The 2018–19

Gibraltar Premier Division The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...

was the 120th season of the top-tier state

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league in

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, as well as the sixth season since the

Gibraltar Football Association The Gibraltar Football Association or also Gibraltar FA (GFA) is the governing body for Gibraltarian football and futsal. It was formed as the ''Gibraltar Civilian Football Association'' in 1895, changing to its current name in later years. It is ...

joined

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

in 2013. The league was contested by ten clubs, and began on 13 August 2018. Lincoln Red Imps were the reigning champions, having won their 23rd title the previous season. They competed in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifiers, while

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

and St Joseph's contested the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifiers. The season was marred by revelations of betting rules violations by a host of players and coaches at a number of clubs.

Format

The ten Premier Division clubs played each other three times for a total of 27 matches each. The tenth-placed team in the league would be relegated and the ninth-placed team in the league would enter a playoff with the second-placed team from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for a place in the 2019–20 Premier Division. The champions earned a place in the

preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the 2019–20 Champions League, and the second–placed club earned a place in the

of the 2019–20 Europa League. This season also saw the expansion of the Home Grown Player Rule to require all teams to have a minimum of three Gibraltarian players on the field of play at all times, as well as introducing a maximum registered squad size of 25 players. However, the introduction of the

Gibraltar Intermediate League The Gibraltar Intermediate League is a semi-professional football league administered by the Gibraltar Football Association, launched in June 2018 as a replacement for the Gibraltar Reserves Division and the Under 18 Division in an effort to im ...

allows them to register a reserve squad of 18 players, of which 13 must be Gibraltarian.

Violations of betting rules

Starting in November, the Gibraltar FA began issuing a number of bans following an in-depth investigation of suspected betting rule violations by players and coaches. At first, several

players, including Rubo Blanco, Iván Moya and manager Juan José Gallardo, were banned Following this, Lincoln Red Imps manager Yiyi Pérez was also suspended In March 2019, Lions Gibraltar and Gibraltar Phoenix players including Rafael Bado and Juan Manuel Llaves received bans.6 players Guilty of breaching the GFA's Betting Rules
Gibraltar FA. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019. On 12 April, 4 further players from Boca Gibraltar, Gibraltar United and Manchester 62, as well as former St Joseph's and Glacis United manager Alfonso Cortijo, received bans.

Teams

At the conclusion of the previous season, Manchester 62 were relegated. Boca Gibraltar took their place, having won the Second Division title and earning promotion for the first time in their history.

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

finished 9th the previous season, leaving them to face the runners up in the Second Division, FC Olympique 13, in a play-off. Lynx won the play-off 2–0 on 8 June 2018 to secure their status in the Premier Division. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. *Ñito Jiménez replaced Blas Álvarez as Gibraltar Phoenix captain after the latter was banned by the GFA for the remainder of the season, while Alberto Caravaca replaced Kalian Perez as Lions Gibraltar captain after Perez was banned for 16 months.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Matches 1–18

Matches 19–27

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Clean Sheets

Awards

Monthly awards

No league football was played in September 2018 due to the international break and the

Gibraltar Music Festival The Gibraltar Music Festival, as of 2017 known as MTV Presents Gibraltar Calling, is an annual pop music festival held in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Government of Gibraltar's Ministry of Culture confirmed on 10 August 201 ...

End-of-season awards

End of season awards were handed out by Football Gibraltar, the

's official UEFA correspondents, on 28 May and 2 June.Football Gibraltar Awards, Part 2
Football Gibraltar. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 2 June 2019.

References

External links

soccerwayGibraltar Football Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Gibraltar Premier Division Gibraltar Premier Division seasons

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