Dhivehi Premier League is a Maldivian men's professional

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 ...

league. At the top of the Maldives football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 10 clubs, it operates on a system of

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

with

Second Division Football Tournament The Maldivian Second Division Football Tournament is a association football, football league tournament in the Maldives, organized by the Football Association of Maldives. A new structure for the Second Division Football Tournament was introduced ...

. Teams are playing 14 matches each (playing each team in the league twice) totalling 56 matches in the season. The competition formed as the Dhivehi Premier League succeeded the Dhivehi League. From 2018 onward 10 teams compete in Dhivehi Premier League.

History

Competition format

Competition

There are 10 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), for a total of 14 games. Teams receive

three points for a win Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...

and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...

, and then goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, a play-off match decides rank.

Qualification for Asian competitions

The top two teams in the Dhivehi Premier League qualify for the

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying ...

, with the champion directly entering the group stage. The second-placed team enters the AFC Cup at the play-off round for East Asia Zone and must win the match in order to enter the group stage.

Sponsorship

Finances

The

Football Association of Maldives The Football Association of Maldives (FAM), founded in 1982, is the governing body of football in the Maldives. The association under the guidance of the Ministry of Youth & Sports is responsible for all regulatory aspects of the sport in the Ma ...

(FAM) provides each Premier League team with an amount of MVR 1.6 million. The Champion team also receives a MVR 1 million cash prize.

2021–22 Dhivehi Premier League teams

All-time Dhivehi Premier League table

The all-time Dhivehi Premier League table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Premier League since its inception in 2015. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2020–21 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2020–21 Premier League. ;Notes

Managers

References

External links

Ooredoo Dhivehi Premier League (2016 MD3-2017)
at Mihaaru {{Football in the Maldives

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

2014 establishments in the Maldives Sports leagues established in 2014 1