltese Premier League is the 109th season of top-flight league football in Malta. The season began on 15 September 2023 and will end in April 2024. Ħamrun Spartans are the defending champions, having won their eighth title in the previous season.^[1]

Maltese Premier League

Season	2023–24
Dates	15 September 2023 – 4 May 2024
Matches played	70
Goals scored	161 (2.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Luke Montebello (8 Goals)
Biggest home win	Marsaxlokk 5-1 Naxxar Lions (15 September 2023) Naxxar Lions 4-0 Santa Lucia (1 October 2023)
Biggest away win	Gudja United 1-6 Gżira United (1 October 2023)
Highest scoring	Gudja United 1-6 Gżira United (1 October 2023)
Longest winning run	Floriana Ħamrun Spartans (4 Games Each)
Longest unbeaten run	Floriana (9 Games)
Longest winless run	Gudja United Sirens (10 Games)
Longest losing run	Santa Lucia (4 Games)
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 13 December 2023.

On 13 April 2023, The Malta Football Association announced that four clubs would be relegated to the Maltese Challenge League at the end of the season, as the number of clubs would be reduced to twelve starting from the 2024–25 season. As a result, no playoffs will be held at the end of the season, and this will be the last season played with fourteen teams.

Teams

 

 

Balzan

 

Birkirkara

 

Floriana

 

Gudja United

 

Gżira United

 

Ħamrun

 

Hibernians

 

Marsaxlokk

 

Mosta

 

Naxxar Lions

 

Santa Lucia

 

Sliema

 

Sirens

 

Valletta

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Location of teams in 2023–24 Maltese Premier League

Fourteen teams will compete in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season and two or three teams promoted from the Maltese Challenge League. The promoted teams are Sliema Wanderers after a one-year absence. And Naxxar Lions after five years of absence. They will replace Pietà Hotspurs and Żebbuġ Rangers both relegated after one year in the top flight.

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
Marsaxlokk	2022	Marsaxlokk
Mosta	2011	Mosta
Naxxar Lions	2023	Naxxar
St. Lucia	2019	Santa Luċija
Sliema Wanderers	2023	Sliema
Sirens	2019	St. Paul's Bay
Valletta	1944	Valletta

Stadiums

Ta' Qali   Tony Bezzina Stadium	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 (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shirt sponsor (sleeve)
Balzan	Oliver Spiteri	Joma	MBI Group	Visit Malta (Bottom)
Birkirkara	Brian Chetcuti (Caretaker)	Nike	McDonald's	Inter Sport (Top)	Visit Malta (Right)
Floriana	Mauro Camoranesi	Joma	Harmont & Blaine, Greens Supermarket		Go & Fun (Right)
Gudja United	Jesmond Zammit	Macron	Handy Man, SixSevenEight	Apex Group (Top)	Thomas Smith Insurance Broker (Left)
Gżira United	Darren Abdilla	Joma		Finanzi (Top), Recruit Giant (Bottom), Visit Malta (Bottom)
Ħamrun Spartans	Luciano Zauri	Puma	J. Portelli	Meridianbet (Bottom), Besteam audio (Bottom)	Ta' Fonzu (Right), Tescoma (Left)
Hibernians	Branko Nišević	Joma	Bezzina
Marsaxlokk	Winston Muscat	Joma	1padel		Mr. Fitz Restaurant Marsaxlokk (Left)
Mosta	Joseph Grech	Macron		Teamsport (Bottom)
Naxxar Lions	George Vella	Joma	Brown's, sottozero	Zarb Coaches (Top), Badass, McQueen, Sammut Concrete Supplies (Bottom)	Welbee's (Right), Würth, Centerparc (Left)
Santa Lucia	Alessandro Zinnari	Capelli Sport	Multivend, avanza	Elmo (Top), Konica Minolta (Bottom)	Yellow Army (Left), Levissima (Right)
Sliema Wanderers	Paul Zammit	Adidas	NMGroup, Comeon Group, Xace	Daikin, Zarb Coaches (Bottom)
Sirens	Stephen Damato	Macron	Café del Mar Malta, Welbee's	Arringo (Top), Malta National Aquarium (Bottom)
Valletta	Enzo Potenza	Nike	Iniala	Inter Sport (Top)	Toyotomi, Da Mattia (Left),

• 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
Ħamrun Spartans	Branko Nišević	Resign	22 April 2023	Pre-season	Luciano Zauri	29 April 2023
Sirens	Winston Muscat		28 April 2023		Stephen Damato	24 May 2023
Marsaxlokk	Pablo Doffo	End of Contract	6 May 2023		Winston Muscat	14 June 2023
Floriana	Gianluca Atzori		10 May 2023		Mauro Camoranesi	5 June 2023
Hibernians	Silvio Vella	Mutual consent	1 June 2023		Branko Nišević	17 July 2023
Santa Lucia	Enzo Potenza	Resign	21 June 2023		Alessandro Zinnari	12 July 2023
Gudja United	Ludvic Bartolo	End of Caretaker	29 July 2023		Jesmond Zammit	29 July 2023
Valletta	Thane Micallef	Sacked	2 October 2023	8th	Enzo Potenza	7 October 2023
Birkirkara	Giovanni Tedesco	Resign	26 November 2023	10th	Brian Chetcuti (Caretaker)	26 November 2023

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Floriana	10	8	2	0	22	2	+20	26	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Ħamrun Spartans	10	7	2	1	19	7	+12	23	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round^[a]
3	Marsaxlokk	10	6	1	3	21	10	+11	19
4	Sliema Wanderers	10	6	1	3	9	5	+4	19
5	Hibernians	10	5	1	4	12	9	+3	16
6	Naxxar Lions	10	4	4	2	14	14	0	16
7	Birkirkara	10	4	2	4	10	10	0	14
8	Balzan	10	4	1	5	10	12	−2	13
9	Gżira United	10	3	2	5	15	15	0	11
10	Valletta	10	2	4	4	8	10	−2	10
11	Mosta	10	2	4	4	8	15	−7	10	Relegation to the Maltese Challenge League
12	Gudja United	10	0	6	4	7	17	−10	6
13	Santa Lucia	10	1	3	6	4	17	−13	6
14	Sirens	10	0	3	7	4	20	−16	3

Updated to match(es) played on 13 December 2023. 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).
Notes:

1. The 2023–24 Maltese FA Trophy winners also qualify for the Conference League first qualifying round (or the fourth-placed team of the Maltese Premier League if the Maltese FA Trophy winners finish in the top three).

Results

Home \ Away	BAL	BIR	FLO	GUD	GŻI	ĦAM	HIB	MAR	MOS	NXR	SLC	SLI	SIR	VAL
Balzan	—	0–3	0–3	17 Mar	1–0	27 Jan	25 Feb	21 Jan		1–2	10 Feb	1–0	3–0	16 Dec
Birkirkara	2 Mar	—	3 Feb		16 Dec	3–0	17 Feb	0–2	0–2	14 Mar	21 Jan	1–0		1–1
Floriana	18 Feb	2–0	—	3 Mar	21 Jan		2–0	17 Dec		1–1	27 Jan	16 Mar	3–0	1–0
Gudja United	2–2	1–1	1–1	—	1–6	11 Feb	10 Mar	1–1	28 Jan		25 Feb		16 Dec	20 Jan
Gżira United	4 Feb			18 Feb	—		0–4	2–4	17 Mar	1–1	6 Jan	3 Mar	1–0	1–1
Ħamrun Spartans	1–0		6 Jan	3–0	2–1	—		16 Mar	1–1	4 Feb		1–1	18 Feb	2 Mar
Hibernians	0–2	0–1	10 Feb	1–0	28 Jan	20 Jan	—		17 Dec	2 Mar	3–2	0–1	16 Mar
Marsaxlokk		9 Mar		3 Feb		0–1	7 Jan	—	3 Mar	5–1	3–0	17 Feb	3–1	0–1
Mosta	7 Jan	24 Feb	0–3	0–0	0–3	10 Mar		3–2	—			0–3	3 Feb	17 Feb
Naxxar Lions	8 Mar	2–0	25 Feb	2–1	10 Feb	0–4	0–0	28 Jan	20 Jan	—	4–0	17 Dec
Santa Lucia	0–1		0–4	1–1		17 Dec	4 Feb		1–0	17 Feb	—	0–1	2 Mar	16 Mar
Sliema Wanderers	1–0	28 Jan	0–2	7 Jan	1–0	25 Feb		0–1	10 Feb		10 Mar	—		1–0
Sirens	7 Jan		9 Mar		25 Feb	0–4	1–2	11 Feb	1–1	1–1	0–0	20 Jan	—	28 Jan
Valletta	9 Feb		a		10 Mar	1–2	0–2	24 Feb	1–1	16 Jan	1–1	3 Feb	2–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 13 December 2023. Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 13 December 2023^[2]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Luke Montebello	Ħamrun Spartans	8
2	Kemar Reid	Floriana	7
	Yuri	Marsaxlokk
	Sunday Akinbule	Marsaxlokk
5	Andrei Ciolacu	Birkirkara	5
	Uroš Đuranović	Ħamrun Spartans
	Giannis Bastianos	Hibernians
	Federico Falcone	Valletta
9	Leonardo Da Silva de Souza	Balzan	4
	Thaylor Aldama	Gżira United
	Wiliam Moreira Da Silva Marcilio	Naxxar Lions

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Stadium	Date

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Georgi Kitanov	Floriana	8
2	Rashed Al Tumi	Sliema Wanderers	6
3	Marcel Zapytowski	Birkirkara	4
	Henry Bonello	Ħamrun Spartans
	Ibrahim Koné	Hibernians
6	Danilo Golovic	Balzan	3
	Marko Drobnjak	Marsaxlokk
	Matthias Debono	Naxxar Lions
	Francisco Celio Da Paz Silva Filho	Santa Lucia
10	Yaren Izzet Sozer	Gudja United	2
	Akpan David Udoh	Mosta
	Jake Galea	Valletta

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 8
  •   Gabriel Bohrer (Gżira United)
• Most red cards: 1
  • 26 Players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 31
  • Mosta
• Most red cards: 4
  • Gżira United
  • Mosta

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
September	Mauro Camoranesi	Floriana	Kemar Reid	Floriana
October	George Vella	Naxxar Lions	Luke Montebello	Hamrun Spartans

References

1. Camilleri, Valhmor (11 March 2023). "Watch: Late goal hands Ħamrun Spartans ninth Premier League title". Times of Malta. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
2. "Tables & Statistics". maltafootball.com. 20 September 2020.