2001–02 Maltese Premier League

Maltese Premier League

Season	2001–02
Dates	18 August 2001 – 5 May 2002
Champions	Hibernians (9th title)
Relegated	Naxxar Lions Lija Athletic
Champions League	Hibernians
UEFA Cup	Sliema Wanderers Birkirkara
UEFA Intertoto Cup	Valletta
Matches played	133
Goals scored	440 (3.31 per match)
Top goalscorer	Danilo Dončić (32 goals)
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The 2001–02 Maltese Premier League (known as the Rothmans Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the Maltese Premier League, and the 87th season of top-tier football in Malta. The league started on 18 August 2001 and finished on 5 May 2002. Valletta were the defending champions.

Teams

Birkirkara

Floriana

Hibernians

Ħamrun S.

Lija A.

Marsa

Naxxar L.

Pietà H.

Sliema W.

Valletta

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Locations of the 2001–02 Maltese Premier League teams

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

• Marsa
• Lija Athletic

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

• Rabat Ajax
• Xgħajra Tornadoes

First phase

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Birkirkara	18	12	4	2	46	16	30	40	Qualification for the Top Six
2	Hibernians	18	12	4	2	41	22	19	40
3	Sliema Wanderers	18	12	2	4	48	16	32	38
4	Valletta	18	10	5	3	40	21	19	35
5	Ħamrun Spartans	18	7	2	9	23	33	−10	23
6	Floriana	18	6	4	8	27	24	3	22
7	Marsa	18	6	4	8	32	38	−6	22	Qualification for the Play-out
8	Pietà Hotspurs	18	4	3	11	20	36	−16	15
9	Naxxar Lions	18	4	0	14	24	54	−30	12
10	Lija Athletic	18	2	2	14	14	55	−41	8

Source: RSSSSF
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away	BKR	FRN	HIB	ĦMR	LJA	MRS	NXR	PTA	SLM	VLT
Birkirkara	—	3–1	1–1	5–0	3–0	3–0	5–1	5–2	0–1	1–3
Floriana	0–1	—	1–2	0–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	5–1	2–0	1–2
Hibernians	0–1	2–1	—	1–1	5–0	3–2	3–2	4–1	2–1	5–4
Ħamrun Spartans	1–2	1–0	0–1	—	2–0	2–3	2–1	2–1	1–5	0–3
Lija Athletic	1–4	2–2	0–4	1–2	—	1–2	3–2	2–1	0–0	0–2
Marsa	2–4	1–1	2–2	2–0	5–1	—	2–1	2–3	2–4	1–0
Naxxar Lions	1–6	0–3	1–3	2–4	4–2	2–0	—	2–0	1–4	1–4
Pietà Hotspurs	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–3	3–0	2–0	0–1	—	0–3	1–1
Sliema Wanderers	1–1	0–1	2–0	3–2	7–0	4–1	6–0	3–1	—	1–2
Valletta	0–0	2–1	2–2	3–0	4–0	3–3	5–1	0–0	0–3	—

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

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: Birkirkara 20 points, Hibernians 20, Sliema Wanderers 19, Valletta 18, Ħamrun Spartans 12 and Floriana 11.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		HIB	SLM	BKR	VLT	FRN	ĦMR
1	Hibernians (C)	10	7	2	1	26	12	14	43	Qualification for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League		—	4–2	2–2	2–4	3–1	2–0
2	Sliema Wanderers	10	5	2	3	19	14	5	36	Qualification for the 2002–03 UEFA Cup		1–3	—	2–2	2–1	3–2	4–0
3	Birkirkara	10	2	5	3	14	13	1	31			1–3	0–0	—	1–1	1–2	4–0
4	Valletta	10	3	3	4	12	12	0	30	Qualification for the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup		1–1	2–0	1–2	—	0–2	1–0
5	Floriana	10	4	2	4	12	14	−2	25			0–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	—	1–1
6	Ħamrun Spartans	10	1	2	7	3	12	−9	17			0–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	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: Marsa 11 points, Pietà Hotspurs 8, Naxxar Lions 6, Lija Athletic 4.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation		PTA	MRS	NXR	LJA
7	Pietà Hotspurs	6	4	0	2	9	6	3	20			—	2–1	2–1	2–0
8	Marsa	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	18			1–2	—	2–1	4–0
9	Naxxar Lions (R)	6	2	2	2	13	8	5	14	Relegation to the 2002–03 Maltese First Division		2–1	1–1	—	6–0
10	Lija Athletic (R)	6	2	1	3	7	15	−8	11			1–0	4–1	2–2	—

Source: RSSSF
(R) Relegated

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	32
2	Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	27
3	Chris Oretan	Valletta	15
	Michael Galea	Birkirkara
5	Malcolm Licari	Pietà Hotspurs	12
6	Daniel Bogdanović	Naxxar Lions	12
	Stefan Sultana	Ħamrun Spartans
8	Matthew Calascione	Birkirkara	10
9	Ivan Zammit	Valletta	9
	Eduardo do Nascimento	Floriana
	Ndubisi Chukunyere	Hibernians

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Chimezie Nwoke	Naxxar Lions	Lija Athletic	4–2	19 August 2001
Chucks Nwoko	Birkirkara	Pietà Hotspurs	5–2	18 August 2001
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Pietà Hotspurs	3–1	8 September 2001
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Naxxar Lions	6–0	29 September 2001
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Valletta	3–0	12 October 2001
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Ħamrun Spartans	4–0	3 March 2002
Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians	Sliema Wanderers	4–2	9 March 2002
Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers	Floriana	3–2	21 April 2002

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month
	Player	Club
August	Sean Sullivan	Valletta
September	Danilo Dončić	Sliema Wanderers
October	Matthew Calascione	Birkirkara
November	Simon Agius	Lija Athletic
December	Daniel Bogdanović	Naxxar Lions
January	Joe Brincat	Birkirkara
February	Malta national team
March	Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians
April	Adrian Mifsud	Hibernians
May	Joe Brincat	Birkirkara

External links

• Official website