2024–25 Maltese Challenge League

Maltese Challenge League
Season2024–25
Dates14 September 2024 – April or May 2025
ChampionsValletta F.C.
Matches played52
Goals scored125 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorerAndrei Ciolacu
(7 Goals)
Biggest home winValletta 6–0 Lija Athletic
(22 September 2024)
Biggest away winSanta Lucia 0–5 Marsa
(15 September 2024)
Highest scoringSanta Lucia 0–5 Marsa
(15 September 2024)
Longest winning runValletta
Pietà Hotspurs
(4 Games Each)
Longest unbeaten runMarsa
Mgarr United
(5 Games Each)
Longest winless runŻebbuġ Rangers
(6 Games)
Longest losing runŻebbuġ Rangers
(6 Games)
2025–26 →
All statistics correct as of 23 November 2024.

The 2024–25 Maltese Challenge League (referred to as the BOV Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-level league football in Malta. It is the fifth season that the competition has been running in its present form.

Teams

The league consisted of sixteen teams; ten teams remaining from the previous season, two teams promoted from the 2023-24 Maltese National Amateur League, and four teams relegated from the 2023-24 Maltese Premier League.

Team changes

The following teams have changed divisions since the 2023–24 season:

Location of teams in 2024–25 Maltese Challenge League
Team Location Manager
Fgura United Fgura Kevin Vella
Gudja United Gudja Orosco Anonam
Lija Athletic Lija Joseph Galea
Marsa Marsa Saviour Debono Grech
Mgarr United Mgarr Brian Spiteri
Mtarfa Mtarfa Ivan Casha
Pietà Hotspurs Pietà Manuel Caruana
Santa Lucia Santa Luċija Liam Mangion
Senglea Athletic Senglea Robert Cassar
Sirens St. Paul's Bay Stephen Damato
St. Andrews St. Andrew's, Malta Jose` Borg
Swieqi United Swieqi Pablo Doffo
Tarxien Rainbows Tarxien Jacques Scerri
Valletta Valletta Thane Micallef
Żebbuġ Rangers Żebbuġ Rodney Bugeja
Żurrieq Żurrieq Francis Cassar

Kits

Team Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (front) Shirt sponsor (back) Shirt sponsor (sleeve)
Fgura United Adidas Fundazzjoni Sebħ, Trust Stamp, Euro Bridge, Iveco (Top Left) EuroSport (Top), Rad Auto Dealer (Bottom) Fundazzjoni Sebħ (Right), Hair Haven (Left)
Gudja United Macron Handy Man, SixSevenEight Apex Group (Top) Thomas Smith Insurance Broker (Left)
Lija Athletic Macron Falzon Group Of Companies TeamSport (Top), La Crema (Bottom)
Marsa Legea F Schembri
Mgarr Zeus Zarb Coaches, SCS Sammut Concrete Supplies, Ballut Blocks, Big Mat Frame Group (Top), GPC Concrete Solutions, Smart Transport LTD (Bottom) Blaugrana (Left), Halmann Vella (Right)
Mtarfa Givova Angelo Stores Mtarfa
Pietà Hotspurs Jartazi Famalco.net, A1 Supplies, Xuereb Installation Farstone Construction (Top)
Santa Lucia Capelli Sport Multivend, avanza Elmo (Top), Konica Minolta (Bottom) Yellow Army (Left), Levissima (Right)
Senglea Athletic Givova Palumbo, AUM, JCJuc Ltd
Sirens Macron Café del Mar Malta, Welbee's Arringo (Top), Malta National Aquarium (Bottom)
St. Andrews Macron Fiat, Frank Salt atg (Left), Marsali (Right)
Swieqi United Erima Platin P Casino, BEHR Eight Four Capital (Top)
Tarxien Rainbows Erreà Cassar, Dee Spas Cargo Nigel (Bottom) AEN (Right)
Valletta Nike Iniala Inter Sport (Top) Toyotomi, Da Mattia (Left), 5 Beans (Right)
Żebbuġ Rangers Joma The Convenience Shop, Coop Italia
Żurrieq Erima Trust Payment Xace (Top), Corendion, D£, B.home (Bottom) Tax ORB (Left), Firetech (Right)

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of
departure 		Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Senglea Athletic Liam Mangion End of Contract 5 May 2024 Pre-season Robert Cassar 15 May 2024
Gudja United Renzo Kerr Cumbo 5 May 2024 Orosco Anonam 11 May 2024
Żurrieq Saviour Debono Grech Resign 5 May 2024 Francis Cassar 9 May 2024
Marsa Orosco Anonym 8 May 2024 Saviour Debono Grech 8 May 2024
Mtarfa George Magri 16 May 2024 Ivan Casha 1 July 2024
Santa Lucia Alessandro Zinnari Sign For Ħamrun Spartans 17 May 2024 Liam Mangion 6 June 2024
St. Andrews Vesko Petrovic End of Contract 25 May 2024 Jose` Borg 29 May 2024
Valletta Juan Cruz Gill End of Caretaker 5 July 2024 Thane Micallef 5 July 2024

Venues

 Ta' Qali Hamrun
Centenary Stadium Victor Tedesco Stadium
Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 1,962

Regular season

During the regular season, each team plays each other once (either at home or at away). The top eight teams qualify for the Top eight, while the bottom eight teams qualify for the Play-Out.

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Valletta 15 12 2 1 28 4 +24 38 Qualification for the Top Eight
2 Tarxien Rainbows 15 9 2 4 22 16 +6 29
3 Marsa 15 8 4 3 25 13 +12 28
4 Swieqi United 15 8 4 3 22 17 +5 28
5 Pietà Hotspurs 15 8 2 5 21 19 +2 26
6 Santa Lucia 15 8 1 6 24 25 −1 25
7 Mgarr United 15 5 7 3 24 19 +5 22
8 Żurrieq 15 6 4 5 18 17 +1 22
9 Fgura United 15 6 3 6 17 14 +3 21 Qualification for the Play-Out
10 Gudja United 15 6 3 6 21 22 −1 21
11 Żebbuġ Rangers 15 3 8 4 22 20 +2 17
12 Sirens 15 4 5 6 25 26 −1 17
13 Lija Athletic 15 3 3 9 16 28 −12 12
14 St. Andrews 15 2 4 9 10 22 −12 10
15 Senglea Athletic 15 2 3 10 13 27 −14 9
16 Mtarfa 15 2 1 12 10 29 −19 7
Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions or teams for relegation).

Results

Home \ Away FGU GUD LJA MSA MGR MTF PIE STL SEN SIR STA SWQ TAR VAL ZEB ZUR
Fgura United — 1–2 1–2 — — 1–2 14 Dec — 5 Jan — —
Gudja United — — — — — 1 Dec 1–2 21 Dec 1–3 — — 1–3
Lija Athletic 0–1 — 1–3 — 1–2 22 Dec 5 Jan 1–0 — — — —
Marsa — — — — — — 1–0 1–1 15 Dec 1–2 1 Dec
Mgarr United 21 Dec 0–1 2–2 — — 4–0 5 Jan 2–1 — — — —
Mtarfa 1–2 2–1 4 Jan 0–2 — 15 Dec 30 Nov — — — — 0–1 —
Pietà Hotspurs — — 22 Dec — — — — 2–1 30 Nov — 3–1 1–2
Santa Lucia 0–0 — 0–5 5–3 — 0–1 — 15 Dec 2–0 — — — 4 Jan
Senglea Athletic — — — — 2–1 — — — 0–2 21 Dec 1–2 1–1 1–3
Sirens — — — 3–1 — — — — 3–0 0–3 2–2 22 Dec
St. Andrews — — — — — 0–0 1–1 — 30 Nov 14 Dec — 0–2
Swieqi United 0–1 1 Dec — 0–0 21 Dec 4 Jan 3–2 — — — — —
Tarxien Rainbows — — — 15 Dec 2–0 — — — 1–1 — 1–0 2–0
Valletta 3–0 4 Jan 6–0 30 Nov 3–0 — — — — — 22 Dec —
Żebbuġ Rangers 1 Dec 14 Dec 2–2 1–1 1–2 — — 5 Jan — — — —
Żurrieq — 14 Dec — 1–0 — — — — 1–2 0–1 1–0 —
Updated to match(es) played on 2 February 2025. 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.

Second phase

Top eight

The top eight teams from the regular season face each other once more (either at home or away), with the top two teams earning promotion to the 2025–26 Maltese Premier League. Results from the regular season were carried over into this round.

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion
1 Valletta (C, P) 22 19 2 1 49 7 +42 59 Promotion to the 2025–26 Maltese Premier League
2 Tarxien Rainbows (P) 22 11 6 5 29 22 +7 39
3 Swieqi United 22 10 6 6 33 29 +4 36
4 Pietà Hotspurs 22 10 5 7 34 30 +4 35
5 Żurrieq 22 9 5 8 32 31 +1 32
6 Santa Lucia 22 9 5 8 36 41 −5 32
7 Mgarr United 22 7 10 5 32 28 +4 31
8 Marsa 22 8 5 9 32 34 −2 29
Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide champions).
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Play-Out

The bottom eight teams from the regular season face each other for the second time (either at home or away), with the bottom two teams being relegated to the 2025–26 Maltese National Amateur League. Results from the regular season were carried over into this round.

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation
1 Fgura United 22 11 3 8 37 24 +13 36
2 St. Andrews 22 8 5 9 24 27 −3 29
3 Sirens 22 7 6 9 37 40 −3 27
4 Gudja United 22 7 6 9 30 34 −4 27
5 Żebbuġ Rangers 22 4 9 9 29 40 −11 21
6 Mtarfa 22 6 2 14 23 39 −16 20
7 Lija Athletic (R) 22 5 4 13 25 38 −13 19 Relegation to the 2025–26 Maltese National Amateur League
8 Senglea Athletic (R) 22 3 5 14 20 38 −18 14
Source: Malta Football Association
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-offs (only if needed to decide teams for relegation).
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 23 November 2024[1]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Andrei Ciolacu Valletta 7
2 Sulahmana Mamadu Bah Zurrieq 5
3 Lydon Micallef Marsa 4
Emmanuel Bio Pieta' Hotspurs
Duvan Mosquera Torres Zebbug Rangers
6 Diego Silva Caetano Gudja United 3
Erjon Beu Lija Athletic
Jurgen Suda Mgarr United
Samuel Boakye Mgarr United
Gilberto Martins Leite Carrara Sirens
Blessing Brafo Swieqi United
James Scicluna Valletta
Camilo Andres Diaz Arias Zebbug Rangers
Sebastian Grech Zurrieq

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Stadium Date
Sulahmana Mamadu Bah Zurrieq Gudja United 3–1 (A) Victor Tedesco Stadium, Hamrun 19 October 2024
Andrei Ciolacu Valletta Santa Lucia 3–0 (A) 20 October 2024

Clean sheets

Rank Player Club Clean sheets
1 Johnathan Debono Mgarr United 5
Timothy Aquilina Valletta
3 Jurgen Borg Żurrieq 3
4 Daniel Attard Gudja United 2
Ryan Caruana Marsa
Jean Claude Debattista Swieqi United
Jake Pisani St. Andrews
Andreas Vella Tarxien Rainbows
9 Yenz Cini Fgura United 1
James Pisani Gudja United
Luke Bonnici Lija Athletic
Jake Farrugia Pieta' Hotspurs
Christopher Farrugia Santa Lucia
Johnathan Grech Senglea Athletic
Andrea Cassar Sirens
Jamie Azzopardi Zebbug Rangers

Discipline

Player

  • Most yellow cards: 5
    • Dylan Agius (Marsa)
  • Most red cards: 1
    • Julian Camilleri (Lija Athletic)
    • Andy Gilson (Mtarfa)
    • Ayrton Senna Azzopardi (Mtarfa)
    • Zean Leornardi (Pieta' Hotspurs)
    • Dylan Mangion (Santa Lucia)
    • Jean Carlos Cloth Goncalves (Santa Lucia)
    • Andrea Cassar (Sirens)
    • Sammy Elfarsi (Sirens)
    • Elizeu Espirito Santo Da Conceicao (St. Andrews)
    • Andre Spiteri (Tarxien Rainbows)

Club

References

  1. ^ "Tables & Statistics". maltafootball.com. 20 September 2020.
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