The Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest division in

Maltese football Football in Malta is run by the Malta Football Association and was introduced to Malta during British rule in the mid-19th century. The sport at the time was new to England, and was used as a means of entertainment for the soldiers stationed in M ...

, behind 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 First Division was the precursor of the present Premier League until the latter was revamped for the 1980–81 season with the Maltese Challenge League instituted for the 2020–21 season following the premature end of the previous season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Format

Since the 2022–23 season, the league is made up of eighteen teams. Over the course of the season, each team plays twice against the others in the league, resulting in each team completing thirty-four games in total. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss. The teams are

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

in the table by: # Total points gained In the need of a tie-breaker, a play-off game is played. At the end of the season, the top two teams are directly promoted to 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 Fo ...

; an additional place is reserved for the winner of the relegation play-off between the twelfth-placed Premier League team and the third-placed Maltese Challenge League side. The four lowest-finishing teams are relegated to the

National Amateur League The Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (National Amateur League) is the league which rules amateur football of Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in Italy. Founded in 1959 in Rome, it has many leagues inside: a national league, the Inter-regional Committ ...

Venues

Results

References

External links

First Division
on Malta Football Association 2 Second level football leagues in Europe {{Malta-footy-competition-stub