2018–19 Maltese Second Division

The 2018–19 Maltese Second Division (known as the BOV Second Division for sponsorship reasons[2]) is the league competition for the third-tier league in the Maltese football league system. The opening fixture was played on 5 September 2018 and the league season ended on 20 April 2019. St. George's won the championship after winning the decider against fellow promoted team, Fgura United. At the other side of the table, St. Venera Lightnings and Siggiewi were relegated.

Maltese Second Division
Season2018–19
Dates5 September 2018 – 20 April 2019
ChampionsSt. George's
PromotedSt. George's
Fgura United
RelegatedSt. Venera Lightnings
Siggiewi
Matches played156
Goals scored2.61 (0.02 per match)
Top goalscorerLazar Doric (15 goals)[1]
Biggest home winMġarr United 5-0 Siggiewi
(6 April 2019)
Biggest away winMġarr United 0-6 Rabat Ajax
(8 October 2018)
Highest scoringFgura United 6-2 Kalkara
(30 March 2019)
← 2017–18
2019–20 →
All statistics correct as of 27 April 2019.

Overview

The number of teams will remain unchanged from the previous season and therefore the league will be contested by 13 teams, including 3 teams relegated from the 2017–18 Maltese First Division season and 2 teams promoted from the 2017–18 Maltese Third Division season. The 13 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams twice, once at 'home' and once 'away'. Thus, a total of 156 matches will be played, with 24 matches played by each team.

The top two teams will be promoted to the 2019–20 Maltese First Division, while the bottom two are relegated to the 2019–20 Maltese Third Division. The team which will place in the third position will get a second chance for promotion to the 2019–20 Maltese First Division by facing the third last-team team of the 2018–19 Maltese First Division; While the team which ends in the ante-penultimate position participates in a similar play-off against the third placed team of the 2018–19 Maltese Third Division.

As is the norm in Malta, the matches will be played at a number of venues designated by the Malta Football Association. 4 different venues were assigned for this year's competition, with the Centenary Stadium in Ta' Qali hosting the largest share of matches. In a bid of drawing more supporters to the stadiums, admission prices for the season were slashed to €2, with those for children aged under 12 years and senior citizens abolished completely.[3]

Teams
Locations of the 2018–19 Maltese Second Division teams and venues
Team In league since Location Last season
Birżebbuġa St. Peter's 2015–16 Birżebbuġa 7th
Fgura United 2017–18 Fgura 4th
Kalkara 2017–18 Kalkara 8th
Luqa St. Andrew's 2017–18 Luqa 10th
Marsaxlokk 2016–17 Marsaxlokk 6th
Melita 2018–19 St Julian's First Division, 13th
Mellieħa 2018–19 Mellieħa Third Division, 2nd
Mġarr United 2015–16 Mġarr 9th
Rabat Ajax 2018–19 Rabat First Division, 14th
Siġġiewi 2011–12 Siġġiewi 5th
St. George's 2016–17 Cospicua 11th
St. Venera Lightnings 2018–19 Santa Venera Third Division, 1st
St. Patrick 2018–19 Żabbar First Division, 12th

Venues
Stadium Location Capacity
Centenary Stadium Ta' Qali 3,000[4]
Luxol Stadium Pembroke 800[5]
Sirens Stadium St. Paul's Bay 600
Victor Tedesco Stadium Ħamrun 1,962[6]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 St. George's (C) 24 16 5 3 40 16 +24 53 Promotion the Maltese First Division
2 Fgura United (P) 24 17 2 5 44 18 +26 53
3 Mġarr United 24 15 6 3 45 22 +23 51 Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4 Marsaxlokk 24 14 5 5 40 23 +17 47
5 Birzebbuga St. Peter's 24 13 4 7 40 26 +14 43
6 Melita 24 11 6 7 40 27 +13 39
7 Rabat Ajax 24 11 4 9 37 26 +11 37
8 Kalkara 24 6 5 13 30 46 −16 23
9 Mellieha 24 5 7 12 21 36 −15 22
10 Luqa St. Andrew's 24 5 6 13 23 48 −25 21
11 Żabbar St. Patrick (O) 24 6 2 16 16 31 −15 20 Qualification for the relegation play-offs
12 St. Venera Lightnings (R) 24 4 4 16 17 47 −30 16 Relegation to the Maltese Third Division
13 Siggiewi (R) 24 3 4 17 14 41 −27 13
Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2019. Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goals scored; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored.[7]
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Results
Home \ Away BSP FGU KAL LSA MAR MLT MEL MGU RAA SIG STG SVL ZSP
Birzebbuga St. Peter's — 0–2 2–1 3–0 3–1 0–0 2–0 0–1 3–2 4–0 2–2 1–1 0–1
Fgura United 3–2 — 6–2 2–1 0–1 2–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 3–1 0–1 1–0 1–0
Kalkara 0–1 1–2 — 2–1 3–3 3–3 0–0 1–2 3–0 3–3 0–2 1–0 2–0
Luqa St. Andrew's 2–4 2–5 1–3 — 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 2–1 0–2 0–2 2–1 0–0
Marsaxlokk 1–1 2–1 2–0 4–0 — 2–0 3–2 0–1 0–2 2–0 0–1 3–2 3–0
Melita 0–1 1–3 3–1 2–2 1–3 — 5–1 1–2 3–0 3–1 1–0 3–1 2–0
Mellieha 2–1 0–2 1–2 2–3 0–2 1–2 — 0–4 0–1 0–0 0–1 1–1 0–0
Mġarr United 3–0 1–1 1–1 5–1 3–1 1–1 1–1 — 0–6 5–0 0–0 5–1 2–1
Rabat Ajax 1–3 0–1 3–0 3–0 1–1 1–0 3–0 2–2 — 1–0 1–3 2–0 0–1
Siggiewi 0–1 0–2 1–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–3 0–1 0–3 — 0–2 0–1 1–2
St. George's 2–0 2–0 5–1 4–0 0–0 2–2 1–2 1–0 1–1 2–1 — 1–3 2–1
St. Venera Lightnings 1–5 0–4 2–0 0–0 1–3 0–3 0–3 0–2 0–0 1–3 0–1 — 1–0
Żabbar St. Patrick 0–1 0–2 2–0 0–2 0–1 0–3 0–1 1–2 2–3 1–0 1–2 3–0 —
Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2019. Source: Malta Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Playoffs

Championship play-off

St. George's and Fgura United finished the regular season level on points and therefore a play-off was required to decide the winner of the 2018-19 Maltese Second Division.

26 April 2019 St. George's 2 - 1 Fgura United Ta' Qali
CEST Mentosa  12'
Cassar  76'		 Report Gilbert  18' Stadium: Centenary Stadium
Referee: Malcolm Spiteri

Promotion play-off

A play-off match took place between the twelfth-placed team from the First Division (Vittoriosa Stars), and the third-placed team from the Second Division (Mgarr United), for a place in the 2019–20 Maltese First Division.

5 May 2019 Vittoriosa Stars (2) v Mgarr United (3)

Relegation play-off

A play-off match took place between the twelfth-placed team from the Second Division, (Żabbar St. Patrick), and the third-placed team from the Third Division, (Msida Saint-Joseph), for a place in the 2019–20 Maltese Second Division.

28 April 2019 Żabbar St. Patrick (3) 2 - 0 Msida Saint-Joseph (4) Pembroke
Agius  75' 87' Report Stadium: Luxol Stadium
Referee: Andrea Sciriha

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Lazar Doric Mgarr United 17
2 Giovanni Galea Fgura United 15
3 Thomas Timmy Marsaxlokk 14

Last updated: 27 April 2019[1]

References
  1. "BOV Second Division Top Scorers". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  2. "BOV Football Leagues Fixtures Drawn". Bank of Valletta. 4 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  3. "Ticket price for Div. Two and Three matches reduced to €2". Malta Football Association. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. "The Centenary Stadium". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. "Welcome to Luxol Sports Club". Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  6. "Sanctioning of upgrading at Victor Tedesco Stadium approved". The Malta Independent. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  7. "Statute & Regulations". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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