Dhivehi Premier League

Dhivehi Premier League
Founded	22 December 2014; 10 years ago
Country	Maldives
Confederation	AFC
Number of clubs	8
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Second Division
Domestic cup(s)	FA Cup; President's Cup; Charity Shield
International cup(s)	AFC Challenge League
Current champions	Maziya (5th title) ; (2023)
Most championships	Maziya (5 titles)
TV partners	Television Maldives (live matches)
	Current: 2024 Dhivehi Premier League

The Dhivehi Premier League, known as the MWSC Dhivehi Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a Maldivian men's professional football league. At the top of the Maldives football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 8 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Second Division Football Tournament.

Teams are playing 21 match each, totalling 168 matches in the season. The Dhivehi Premier League succeeded the Dhivehi League. Currently all eight teams are based at the National Football Stadium.

History

Season	Champions	Runners-up	Topscorers
2015	New Radiant	TC Sports Club	Assadhulla Abdulla (9 goals)
2016	Maziya	TC Sports Club	Ali Fasir (29 goals)
2017	New Radiant	TC Sports Club	Ali Ashfaq (13 goals)
2018	TC Sports Club	Maziya	Ahmed Rizuvan (31 goals)
2019–20	Maziya	Eagles	Ahmed Rizuvan (28 goals)
2020–21	Maziya	Valencia	Cornelius Stewart (10 goals)
2022	Maziya	Eagles	Tana (18 goals)
2023	Maziya	Eagles	Ahmed Rizuvan (23 goals)

Competition format

Competition

There are 8 clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season each club plays the others thrice (a double round-robin system), for a total of 21 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. If still equal, teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If there is a tie for the championship, for relegation, or for qualification to other competitions, a play-off match decides rank.

Qualification for Asian competitions

Only one team, the league winners, qualify for the AFC Challenge League playoffs. The team must win play-off to get to the group stage.

Sponsorship

Period	Sponsor	Brand
2015–2018	Ooredoo Maldives	Ooredoo Dhivehi Premier League
2019-20–2020-21	Dhiraagu	Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League
2022	Ooredoo Maldives	Ooredoo Dhivehi Premier League
2023-	MWSC	MWSC Dhivehi Premier League

Finances

The Football Association of Maldives (FAM) provides each Premier League team with an amount of MVR 1.6 million. The Champion team also receives a MVR 1 million cash prize.^{[citation needed]}^[1]

Current Dhivehi Premier League teams

Team	Division
Buru Sports Club	Machchangolhi
Club Eagles	Maafannu
Club Green Streets	Machchangolhi
Club Valencia	Machchangolhi
Maziya S&RC	West Maafannu
Super United Sports	Machchangolhi
TC Sports Club	Henveiru
United Victory	Galolhu

All-time Dhivehi Premier League table

The all-time Dhivehi Premier League table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Premier League since its inception in 2015. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2022 season.^[2] Teams in bold are part of the 2023 Premier League.

Pos.	Club	Seasons	Pld	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Pts	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Relegated	Best Pos.
1	Maziya	8	121	86	20	15	348	95	+253	278	4	1	1	1		1st
2	TC Sports Club	8	121	67	23	31	237	133	+104	224	1	3	1			1st
3	Club Eagles	7	107	60	28	19	218	110	+108	208		1	3	1		2nd
4	New Radiant	4	65	37	12	16	132	69	+63	123	2			1	1^[a]	1st
5	Green Streets	6	86	35	15	36	139	149	−10	120			1	1		3rd
6	Victory	4	67	12	10	45	56	153	−97	43^[b]					1	5th
7	Valencia	5	70	27	12	31	98	104	−6	93		1				2nd
8	United Victory	5	72	19	20	33	90	131	−41	77				1		4th
9	Foakaidhoo	2	37	8	8	21	36	84	−48	32						6th
10	BG Sports Club	2	35	6	12	17	33	56	−23	30					1	7th
11	Da Grande	3	56	12	12	32	66	107	−41	48					1	5th
12	Super United Sports	3	35	7	9	19	31	66	−35	30						6th
13	Nilandhoo SC	2	32	8	3	21	44	114	−70	27						6th
14	G. Dh. Thinadhoo	1	14	5	3	6	23	18	+5	18				1		4th
15	Sh. Milandhoo	1	14	3	5	6	18	26	−8	14						6th
16	A. A. Maalhos	1	14	2	3	9	18	40	−22	9						7th
17	B. Fehendhoo	1	9	1	1	7	2	30	−28	4					1	9th
18	Dh. Kudahuvadhoo	1	14	0	3	11	6	40	−34	3						8th
19	Mahibadhoo	1	14	0	2	12	12	47	−35	2					1	8th
20	Th. Thimarafushi	1	9	0	1	8	2	37	−35	1					1	10th
21	Buru Sports Club	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-						-

Notes

^ New Radiant were suspended from all football related activities before 2019–20 Dhivehi Premier League started, due to unpaid wages to the players and failing to pay fines to FIFA and FAM, resulting to relegation^[3]
^ Victory was docked 3 points for failing to pay over players' wages during 2018 Dhivehi Premier League^[4]

References

^ "FAM introduces season tickets". Maldivesoccer. April 2015. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^ "Dhivehi Premier League 2021/2022 Standings - Football/Maldives". www.flashscore.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
^ "Valencia makes a comeback to First Division". Raajje Mv. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
^ "މުސާރަ މައްސަލައެއްގައި ފީފާއިން ވިކްޓަރީގެ ޕޮއިންޓް އުނިކޮށްފި" (in Divehi). FIGC. 21 February 2019. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

External links

Ooredoo Dhivehi Premier League (2016 MD3-2017) at Mihaaru. Archived 18 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine

[4] New Radiant were suspended from all football related activities before 2019–20 Dhivehi Premier League started, due to unpaid wages to the players and failing to pay fines to FIFA and FAM, resulting to relegation^[3]

[6] Victory was docked 3 points for failing to pay over players' wages during 2018 Dhivehi Premier League^[4]

[ST-1] "FAM introduces season tickets". Maldivesoccer. April 2015. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2020.

[2] "Dhivehi Premier League 2021/2022 Standings - Football/Maldives". www.flashscore.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.

[3] "Valencia makes a comeback to First Division". Raajje Mv. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.

[5] "މުސާރަ މައްސަލައެއްގައި ފީފާއިން ވިކްޓަރީގެ ޕޮއިންޓް އުނިކޮށްފި" (in Divehi). FIGC. 21 February 2019. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[3]

[4]