by The Assikura Women’s League kicks off tomorrow as the 2025/26 season attempts to build on the positivity of its predecessor, despite a complete restructuring. This build-up looks at the changes in the league structure, the competitive landscape and the question that has been most overlooked.
Plenty To Live Up To
The Assikura Women’s League season 2025/26 will kick off tomorrow evening as Birkirkara open against Valletta at the Centenary Stadium.
The competition will have plenty to live up to following last year’s four-horse races that lasted until the 22nd and penultimate matchday, making the 2024/25 season one of the most memorable in the Maltese game.
However, the hopes of a replica season to build on that momentum at the top have been already challenged. The new season features a reduction in teams from eight to six teams, following the drop of Lija Athletic and Mtarfa. The competing teams will all be ones that are continuing participation in the league: Swieqi United, Mgarr United, Birkirkara, Hibernians, San Gwann and Valletta.
The competitions format is also changed, with the split into Top Four and Bottom Four giving way to a round-robin format that will persist until the end of the season. There will be four rounds, with a total of 20 matches for each team until the winner lifts the crown, meaning a reduction of three matches.
In this regard, the discussions surrounding the potential success of the season have already begun before a single ball has been kicked. This as debates reign on whether the reduction in teams and the change in format will make the league even more competitive. The teams dropping from the league suffered heavy losses which is an argument in favour of the six-teams. However, the question remains whether there will be six high-quality evenly-matched teams or if there will still be front-runners that will obliterate competition.
Another aspect that is yet to be discussed is the distribution of players, which will be a picture to be analysed once the teams fully announce their squads and start their campaigns, since there is no known limit on players registered to a team and no public information surrounding this.
That will be a picture to be assessed in the actions of players with limited game time, this is often the most silent and most overlooked indicator. While offhand discussions of quality persist with no objective data in the public domain, it is perhaps worth keeping in mind that last season the game also lost players at prime ages and of national team quality and status.
The drop in teams also means that each week will now feature just three matches, which will be distributed with one match on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, venues have also come repeatedly under the spotlight. Initially, the Centenary Stadium will host some matches across the three matchdays, but will then only retain the Thursday slot. Victor Tedesco Stadium will return in rotation hosting some matches on Fridays.
The Charles Abela Stadium (Mosta) will be one of the stadiums hosting the most matches, taking the majority of Friday and Saturday slots, despite repeated questions raised on venue management, including the state of the pitch, the dressing rooms, poor lighting and poor audience seating quality last season. Dingli Ground also appears to have lost favour following complaints on the pitch and lighting (despite improvement), but having better quality facilities and seating than the Mosta counterpart.
Additionally, the fact that Saturday’s matches are the ones hosted in the smaller grounds, suggests that shifting big matches to the weekend accompanied with wider marketing campaigns to attract new crowds is likely not in the plans, with the Saturday matches given the smallest venues.
As to the match times, the weekday fixtures have been pushed later to 20:30. Those on Saturday will be the ones most changed, with the afternoon back-to-back double header reverted to just one match in and this being to the evening. Kick-offs announced vary between an earliest kick-off at 18:00 and the latest at 20:30.
It is unclear what analysis was made in regard to how the changes in fixture times and day allocations will impact stakeholders including clubs involved, as well as the crowd turnout for matches. Indeed, the late Saturday fixtures will be ones to keep an eye on as match-goers make the decision between alternate social events and attending matches. This besides the impact on part-time and amateur players, coaches and staff.
In other words, from a structural setting, the 2025/26 season appears to have scrapped most of the elements that sustained the season before it, despite the previous positives. To what end, remains to be seen.
The Competitive Landscape
What should you expect from teams? Well, all the teams playing in the league will be returning, but the manner in which they are after the off-season is different.
Swieqi United will take to the pitch as the defending champions for the first time. The team had a successful debut in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, notching a win and coming close to progression to the next round, falling to a goal in extra-time against serial competitors, Spartak Myjava.
The Owls have retained all the coaching structure behind Dorianne Theuma at senior level, marking consistency in leadership. At squad level, the side has made more recruitments than the previous season, attracting strong young prospects in Sara Saliba, Valentina Rapa and Aleksandra Yaneva. The signings appear to strengthen key areas for the Owls, increasing depth in defence and addressing gaps in the forward line.
Theuma was often consistent in line-ups and stuck to a single system for the majority of last season to earn the maiden trophy. However, interviews given suggest that the Swieqi coach is prioritising squad competitiveness and versatility, making the Owls a potential chameleon this year.
Speaking of chameleons, Mgarr United were a shape-shifting force last year in Ryan Vella’s debut season in charge. Although the league title eluded them, the Greens had the last laugh lifting their maiden trophy, the Assikura Women’s Knockout.
Questioned about the future of the team following that final, Vella spoke positively about having a strong basis with only selected signings required. The off-season confirmed this. The Greens were the most active in the summer of 2024, but this summer have made just a couple of major signings, mostly focusing on younger players in Gaia Antonelli and Angele Fenech. The team appears to be fully backing the strength and unity of the team formed last year, confirming the extensions of the squad that lifted the maiden Knockout title and otherwise focusing on youth signings as the Greens return to youth competitions.
Having been troubled by an injury list which persists even today, the real key to Mgarr’s success will be how much the side will manage to keep their players fit. Following that, eyes will turn to Ryan Vella and his team to eek the consistency in results, while tactically outmanoeuvring counterparts for the duration of the season to lift the league title for the first time. A counter-attacking approach worked last season, but as opposition gets smarter to the strengths, it will be interesting whether the Greens can find new ways to beat their opposition.
Hibernians will be one to watch as they are led by Martina Borg for the first time and also featuring plenty of reshuffles in the squad. The former Paolites’ captain will have the pressures of any debut coach, with also the namesake of one of the giants of women’s football who are still in time to be the first to earn the thirtheenth league title, a feat only Birkirkara are equal in chasing.
More than five players were released in the summer, and the side brought in a few known young figures from various teams. This includes a change between the sticks as Maya Cachia replaces the Stripes of Birkirkara with the black and white of Hibernians, similar to American wide player, Calista Schechinger. The side was also one to benefit from the pilfering of Lija Athletic and Valletta, with Lisa Calleja and Laura Muscat among those switching emblems.
However, at its core, Hibernians have retained a young squad most of which Martina Borg is familiar with, either players coached at club or international level, or players captained until last year. Untested at senior level, the path will be challenging for Borg as the Paolites bid for silverware. However, as last season showed new coaches have had a knack for bringing fresh ideas to the game which have stunned opposition. Titles earned by Dorianne Theuma and Ryan Vella last season are proof of this, but as that showed it will also be determined by the club, coaching staff and squad backing the senior team coach’s approach.
Birkirkara‘s marketing campaigns ahead of the season suggest that the other giant in the women’s game is also seeking a return to silverware. A fall to Swieqi United in the Super Cup and on the penultimate league match, was compounded by a quarter-final exit to Mgarr United that cemented the reality that the kids on the block arrived.
Birkirkara paid the price with exits from the team at squad and coaching level with every turn, but managed to retain a nucleus of experience in the squad, while the club put faith in Billy Mock to steer the ship back to glory. The team has made several youth signings, being one to most capitalise on Valletta’s departures in players such as Ylenia Grech and Eunice Micallef, as well as Mtarfa exit Jasmine Camilleri among others. Additionally, it appears that the club has called on a familiar face as forward Patricia Lamanna returns to the team, combined by the arrival of Maya Pellegrini.
In other words, the giant’s administrative committee appears to have been hard at work over the off-season in recruiting a squad and bringing some key building blocks for a staff to lead it. It still has one of the most skeleton staff compared to the rest of the big four, which will be a question that will be asked of the Stripes. However, Birkirkara won titles with much less, so the question will be whether that recipe is still one capable of success as the competitive landscape changes.
The first indication to that answer will be how quickly the side can hit the ground running to take the battle to their rivals in the early stages of the season. The motivation is simple, to be the first to lift the thirtheenth title.
San Gwann will be a team that will bring excitement in whether it can maintain its upward trajectory for a third consecutive season. The target to dislodge one of the top four is one that Raiders and Valletta have aimed for to no success. The Yellows have consistency at the helm as Julian Camilleri extended his stay.
The side have also been likely one of the most active in the league in transfers, being the club that mostly benefited in signing young players from Valletta and Mtarfa. The complete set of departures remains to be confirmed and will ultimately be another important piece of the puzzle.
However, the question will be whether Camilleri can adequately use the numbers at his disposal to good effect. Hailey Russell topped the scoring charts, but as the competition showed last year it will require the whole of the squad to raise their level another notch to achieve the next goal and pressure mistakes from the top four. San Gwann’s success at this could take the women’s league into unchartered territory and fulfill the premise of a competitive, non-split, round-robin configuration.
The final team will be Valletta. It is a club that has dominated the men’s game, but one that is a relatively young face with a troubled start in the women’s game. The vast majority of the former Raiders squad has disbanded into opposition territory, with the Citizens bringing in several players from the recently disbanded Mtarfa and Lija Athletic teams. As the side turns the tricks in the background toward fulfilling a complete and competitive squad, Anton Cremona will be the one tasked to steer it.
In this regard, Valletta is the team with most changes to manoeuvre, but also the one that gets the best chance to build afresh. Once again, it appears that the staff surrounding the coach will be limited compared to the competition, which will be a factor to assess as the Citizens take to the pitch. A side clearly in a state of building itself from the ground up, the biggest question will be whether the nucleus will be strong enough to sustain an initial storm as fully-fledged competition is faced every week.
The ability to ride that initial challenge will begin to give a real picture into where Valletta might sit this season. Certainly, a strong opening matchday against Birkirkara will be a positive boost as the Assikura Women’s League lives on what feels like a final lifeline before implosion in betting on six strong teams to maintain a domestic women’s footballing landscape of competitiveness and entertainment for the local community.
Who Will They Play For?
In all the discussions had in the off-season, that is the question that has caught most off-guard. Based on that response, it is telling why the women’s game in Malta still struggles to attract appreciable numbers. The crowd is simply not thought of, the game is still mostly thought of simply to improve the technical quality and for those actively involved to chase titles.
Faced with that question, the answer of every player is expected to be that first they will do it for themselves. It is the answer that you expect from anyone on the pitch, whether they are amateur or among the most professional setups world football offers.
By doing it for themselves, one hopes that their passion transmits to the stands. It is there that football reaches its true embodiment, as artistry on the pitch and passion on the touchline collide with the support of those in the stands into an unmatchable experience.
However, that is an experience that as a Maltese football fan following the women’s game, you experience only abroad. It is an experience that is not only determined by the quality put on display by players and their coaches, but by the organisation around them and the competition.
For that to happen, the game must be visible and welcoming to all those that have a second to wonder about it. Swieqi United’s exploits in Slovakia this year have continued to peak interest into the domestic league from abroad. This backs the increasing requests on the back of successful national team exploits and peeks of the domestic game given through media coverage.
However, the door remains shut for those abroad to see its quality in an entire match of football as long as open live-streams remain a dream. The door remains shut for those in Malta who could potentially become its stronghold community in the stands as they are consistently made to jump through hoops to even get the bare minimum of what football is supposed to embody.
Some call it the beautiful game, but first and foremost, football is the game of the people. Women’s football is the fastest growing sport in the world, yet a country of half a million with one of the strongest numbers of football fans per capita has a national women’s football record attendance that is surpassed by a village of eleven thousand inhabitants. It is no surprise when the visibility of the domestic game is what it is.
So, out of all the questions peaking your interest as this season kicks off, for the longevity of the game the real one to ask is, who will they play for?
The Assikura Women’s League kicks off tomorrow at 20:30 at the Centenary Stadium, as Valletta take on Birkirkara.
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Lead Images: Elise Bajada
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