The 2023–24 Maltese FA Trophy, officially named IZIBET FA Trophy due to sponsorship reasons, was the 86th edition of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

, the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

. The winners earned a place in the second qualifying round of the

2024–25 UEFA Conference League The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League was the fourth season of the UEFA Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. From this season, the competition was renamed from the UEFA Europa Conference League to the ...

Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara or BKR) is a city in the Eastern Region, Malta, Eastern Region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the Malta (island), island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous pari ...

were the defending champions. But were eliminated in the Semi-Finals by

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leagu ...

won the cup (their twenty-second Maltese FA Trophy win) on 12 May 2024, defeating

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

4–2 on penalties after a 0–0 draw.

Preliminary round

Ten preliminary round matches were played on 12 and 13 December 2023, featuring twelve teams from the

2023–24 Maltese Challenge League The 2023–24 Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the Bank of Valletta, BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-level league football in Malta. It is the fourth season that the competition has been running in its present f ...

, six teams from the 2023–24 Gozo First Division, and two teams from the 2023–24 Maltese National Amateur League. The draw was held on 7 November 2023. The four remaining Maltese Challenge League teams (

Attard Attard () is a town in the Northern Region of Malta. Together with Balzan and Lija, it forms part of the " Three Villages" () and has been inhabited since the Classical Period. It has a population of 12,268 as of 2021. Attard's traditional ...

, Luqa St. Andrew's, Żabbar St. Patrick, and

Żurrieq Żurrieq ( ) is a town in the Western Region of Malta. It is one of the oldest towns in the country, and has a population of 11,823 inhabitants as of March 2014. Żurrieq is one of the 10 parishes to be documented in 1436 and is dedicated to S ...

), the two remaining teams from the Gozo First Division (

Għajnsielem Għajnsielem (; meaning "Spring of Sielem") is a municipality on the southeastern coast of the island of Gozo in Malta, including the entire island of Comino. It has a population of 3,200 residents (as of March 2014), and is the first Gozitan vil ...

and Xewkija Tigers), and two teams from the Maltese National Amateur League (

Marsaskala Marsaskala, sometimes written as Marsascala is a seaside town in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. Originally a fishing village, it has grown into a tourist destination and a permanent hometown for an ever-growing population. ...

and Mġarr United) received byes.

Round of 32

Sixteen matches played between 11–15 January, featuring the ten preliminary round winners, the 14 teams from the

2023–24 Maltese Premier League The 2023–24 Maltese Premier League was the 109th season of top-flight league football in Malta. The season began on 15 September 2023 and ended in April 2024. The season saw the relegation of Valletta, one of the most historic teams in Maltese f ...

, and the eight teams given preliminary round byes. The draw for the Round of 32 and Round of 16 was held on 22 December 2023. The draws were held by Malta FA Director of Football Operations Stephen Azzopardi together with former Malta national team player

Justin Haber Justin Haber (born 9 June 1981) is a Maltese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Żabbar St. Patrick and formerly played with the Malta national football team. Playing career Floriana Born in Floriana, Malta, Haber started h ...

and Franco Degabriele Chief Commercial Officer of IZIBET.

Round of 16

Eight matches were played on 6–8 February, featuring the 16 Round of 32 winners. The draw for the Round of 32 and Round of 16 was held on 22 December 2023. The draws were held by Malta FA Director of Football Operations Stephen Azzopardi together with former Malta national team player

and Franco Degabriele Chief Commercial Officer of IZIBET. The round includes one team from the third tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition: Mġarr United.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 5 March 2024. The draws were held on Tuesday by Malta FA Director Football Operations Stephen Azzopardi assisted by former

Malta national football team The Malta national football team () represents Malta in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game played by Malta ...

players Roderick Briffa and IZIBET Brand Ambassador Andrew Hogg. Four matches were played on 30 March 2024, featuring the eight Round of 16 winners. The round included one team from the third tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition: Mġarr United.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 28 April 2024. The draws were held live on TVMSports by Malta FA Director of Football Operations Stephen Azzopardi together with Franco Degabriele Chief Commercial Officer of IZIBET. Two matches were played on 7 and 8 May, featuring the four quarter-final winners (four teams from the

Final

The final was played on 12 May. Floriana and Sliema Wanderers met in the Maltese FA Trophy final sixteen times back in 1935, 1936, 1938, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1993, 2017, and 2023. Between them in the finals, Floriana won nine times and Sliema Wanderers won six times. The last time Floriana and Sliema Wanderers met together in Maltese FA Trophy was during the 2016–17 season in the final when Floriana beat Sliema Wanderers by 2–0.

Top scorers

Television rights

The following matches were broadcast live on TVMSports+:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 Maltese FA Trophy

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

2023–24

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...