The 2011–12 Maltese Premier League was the 97th season of the

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

, the top-tier football league in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. It began on 19 August 2011 and it ended in May 2012.

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

were the defending champions, having won their 20th title last season. 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 pools. Earned points are subsequently halved. 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". On 13 January 2011, the

Malta Football Association The Malta Football Association (MFA; mt, Assoċjazzjoni tal-Futbol ta' Malta) is the governing body of football in Malta. The Association organises the Maltese Football League and several other competitions, including a knockout competition ...

decided to expand the league to 12 teams starting with this season.

Teams

Vittoriosa Stars were relegated to the First Division after finishing in last place of the Play-Out last season. This ended a one-year stay in the Premier League for them. Taking their place in the competition are

Balzan Balzan ( mt, Ħal Balzan) is a municipality in the Central Region of Malta, one of the so-called three villages, together with Attard and Lija. The village originally consisted of a group of small dwellings and farms but eventually grew, beco ...

, the champions of the Maltese First Division. Balzan are playing in the Premier League after a seven season absence. Because of the league's expansion for this season, the second- and third-place finishers of the First Division,

Mqabba Mqabba ( mt, L-Imqabba) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,300 inhabitants. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the villag ...

and

Mosta Mosta ( mt, Il-Mosta) is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest ...

respectively, were also promoted to the Premier League for this season. Mqabba return to the top league after a three year absence while Mosta return after five years away.

Venues

Stadia and training grounds

Only a few stadia have the infrastructure needed to host Premier League matches. These are

Ta' Qali National Stadium The National Stadium, locally also referred to as Ta' Qali, officially known as Grawnd Nazzjonali (Maltese language, Maltese for ''National Stadium''), is a stadium located in Ta' Qali, Malta. The stadium, which also contains the headquarters of t ...

and Centenary Stadium at

Ta' Qali Ta' Qali is a wide open space in the limits of Attard and Mosta in central and northern Malta respectively, which contains the national football stadium, the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre, Ta' Qali National Park, a crafts village, and a natio ...

Attard Attard ( mt, Ħ'Attard) is a town in the Central Region of Malta. Together with Balzan and Lija it forms part of " the Three Villages" and has been inhabited since the Classical Period. It has a population of 12,268 as of 2021. Attard's trad ...

, Victor Tedesco Stadium at

Ħamrun Hamrun (; ) is a town in the Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 9,244 as of March 2014. The people The townspeople are traditionally known as ''Tas-Sikkina'' (literally meaning 'of the knife' or 'those who carry a knife') or as '' ...

and

Hibernians Ground Tony Bezzina Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Paola, Malta. The Hibernians football ground was inaugurated on 9 November 1986. Hibernians became the first Maltese club to have their own football pitch. Nonetheless, Hibernians play most of thei ...

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.

First phase

League table

Results

Second phase

Top Six

Play-Out

Top goalscorers

References

External links

Premier League official page

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Maltese Premier League Maltese Premier League seasons