The 2017–18

Maltese FA Trophy The FA Trophy, currently known as the IZIBET FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933, ...

was the 80th version of the football tournament. It was sponsored by Boost Diesel, which was revealed during the draws of the first, second and third round of the Maltese FA Trophy at the Trophies Lounge in

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 ...

headquarters in

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 ...

. A total of sixty–four clubs participated in this season's cup competition.

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the Third round by

Naxxar Lions Naxxar Lions Football Club is a football club from the town of Naxxar in northern Malta Their historical and arch-rivals are Mosta FC. A match between Naxxar Lions and Mosta FC, is known as the derby of the north, but because there are other ...

in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

on 2 December 2017. The winners of the trophy were

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 ...

who won their 14th title following a 2–1 win over Birkirkara in the final. Despite losing the final, Birkirkara earned a place in the first qualifying round of the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...

, as Valletta had already qualified for the a European competition following their league triumph.

Format

The Maltese FA Trophy this season was a single elimination tournament between 64 clubs. Matches which were level after regulation advanced to extra time and afterwards to penalties to determine a winner, when needed.

Schedule

Preliminary round

Five preliminary round matches were played on 2–3 September 2017. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held 7 August 2017.

First round

Nine first round matches were played on 9–20 September 2017. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held 7 August 2017.

Second round

Eighteen second round matches were played on 21–22 October 2017. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held 7 August 2017. All teams from

Maltese First Division The Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division in Maltese football, behind the Maltese Premier League. The First Division was the precursor of the present Premier L ...

and

Maltese Second Division The Maltese Second Division (also known as the BOV Second Division due to sponsorship reasons) was the third-highest division in Maltese football until 2020 when it was merged with the Maltese Third Division to create the National Amateur Leag ...

entered in the Second round.

Third round

Sixteen third round matches were played on 1–3 December 2017. The draw for the third and fourth rounds was held 13 November 2017. All teams from

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 ...

entered in the Third round.

Fourth round

Eight fourth round matches were played on 19-21 January 2018. The draw for the third and fourth rounds was held 13 November 2017. In the Fourth Round there were 10 clubs from

left, 4 clubs from

left and 2 clubs from

Gozo Football League The Gozo Football League is a football competition for clubs on the Maltese island of Gozo, in the Mediterranean Sea. The league is run by the Gozo Football Association and currently has 14 teams split into two divisions, the First Division ( ...

left.

Quarter-finals

Four quarter-final matches were played on 17 February 2018. The draw for the Quarter-finals was held 22 January 2018. The round included the two teams from

that were still in the competition:

Qrendi Qrendi ( mt, Il-Qrendi) is a village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta, with a population of 2752 people as of March 2014. It is located close to Mqabba, Żurrieq and Siggiewi. Within its boundaries are two well-known Neo ...

and Zejtun Corinthians.

Semi-finals

Two semi-final matches were played on 28 and 29 April 2018 at

National Stadium, Ta' Qali The National Stadium, locally also referred to as Ta' Qali, officially known as Grawnd Nazzjonali ( Maltese for ''National Stadium''), is a stadium located in Ta' Qali, Malta. The stadium, which also contains the headquarters of the Malta Footbal ...

. The draw for the Semi-finals was held on 23 April 2018. The four clubs left were all from

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 ...

were the only club remaining in the competition that had never won the

in the past. Both Semi-final matches were Live on

TVM2 TVMNews+ (formerly TVM 2) is a terrestrial television network in Malta, operated by national broadcaster Public Broadcasting Services. Unlike the more wide-ranging TVM network, TVMNews+ focuses primarily on newscasting and educational televisio ...

Final

The final was played on 5 May 2018. Birkirkara reached their tenth

final having won it five times.

reached their twenty-third final and had won it thirteen times previously. Birkirkara and

have met together in

final twice before, having previously met in 1999 and 2001. When meeting in the finals,

have both times. The last time Birkirkara and

met together in

was during the 2015-16 fourth round when Birkirkara beat

by 1-0.

Television rights

The following matches were broadcast live on

References

External links

The official FA Trophy website

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 ...

Maltese FA Trophy seasons

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

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