The VBET Malta Premier 2026/27 kicks-off this weekend with the first matches from the Opening Round league phase.
In fact, the format based on an Opening Round and a Closing Round enters its third year but there were some tweaks to the format.
If a team wins both the Opening and Closing Rounds, the team would be declared champion.
The first change regards the possibility of a team finishing second in the runner-up spot in both the Opening Round and Closing Rounds. In that case, that team will no longer take part in the Final Four but instead would be declared as the runner-up of the Malta Premier.
If the first and second places are determined as above, and the same team places third in both the Opening and the Closing Round, then that team shall be declared as third-placed.
If the first, second, and third places are determined as above, and the same team places fourth in both the Opening and the Closing Round, then that team shall be declared as fourth-placed.
If a team wins both the Opening and Closing Rounds and two different teams place second in the Opening and the Closing rounds respectively, their position in the final Premier League Classification shall be determined on the basis of the aggregate points obtained in the Opening and the Closing Round, including the Top 6 of both rounds. However, if any of the teams in question failed to play in the Top 6 of either round, only the results achieved in the league phases of the Opening and Closing Rounds will be taken into account.
Where the aggregate number of points obtained by such two teams is the same, the ranking shall be determined on the basis of the criteria established in the Competition Rules (direct encounters: points followed by goal difference, highest number of goals scored, followed by best goal difference overall) applied in relation to matches played in both the Opening and the Closing Round, including the Top 6 Group of both rounds. Only the league phases will be taken into account if any of the teams fail to make it to the Top 6 in any of the rounds.
As before, if the winner and the runner-up of the Top 6 of the Opening Round, and the winner and the runner-up of the Top 6 of the Closing Round are the same two teams but with a different ranking in each Round, then the Finalissima will take place and the winner of the match will be declared as the Champion whilst the loser will be declared as the Runner-Up .
If the winners and the runners-up of the Top 6 of the Opening Round and of the Closing Round are four different teams, the Final Four will determine the Champion and the Runner-Up.
Another change regards when the winners and the runners-up of the Top 6 of the Opening Round and of the Closing Round are three different teams: the team which from these three different teams is both a winner of either one of the Rounds and a runner up of the other Round will automatically qualify for the Final match against the winner of the play-off match between the other two teams. The winner of this final play-
off match shall be declared as the Champion whilst the loser shall be declared as the Runner-Up. The loser of the initial play-off shall be ranked as the third-placed team.
If the winners and the runners-up of the Top 6 of the Opening Round and of the Closing Round be three different teams and one of the three different teams is a runner up in both Rounds, such team shall automatically be ranked third and the Finalissima will be played between the remaining two teams.
With regards to relegation, nothing will change.
Should the teams ranked in the bottom two places in the Bottom 6 in both rounds, they would be relegated to the Challenge League
Should one team finish in the bottom two places in the Bottom 6 in both rounds, that team will be relegated and a relegation decider would be played between the other two teams occupying one of the bottom two places in the Bottom 6 in the Opening and Closing Rounds.
If a team finishes in one of the two bottom places in the Bottom 6 in either round but finishes in one of the top two places in the Top 6 in either round, then that team would avoid relegation and the team against whom a play-off would have been played would be automatically relegated.
If the bottom two teams in the Bottom 6 of the Opening Round are different from the bottom two teams in the Closing Round, two deciders would be played with the losers being relegated to the Challenge League.