Misplaced Pages

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's notability guideline for sports and athletics. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Maltese Futsal League" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Maltese Futsal League" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Maltese Futsal League, (Maltese: il-Lig tal-Futsal Malti), formerly the Gatorade League but now known as the Enemed Futsal League for sponsorship reasons, is the official futsal league in Malta and was founded in 2011. The Maltese futsal championship currently consists of 14 teams. It is organised by the Futsal Malta Association and the Malta Football Association. Prior to a decrease in teams, the league used to be known as the Maltese Futsal Premier Division, which was the highest tier, with a promotion and relegation system tied to the Maltese Futsal First Division.

The league is played entirely in the Corradino Sports Pavilion.

History

First 'official' five-a-side tournaments were held at Athleta Sliema till 1997. Futsal has been officially played since 1998. The league started in 1999 when three University students, who had organized the unofficial Dr. Stanley's Workshop five-a-side league, contacted the Malta FA. Laboratoires Alta Care were the first well-documented league winner of any Maltese futsal championship. The club won two titles in a row, for the season 2000-01 and 2001-02.

The league was created in 2011. The highest peak saw 4 divisions with over 70 teams. Teams started decreasing when the Futsal Malta Association made requirements more stringent to make the league more professional.

Eventually, with a further decrease in teams, only one division was necessary, which became known as the Maltese Futsal League, as of the 2015–2016 season.

Champions

Key

Season	Champions (titles)	Runners-up	League winner	Top league scorer
				Player (Club)	Nat.	Goals
1999-00 (1st)	Ace Of Clubs
2000-01 (2nd)	Laboratoires Alta Care(1)
2001-02 (3rd)	Laboratoires Alta Care(2)
2002–03 (4th)	Air Malta Cabine Crew (1)	Alta Care	Swing Kids (group A) King of Shaves (gr. B)
2003–04 (5th)	RBSM (1)	El Mundos	El Mundos (group A) RBSM (group B)
2004–05 (6th)	Serbia (1)	Hibernians	Serbia (Group A) Hibernians (Group B)
2005–06 (7th)	Hibernians (1)	Serbia	Hibernians (Group A) Serbia (Group B)
2006–07 (8th)	Jeepers Handyman Centre (1) †	European Pilot Academy	Jeepers Handyman Centre (Group A) European Pilot Academy (Group B)
2007–08 (9th)	Scandals (1) †	European Pilot Academy	Aluserv
2008-09 (10th)	White Eagles (1)	Jeepers Handyman Centre	Naxxar Motors
2009-10 (11th)	ZC Excess (1) †	Naxxar Motors	Naxxar Motors
2010-11 (12th)	ZC Excess (2)	Paola Downtown	ZC Excess	Jovica Milijić (Paola Downtown)	SRB	42
2011–12 (13th)	Excess RP Bidnija (3) †	Naxxar Motors	Excess RP Bidnija
2012–13 (14th)	Hibernians (2)	Balzan	Balzan
2013–14 (15th)	Balzan (1)	Hibernians	Hibernians	Tyron Borg (Zurieq)	MLT	47+
2014–15 (16th)	Luxol (1) †	Balzan	Luxol	William da Silva Barbosa (Luxol)	BRA
2015–16 (17th)	Valletta (1) †
2016–17 (18th)	Luxol (2) †			Raphael Felipe Ortiz de Oliveira (Valletta)	BRA	75
2017–18 (19th)	Valletta (2)	Luxol	Luxol
2018–19 (20th)	Luxol (3) †	Valletta
2019–20 (21st)	season declared null and void due to Covid-19 pandemic
2020–21 (22nd)

Performance by club

2016–2017 season

In the 2016–17 season, the FMA reopened to independent teams not part of a football club from within the Maltese football league system.

Format

There are 14 teams which shall play each other once. After this round, the teams split into the top 6 teams, known as the Elite pool, and the remainder play in the Division One pool. The Elite teams play each other once again and the first 4 after this round, enter a knockout playoff stage. The winner of the playoff stage enters the UEFA Futsal League cup.

Teams

• Birzebbuga St. Peter's
• Futsal Selection U18
• Futsal Selection U19
• Gzira United Santa Margerita
• Marsascala Futsal
• Sliema Wanderers
• Luxol Futsal
• Swieqi Utd Futsal
• Ta' Xbiex
• University of Malta Students' Futsal Team
• ZRQ Bormla

References

1. "Malta Futsal Association – SPORT MALTA". www.sportmalta.org.mt.
2. "A Closer Look at..Joseph Karl Aquilina (President – Luxol St Andrews)". timesofmalta.com. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
3. "Futsal on a sound basis". timesofmalta.com. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
4. "Futsal". timesofmalta.com. Retrieved 2018-04-11.

External links

• Futsal Malta Association
• Malta Football Association

• Futsal in Malta
• Football leagues in Malta
• Top level futsal leagues in Europe
• 2011 establishments in Malta
• Sports leagues established in 2011