The Maltese National Amateur League (referred to as the IZIBet Amateur League for sponsorship reasons) is the third-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 ...

, replacing the

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 ...

and

Maltese Third Division The Maltese Third Division (also known as the BOV Third Division due to sponsorship reasons) was the lowest league level in Maltese football until 2020 when it was merged with the Maltese Second Division to create the National Amateur League. ...

during the 2020–21 season following the premature end of the previous football 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 identif ...

Format

Following the merger of the Maltese Second and Third Divisions the league is made up of two groups. Over the course of the season, each team plays twice against the others in their group. 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 team from each group is directly promoted to the Challenge League; an additional place is reserved for the winner of the promotion play-offs. The play-offs take place between the clubs that finished second to fourth in each group with the winning team gaining promotion to the Challenge League. In March 2021, Luqa St. Andrew's became the first champions of the league and were promoted from group stage along with Melita and Mġarr United. They were joined in the 2021-22 Challenge League by the winners of the promotion play-offs

Rabat Ajax Rabat Ajax Football Club is a Maltese football club based in Rabat. The last promotion to the Maltese Premier League was achieved in the 2011–12 season, when they earned promotion after finishing second behind Melita. In the 2020-21 National ...

who had beaten Kirkop United in the final. With five teams being relegated from the Challenge League in 2021, and four being promoted from the Amateur League, the 2021-22 season saw an overall increase of clubs to 23.

Venues

References

External links

on Malta Football Association Maltese National Amateur League seasons 3 Third level football leagues in Europe {{Malta-footy-competition-stub