Malta's Missing Football Stadiums

By Dominik Robbins

AC Milan and Inter Milan might ground share, but can you think of any country's top flight football league where the teams competing in it share just 4 stadiums for all their games? This is what you will find in the case of the Maltese Premier League. In Malta the football league is made up of 4 divisions (3,2,1 and Premier) there are 14 teams in the BOV (Bank of Valletta) Premier League, and each team will play a 26 game domestic league season (plus there are 2 Cup completions as well) meaning a whole league season of 182 games. For the upcoming 2019/20 season as mentioned earlier they will use just 4 grounds, and these are the Ta’Qali National stadium (capacity 17000), this is by some distance, the biggest ground on the island (Malta’s population is approximately 460000). The stadium itself is home to the Malta national football team but there are also other sports offices and admin centres based there as well. The next stadium is the Centenary stadium with a capacity of 3000, and this strangely is located right next door to the National stadium, and it is mainly home to Malta under 21s and the women's team. Next on the list comes Hibernians stadium based in the town of Paola, again with a capacity of 3000, this stadium is home to Hibernians and the Malta Rugby Union Team, finally comes the Victor Tedesco stadium in the town of Hamrun and has a capacity of 6000. Two of the stadiums have grass pitches (Ta’Qali and Hibernians Stadium), while the other 2 have AstroTurf. This leads to a unique viewing experience for fans where the average league attendance is where games are often double headed, with a game at 3 and then 5 or 5 and then 8. Most of the "bigger" games such as the Valletta-Floriana Derby are held at the Ta’Qali and would also be shown on TV Malta (which can be watched overseas through their website) There are other grounds in Malta for the Division 1, 2 and 3 teams but these are very small grounds, usually not much more than a sports centres pitch with maybe a capacity of five to six hundred. There is even a football ground on the roof of Malta’s mainly indoor shopping mall, called The point in a town called Silema, why not check it out on google Earth! So why don’t teams have their own stadiums, well 1 or 2 teams do have their own ground (such as Hibernians or Hamrum Spartans) but they like the rest use these neutral venues for their fixtures, with the average attendance in the Maltese premier league being around 500 – 550, there is plenty of space in these 4 grounds to accommodate the fixtures, and once upon a time there used to be a even bigger stadium called the Empire Stadium in Gzira, which had a capacity of approx. 30,000. This stadium was a precursor to the Ta’Qali but sadly it saw its last match being played there back in 1981, but the ground itself is still there and has been just left to decay once the Ta’Qali opened its doors but again still clearly visible with the use of google earth, and even easily accessible to look round and photograph if you happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods! Maltese teams have never had their own grounds mainly due to the lack of space available on the islands and also there are logistical problems to think about such as having a steady, suitable and consistent supply of water for the grass to grow and survive in the hottest Maltese summer. Still can’t see league sharing grounds catching on in England though!