2012–13 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League
Season	2012–13
Champions	Birkirkara (4th title)
Relegated	Hamrun Spartans Melita
Champions League	Birkirkara
Europa League	Hibernians Valletta Sliema Wanderers
Top goalscorer	Negrin (22 goals)
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

The 2012–13 Maltese Premier League was the 98th season of the Maltese Premier League, the top-tier football league in Malta. It began in August 2012 and ended in May 2013. Valletta were the defending champions, having won their 21st title last season.

The Premier League consisted of two rounds. In the First Round, every team played each opponent twice, once "home" and once "away" (in actuality, the designation of home and away were purely arbitrary as most of the clubs did not have their own grounds), for a total of 22 games. The league was then split into two pools. Earned points were subsequently halved. Teams that finished in the positions 1–6 compete in the "Championship Pool" and teams that finished in positions 7–12 play in the "Relegation Pool".

Teams

Marsaxlokk were relegated to the First Division after finishing in last place of the relegation pool last season. This ended a three-year stay in the Premier League for them.

Promoted to the top flight were Rabat Ajax, who returned to the Premier League after an eleven season absence, and Melita, who became the first amateur club to reach the Premier League as well as being the only amateur club in the world taking part in the top tier of a professional league.

Stadia and training grounds

Only a few stadia have the infrastructure needed to host Premier League matches. These are Ta' Qali National Stadium and Centenary Stadium at Ta' Qali, Victor Tedesco Stadium at Ħamrun and Hibernians Ground at Paola. Additional to that, each team has been assigned to a dedicated training ground. On a few occasions, Hibernians and Hamrun Spartans play at their home ground, but otherwise all games are played on neutral ground, rendering "home" and "away" games purely symbolic.

Location of teams in 2012–13 Maltese Premier Division

Team	Location of origin	Ground	Location of ground
Balzan Youths	Balzan
Birkirkara	Birkirkara	Infetti Ground	Birkirkara
Floriana	Floriana	Independence Parade Ground	Floriana
Hibernians	Paola	Hibernians Ground	Paola
Hamrun !Hamrun Spartans	Hamrun !Ħamrun	Victor Tedesco Stadium	Ħamrun
Mosta	Mosta	Charles Abela Stadium	Mosta
Melita	St. Julian's	Gianni Bencini Ground	St. Julian's
Qormi	Qormi	Thomaso Grounds	Qormi
Rabat Ajax	Rabat	Rabat Ajax Football Ground	Mtarfa
Sliema Wanderers	Sliema	Tigné Point	Sliema
Tarxien Rainbows	Tarxien	Tarxien Ground	Tarxien
Valletta	Valletta	Zebbug Rovers FC Ground / Melita Ground	Zebbug or St Julians

First phase

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Valletta !Valletta	22	13	7	2	49	15	+34	46	Qualification to championship round
2	Hibernians !Hibernians	22	14	3	5	47	24	+23	45
3	Birkirkara !Birkirkara	22	12	7	3	47	19	+28	43
4	Tarxien Rainbows !Tarxien Rainbows	22	11	5	6	39	32	+7	38
5	Sliema Wanderers !Sliema Wanderers	22	11	4	7	34	22	+12	37
6	Mosta !Mosta	22	11	1	10	39	33	+6	34
7	Qormi !Qormi	22	9	3	10	32	34	−2	30	Qualification to relegation round
8	Balzan !Balzan	22	7	6	9	34	36	−2	27
9	Floriana !Floriana	22	5	9	8	26	31	−5	24
10	Hamrun Spartans !Hamrun Spartans	22	4	4	14	24	58	−34	16
11	Melita !Melita	22	3	5	14	18	56	−38	14
12	Rabat Ajax !Rabat Ajax	22	1	8	13	16	45	−29	11

Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away	Balzan !BAL	Birkirkara !BIR	Floriana !FLO	Hamrun Spartans !HAM	Hibernians !HIB	Melita !MEL	Mosta !MOS	Qormi !QOR	Rabat Ajax !RAB	Sliema Wanderers !SLI	Tarxien Rainbows !TAR	Valletta !VAL
Balzan !Balzan		1–2	1–3	3–2	2–3	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–4	1–1
Birkirkara !Birkirkara	2–2		1–1	1–3	1–0	4–0	7–1	2–1	2–0	1–3	5–0	1–1
Floriana !Floriana	3–1	0–3		1–1	0–3	0–0	1–2	2–2	3–0	2–0	2–3	0–2
Hamrun Spartans !Hamrun Spartans	2–2	0–3	0–2		1–6	0–1	0–3	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–8
Hibernians !Hibernians	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–1		3–1	3–2	0–1	6–0	2–1	0–0	0–1
Melita !Melita	0–4	0–3	2–2	1–3	1–5		0–5	1–2	3–3	0–0	0–3	1–5
Mosta !Mosta	2–0	0–1	3–1	4–1	0–1	3–1		4–2	2–0	0–2	1–3	1–3
Qormi !Qormi	1–2	1–1	0–0	4–0	2–4	2–3	2–1		3–0	2–1	2–1	0–2
Rabat Ajax !Rabat Ajax	0–2	3–3	1–1	1–3	0–3	0–0	3–2	0–1		0–2	1–3	1–1
Sliema Wanderers !Sliema Wanderers	3–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	4–0	4–0	0–2	3–1	1–0		1–2	0–2
Tarxien Rainbows !Tarxien Rainbows	2–1	1–4	1–1	4–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	2–3		1–1
Valletta !Valletta	1–1	1–0	3–0	6–0	4–1	1–2	0–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–0

Source: Malta Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second phase

Championship group

Group table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Birkirkara !Birkirkara (C)	32	19	9	4	62	22	+40	45	2013–14 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Hibernians !Hibernians	32	21	4	7	70	33	+37	45	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ¹
3	Valletta !Valletta	32	17	8	7	69	27	+42	36	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
4	Sliema Wanderers !Sliema Wanderers	32	16	6	10	48	32	+16	36	2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
5	Tarxien Rainbows !Tarxien Rainbows	32	14	6	12	54	51	+3	29
6	Mosta !Mosta	32	11	2	19	45	72	−27	18

Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹The winners of the 2012–13 Maltese FA Trophy.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away	Birkirkara !BIR	Hibernians !HIB	Mosta !MOS	Sliema Wanderers !SLI	Tarxien Rainbows !TAR	Valletta !VAL
Birkirkara !Birkirkara		1–0	7–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
Hibernians !Hibernians	1–1		6–0	0–2	3–0	4–2
Mosta !Mosta	0–0	1–3		0–1	0–3	0–5
Sliema Wanderers !Sliema Wanderers	1–0	2–3	4–1		0–0	0–2
Tarxien Rainbows !Tarxien Rainbows	0–1	0–3	4–2	3–4		3–2
Valletta !Valletta	0–2	1–2	6–1	0–0	3–1

Source: Malta Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation group

Group table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Floriana !Floriana	32	14	10	8	48	38	+10	40
8	Qormi !Qormi	32	15	4	13	61	50	+11	34
9	Balzan !Balzan	32	9	9	14	48	61	−13	23
10	Rabat Ajax !Rabat Ajax	32	6	9	17	38	60	−22	22
11	Hamrun Spartans !Hamrun Spartans (R)	32	6	5	21	39	88	−49	15	Relegation to 2013–14 Maltese First Division
12	Melita !Melita (R)	32	4	8	20	31	78	−47	13	Relegation to 2013–14 Maltese First Division

Results

Home ╲ Away	Balzan !BAL	Floriana !FLO	Hamrun Spartans !HAM	Melita !MEL	Qormi !QOR	Rabat Ajax !RAB
Balzan !Balzan		0–2	3–1	0–0	4–4	0–5
Floriana !Floriana	1–1		3–1	2–0	1–0	2–1
Hamrun Spartans !Hamrun Spartans	3–2	0–3		3–5	0–2	1–3
Melita !Melita	1–2	1–2	2–2		1–3	1–4
Qormi !Qormi	5–2	2–4	6–2	2–0		4–0
Rabat Ajax !Rabat Ajax	3–0	1–2	1–2	2–2	2–1

Source: Malta Football Association
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship play-off

Birkirkara and Hibernians finished the season level on points. A play-off decided the title.^[1]

Birkirkara v Hibernians

11 May 2013
18:00

Birkirkara	3–1	Hibernians
Herrera 56' Vukanac 67' Muscat 74'		Failla 33' (pen.)

Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali
Attendance: 9,200
Referee: Alan Mario Sant

Birkirkara qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round.
Hibernians qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[2]
1	Negrin	Rabat Ajax / Melita	22
2	Daniel Bueno	Tarxien Rainbows	19
3	Michael Mifsud	Valletta	18
4	Ryan Darmanin	Balzan Youths	14
	Elton	Balzan Youths	14
	Jhonnattann	Birkirkara	14
	Igor Coronado	Floriana	14
8	Clayton Failla	Hibernians	13
9	Danail Mitev	Mosta	12
9	Obinna Obiefule	Mosta / Hibernians	12

References

↑ Birkirkara are 2012/13 Premier League winners
↑ "Top scorers". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 13 May 2013.

External links

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Football in Malta

Malta Football Association

National teams

men:	Men's National team Olympic (U-23) U-21 U-19 U-17

women:	Women's National team

League system

men:	Premier League First Division Second Division Third Division

women:	Women's 1st Division

youth:	Minors' League U-17 Championship

Domestic cups

men:	National Cup Super Cup Maltese First Division knock-out

women:	Women's Cup

Awards

Footballer of the Year

Lists

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Women's Clubs
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2012–13 in European football (UEFA)

« 2011–12 2013–14 »

Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '12 '13 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '12 '13 Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia '12 '13 Lithuania '12 '13 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '12 '13 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '12 '13 Finland '12 '13 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '12 '13 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '12 '13 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

League cups	England Finland '12 '13 France Hungary Iceland '12 '13 Israel Latvia Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '12 '13 Scotland Wales

UEFA competitions	Champions League Qualifying phase and play-off round Group stage Knockout phase Final Europa League Qualifying phase and play-off round Group stage Knockout phase Final Super Cup

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