The 2018–19

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 81st edition of the

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 ...

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. A record number of 67 clubs competed in the FA Trophy, with the first round starting on the weekend of 1–2 September 2018 and concluding with the final played on 18 May 2019.

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

were the defending champions, but lost in the final to

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, becom ...

on penalties, the latter winning their first ever FA Trophy title.

Format

The clubs in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, First Division,

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 ...

and Third Division together with those from the

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 ( ...

are involved in the draws of the initial rounds. The 14 top-flight sides enter the fray in the third round. Matches which are level after regulation advanced to

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

and afterwards to

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

to determine a winner, when needed.

Schedule

The draws were made on 6 August 2018 and were conducted by Dr. Angelo Chetcuti, the General Secretary of the Malta Football Association, and Rodney Pisani, the Deputy General Secretary of the Association who leads the Competitions Department.

Preliminary round

Eight preliminary round matches were played on 31 August till 2 September 2018. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held on 6 August 2018.

First round

Nine first round matches were played on 8-9 September 2018. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held 6 August 2018.

Second round

Eighteen second round matches were played on 26 and 28 October 2018. The draw for the preliminary, first, and second rounds was held 6 August 2018. AAll 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 Leagu ...

entered in the Second round.

Third round

Sixteen third round matches were played on 30 November and 3 December 2018. The draw for the third and fourth rounds was held 5 November 2018. 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 Third round. The top six position from 2017-18 Maltese Premier League teams that are seeded in the third round of the FA Trophy. A total of thirty-two clubs will be involved in the draw.

Fourth round

Eight fourth round matches were played on 26–27 January 2019. The draw for the third and fourth rounds was held 5 November 2018. In the Fourth Round there were 10 clubs from

, 3 clubs from

, 2 clubs from

and 1 club ( Xewkija Tigers) from

left.

Quarter-finals

Four quarter-final matches were scheduled for 23 and 24 February 2019. The draw for the quarter-finals was held 29 January 2019. The eight clubs left were all from the Premier League. On 23 February 2019, four quarter-final matches were postponed amid safety concerns caused by the inclement weather, warnings of gale-force winds and hail-storm. The first FA Trophy quarter-final match between

Pietà Hotspurs The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

and Gżira United, at the

Hibernians Stadium 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 their ...

, was abandoned by referee Emanuel Grech in the 88th minute, and finished on 3 May 2019 at

Ta' Qali National Stadium 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 ...

, 19:00, from the point of abandonment.

Semi-finals

Two semi-final matches were played on 11 and 12 May 2019 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 3 May 2019.

Final

The final took place on 18 May 2019;

reached their second FA Trophy final while

reached their 24th final which they triumphed 14 times. The last time Balzan and Valletta met together in the FA Trophy was the previous season in the semi-finals when Valletta beat Balzan by 2–1.

Television rights

The following matches were broadcast 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 television. ...

and on TSN (offered by GO):

References

External links

Official FA Trophy website

on UEFA {{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Maltese FA Trophy

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, ...