2008–09 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League
Season	2008–09
Dates	23 August 2008 – 24 May 2009
Champions	Hibernians; (10th title)
Relegated	Marsaxlokk
Champions League	Hibernians
Europa League	Valletta; Birkirkara
Matches played	132
Goals scored	387 (2.93 per match)
Top goalscorer	Terence Scerri (26)
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The Maltese Premier League 2008–09 was the 94th season of the Maltese Premier League, the top-tier association football competition in Malta. It began on 23 August 2008 with a scoreless draw between Floriana and Hamrun Spartans; and ended on 24 May 2009. The first goal in the season was scored by Ivan, who played for Qormi. Hibernians were crowned champions on 23 May 2009, surpassing rivals Valletta by two points and winning their tenth title.

Teams

Locations of the 2008–09 Maltese Premier League teams

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

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

Competition modus

In the First phase, every team played each opponent twice, once home and once away, for a total of 18 games. The league was then split in two pools. Earned points were halved. Teams that finished in positions 1–6 compete in the "Top Six" and teams finishing in positions 7–10 play in the "Play-Out".

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hibernians	18	13	2	3	49	19	+30	41	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Valletta	18	11	7	0	31	11	+20	40
3	Birkirkara	18	9	5	4	31	28	+3	32
4	Sliema Wanderers	18	7	5	6	24	24	0	26
5	Floriana	18	6	4	8	18	21	−3	22
6	Marsaxlokk	18	6	4	8	28	33	−5	22
7	Msida Saint-Joseph	18	6	3	9	20	28	−8	21	Qualification for the Play-Out
8	Hamrun Spartans	18	5	2	11	24	37	−13	17
9	Qormi	18	3	6	9	16	26	−10	15
10	Tarxien Rainbows	18	4	2	12	22	36	−14	14

Source: kicker.de (in German)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).
Note: Teams ranked 1 through 6 qualified for the championship pool, teams ranked 7 through 10 play in the relegation pool. Earned points were halved and taken over to the respective pools.

Results

Home \ Away	BIR	FLO	HIB	HAM	MRS	MSJ	QOR	SLI	TAR	VAL
Birkirkara	—	0–1	0–6	3–2	2–3	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–0	2–2
Floriana	1–2	—	2–1	0–0	3–1	0–1	0–2^[a]	0–0	3–1	0–1
Hibernians	3–2	1–1	—	1–0	4–1	5–1	3–0	2–3	2–0	1–1
Hamrun Spartans	0–1	0–1	1–4	—	4–3	1–0	3–2	0–2	0–4	1–3
Marsaxlokk	1–1	2–1	2–3	4–2	—	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–1
Msida Saint-Joseph	2–2	4–1	0–2	3–2	1–1	—	1–1	0–3	1–0	0–2
Qormi	0–1	0–0	1–3	1–4	1–3	0–1	—	1–2	1–0	0–2
Sliema Wanderers	2–3	0–3	0–1	0–3	0–0	2–1	1–1	—	4–2	1–1
Tarxien Rainbows	1–3	3–0	2–7	1–1	3–1	0–2	0–3	1–0	—	1–3
Valletta	1–1	2–1	2–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–2	—

Source: kicker.de (in German)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

^ The match from 25 January 2009 was awarded to Qormi with a score of 2–0 because Floriana fielded an ineligible player.^[1]

Second phase

Top Six

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation	HIB	VAL	BIR	SLI	MRS	FLO
1	Hibernians (C)	28	19	5	4	73	25	+48	42	Qualification for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League	—	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–2	4–1
2	Valletta	28	17	9	2	50	18	+32	40	Qualification for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League	2–1	—	4–1	5–0	1–2	0–0
3	Birkirkara	28	12	7	9	43	45	−2	27		0–4	3–1	—	0–0	1–2	3–1
4	Sliema Wanderers^[a]	28	10	8	10	33	41	−8	25		0–5	0–3	1–0	—	1–3	3–0
5	Marsaxlokk (R)	28	10	6	12	46	52	−6	25	Relegation to the 2009–10 Maltese First Division^[b]	1–4	0–1	2–2	0–3	—	5–2
6	Floriana	28	7	6	15	25	44	−19	16		0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–1	—

Source: maltafootball.com: 1, 2
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).
Points earned in the first round have been halved.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Sliema Wanderers won the 2008–09 Maltese FA Trophy and thereby qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.
^ Marsaxlokk were relegated to the 2009–10 Maltese First Division for the season due to their involvement in a bribery scandal.

Play-Out

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	QOR	TAR	MSJ	HAM
7	Qormi	24	7	6	11	30	31	−1	20	—	1–2	2–1	1–2
8	Tarxien Rainbows	24	6	5	13	32	44	−12	16^[a]	0–3	—	0–0	5–1
9	Msida Saint-Joseph^[b]	24	7	5	12	25	40	−15	16^[a]	0–5	2–2	—	2–0
10	Hamrun Spartans^[b]	24	7	3	14	31	48	−17	16	0–2	1–1	3–0	—

Source: maltafootball.com: 1, 2
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions, teams for relegation or teams for UEFA competitions).
Points earned in the first round have been halved.
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Deciding game
^ ^a ^b While Msida Saint-Joseph and Hamrun Spartans were relegated, they were returned to the Premier League in the wake of corruption scandals involving Vittoriosa Stars and Marsaxlokk.

Deciding game

Because Tarxien Rainbows, Msida Saint-Joseph and Hamrun Spartans were tied on points after all matches played, their head-to head results in Play-Out were decisive. Hamrun Spartans had the fewest points in those matches and were therefore immediately relegated. However, Tarxien Rainbows and Msida Saint-Joseph were equal on points in their two matches and they played a decision game to determine the second relegated team. The match was played on 8 May 2009 at Hibernians Ground. However, in the wake of a corruption scandal, both Hamrun Spartans and Msida Saint-Joseph were returned to the Premier League.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Msida Saint-Joseph	1–1 (aet, p. 4–5)	Tarxien Rainbows

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[2]
1	Terence Scerri	Hibernians	26
2	Daniel Mariano Bueno	Tarxien Rainbows	23
3	Julio Alcorsé	Marsaxlokk	17
4	Njongo Priso	Valletta	15
5	Pedro dos Santos Calçado	Msida Saint-Joseph	13
6	Alfred Effiong	Qormi	12
7	Marcelo Pereira	Marsaxlokk	11
8	Andrew Cohen	Hibernians	9
	Sylvano Comvalius	Hamrun Spartans
	Ivan Woods	Sliema Wanderers
Goals total			387
Matches total			132
Average per match			2.93