The sun-drenched island of Malta has a rich and varied history. Positioned 90 kilometres from the coast of Sicily, Italy, and 185 north of Libya, its location has made it strategically desirable to a whole host of invaders. Today it is densely populated with just under half a million occupants occupying its 316 square kilometres. The capital city is the ancient fortress town of Valletta.
In 1900 the Maltese Football Association was founded. FIFA membership eventually followed in 1959, and entrance into UEFA came the following year. The Association has a total of 51 clubs competing in four divisions. The Maltese Premier league came into being in 1909 and currently has ten teams.
The set-up of the Premier league sees all ten teams play two rounds in a season that runs from August to May. In the first round every team plays each other twice. At the end of that the division is split in two halves. The top six teams go into The Championship Pool and the bottom four fight it out in The Relegation section.
So who are the top teams in Malta? Who are historically the most successful teams, and who are the chief rivals on this small, compact group of islands?
This season’s ten Premier teams are Birkirkara, Floriana, Hamrun Spartans, Hibernians, Marsaxlokk, Msida St.Joseph, Qormi, Sliema Wanderers, Tarxien Rainbows, and Valletta. All matches are played on neutral territory, often at the National Stadium.
With all due respect to the others Euroscore will be taking a look at four of the most successful club sides on the island. Firstly, in part one, we are off to a suburb of the capital for a look at Floriana FC and their neighbours Valletta FC.
FLORIANA FC
Floriana was formed in 1894, making it the second oldest club in Malta. At that time Malta was a British Colony. Visiting servicemen brought the game onto the island and began forming football teams to play against each other.
Floriana played in green and red quartered shirts up until 1905. Floriana is a suburb of 
Valletta and during the early 1900s was the base for the Dublin Fusiliers. Several friendly matches were played between the army team and Floriana FC. At the end of the last one the teams exchanged shirts. From that point FFC adopted green and white as the new club colours and shirts. The club even became known as ‘Ta’ L-Irish’.
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Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
I understand that the national stadium at least is much-improved nowadays, but time was not too long ago when the big European powers used to dread being drawn to play away in Malta. As weak a footballing power as the country is, visiting teams frequently struggled on the bumpy dirt pitch. There was the occasional surprise result - which, however, was invariably overturned with interest in the return leg! Mighty England famously limped to a 1-0 win in Valletta in a European Championship qualifier in 1971 before thumping Malta 5-0 in the return match at Wembley.
In an era where top coaches are fond of saying that 'there are no easy games any more', Malta remain one of the whipping-boys of the game (the national team has only ever won four competitive matches).
2 - Malta Traveller
Hi,
I've just come back from Malta and enjoyed it immensely. I didn't get a chance to see any football, but did get a chance to see the National stadium, and would agree it is in a state of dis-repair. Further investment is absolutely required in order to bring it up to what we would accept as international standards.
The islands themselves are amazing. I sawy Josef Calleja in concert, which is about as far as you can get from football, but it was truly amazing.