The BOV Premier League 2021/22 will kick-off on August 12. This emerged from the meeting of the Council of the Malta Football Association which was held on Tuesday.

This season, twelve teams will be taking part as Zejtun Corinthians, Tarxien Rainbows, Lija Athletic and Senglea Athletic were relegated and no teams were promoted. The Council voted in favour of the Executive Committee’s proposal to have twelve teams, with 30 voting in favour and eight against and twenty abstaining.

The league will be played on two rounds before the teams will be divided into a Championship Pool and Relegation Pool, carrying with them the points obtained in the first two rounds. Teams would play a further round in the Championship Pool and Relegation Pool.

Two teams will be relegated and four teams would be promoted from the Challenge League.

The twenty two teams in the Challenge League will be divided into two sections of eleven teams each with the league set to start on September 11.

The National Amateur League featuring the remaining nineteen teams will kick off on September 25. The Women’s League and the Youth League will also start in September.

As from the coming season, Premier League clubs should have a squad of a maximum twenty five players and Challenge League clubs a maximum of twenty players. Premier League clubs cannot register more than twelve foreign players, including a maximum of nine in the match-day squad but only seven on the field of play. Challenge League clubs could register up to five foreign players – four for their senior team and one for the Youth League. Although the four players could be included in the match-day squad, only three could be on the field of play at the same time.