2000–01 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League

Season	2000–01
Dates	19 August 2000 – 30 April 2001
Champions	Valletta (18th title)
Relegated	Rabat Ajax Xgħajra Tornadoes
Champions League	Valletta
UEFA Cup	Sliema Wanderers Birkirkara
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Hibernians
Matches played	132
Goals scored	506 (3.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Michael Mifsud (30 goals)
Highest scoring	Xgħajra Tornadoes 0–11 Sliema Wanderers (14 October 2000)
← 1999–2000 2001–02 →

The 2000–01 Maltese Premier League (known as the Rothmans Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st season of the Maltese Premier League, and the 86th season of top-tier football in Malta. The league started on 19 August 2000 with Birkirkara as the defending champions after their first title in the previous season.

Teams

Birkirkara

Floriana

Hibernians

Ħamrun S.

Naxxar L.

Pietà H.

Rabat A.

Sliema W.

Valletta

Xgħajra T.

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Locations of the 2000–01 Maltese Premier League teams

The following teams were promoted from the First Division at the start of the season:

• Ħamrun Spartans
• Xgħajra Tornadoes

From the previous Premier League season, the following teams were relegated to the First Division:

• Gozo
• Żurrieq

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Valletta	18	13	3	2	55	27	+28	42	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Sliema Wanderers	18	12	3	3	70	24	+46	39
3	Birkirkara	18	11	4	3	34	15	+19	37
4	Hibernians	18	10	5	3	44	23	+21	35
5	Floriana	18	10	3	5	42	31	+11	33
6	Ħamrun Spartans	18	7	4	7	24	31	−7	25
7	Pietà Hotspurs	18	4	5	9	40	40	0	17	Qualification for the Play-out
8	Naxxar Lions	18	3	3	12	22	44	−22	12
9	Rabat Ajax	18	2	4	12	23	53	−30	10
10	Xgħajra Tornadoes	18	0	2	16	7	73	−66	2

Source: RSSSF

Results

Home \ Away	BKR	FRN	HIB	ĦMR	NXR	PTA	RBT	SLM	VLT	XJR
Birkirkara	—	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	4–1	3–1	0–2	4–2	3–0
Floriana	2–2	—	1–4	4–1	3–2	3–2	4–2	3–2	1–3	1–0
Hibernians	0–2	2–2	—	2–0	3–0	2–2	1–0	2–2	3–3	6–0
Ħamrun Spartans	0–1	2–1	0–3	—	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	0–3	2–0
Naxxar Lions	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–1	—	3–1	1–3	3–3	1–3	3–2
Pietà Hotspurs	1–1	1–3	0–3	1–1	4–0	—	3–1	2–3	3–5	4–0
Rabat Ajax	0–4	0–7	2–3	2–3	2–0	2–2	—	1–3	1–3	3–3
Sliema Wanderers	0–3	3–2	5–0	6–1	7–0	4–2	6–0	—	4–1	7–0
Valletta	1–0	4–0	2–1	5–1	2–1	3–3	5–1	2–2	—	2–0
Xgħajra Tornadoes	0–1	0–3	0–4	0–3	0–5	0–8	1–1	0–11	1–6	—

Source: RSSSF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second phase

Top Six

The teams placed in the first six positions in the league table qualified for the Top Six, and the points obtained during the first phase were halved (and rounded up) before the start of second phase. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the second phase: Valletta 21 points, Sliema Wanderers 20, Birkirkara 19, Hibernians 18, Floriana 17 and Ħamrun Spartans 13.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VLT	SLM	BKR	HIB	FRN	ĦMR
1	Valletta (C)	10	8	1	1	21	11	+10	46	Qualification for the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League		—	2–0	2–1	1–3	2–1	2–0
2	Sliema Wanderers	10	6	2	2	26	13	+13	40	Qualification for the 2001–02 UEFA Cup		2–2	—	1–2	4–2	4–1	5–1
3	Birkirkara	10	5	2	3	16	12	+4	36			1–2	1–2	—	1–1	2–1	3–1
4	Hibernians	10	4	2	4	16	17	−1	32	Qualification for the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup		2–3	1–3	2–2	—	1–0	2–0
5	Floriana	10	3	1	6	12	17	−5	27			1–4	1–1	0–2	2–0	—	3–1
6	Ħamrun Spartans	10	0	0	10	4	25	−21	12			0–1	0–4	0–1	1–2	0–2	—

Source: RSSSF
(C) Champions

Play-out

The teams which finished in the last four league positions were placed in the play-out and at the end of the phase the two lowest-placed teams were relegated to the First Division. The points obtained during the first phase were halved (and rounded up) before the start of second phase. As a result, the teams started with the following points before the second phase: Pietà Hotspurs 9 points, Naxxar Lions 6, Rabat Ajax 5, Xgħajra Tornadoes 1.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation		PTA	NXR	RBT	XJR
7	Pietà Hotspurs	6	3	2	1	16	9	+7	20			—	2–1	1–1	5–0
8	Naxxar Lions	6	3	2	1	18	11	+7	17			2–2	—	3–3	4–3
9	Rabat Ajax (R)	6	3	2	1	12	10	+2	16	Relegation to the 2001–02 Maltese First Division		4–2	1–4	—	1–0
10	Xgħajra Tornadoes (R)	6	0	0	6	4	20	−16	1			1–4	0–4	0–2	—

Source: RSSSF
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Sliema Wanderers' Michael Mifsud finished as the league top scorer with 30 goals, including four hat-tricks, the most by a single player in the league.

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers	30
2	Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	23
3	Chris Oretan	Valletta	22
	Orosco Anonam	Sliema Wanderers
5	Michael Galea	Birkirkara	21
6	Malcolm Licari	Pietà Hotspurs	19
7	Gilbert Agius	Valletta	15
8	Rufin Oba	Floriana	12
9	Eduardo do Nascimento	Floriana	11
	Massimo Grima	Sliema Wanderers
	Ivan Woods	Pietà Hotspurs

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Paul Zammit	Ħamrun Spartans	Xgħajra Tornadoes	3–0	5 September 2000
Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers	Rabat Ajax	6–0	9 September 2000
Michael Mifsud6	Sliema Wanderers	Xgħajra Tornadoes	11–0	14 October 2000
Orosco Anonam	Sliema Wanderers	Xgħajra Tornadoes	11–0	14 October 2000
Ndubisi Chukunyere	Hibernians	Floriana	4–1	16 October 2000
Stefan Sultana4	Hibernians	Xgħajra Tornadoes	6–0	21 October 2000
Rufin Oba	Floriana	Rabat Ajax	7–0	19 November 2000
Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers	Ħamrun Spartans	6–1	10 December 2000
Malcolm Licari	Pietà Hotspurs	Naxxar Lions	4–0	1 December 2000
Michael Mifsud	Sliema Wanderers	Naxxar Lions	7–0	28 January 2001

External links

• Official website