# 2018 Malé League

The 2018 Malé League will be the eighth season of the Malé League, the top division of Maldivian football under the latest update of the Maldivian football league system. The league was made up of the 8 clubs.

## Format

All eight teams play against each other in Two Round Format. Team with most total points at the end of the season will be crowned as Malé League champion. Top six teams qualify for the Dhivehi Premier League. Bottom two teams play the Malé League qualification with the runner-up of Second Division.
The team with the most points in Malé League qualification after a two-legged group round will play in the next year's Malé League. Bottom two will be relegated to Second Division.

## Teams

A total of 8 teams will be contesting in the league.

### Teams and their divisions

    Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.
| Team | Division |
| Eagles | Maafannu |
| Club Green Streets | Machchangolhi |
| Valencia | Machchangolhi |
| Maziya | West Maafannu |
| New Radiant | Henveiru |
| TC Sports Club | Henveiru |
| United Victory | Galolhu |
| Victory | Galolhu |

### Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Head Coach | Captain |
| Eagles | Mohamed Shiyaz | Sujan Perera |
| Green Streets | Ali Suzain | Ashad Ali |
| Valencia | Sobah Mohamed | Mohamed Sifan |
| Maziya | Ismail Mahfooz | Asadhulla Abdulla |
| New Radiant | Óscar Bruzón | Ali Ashfaq |
| TC Sports Club | Mohamed Nizam | Farrah Ahmed |
| United Victory | Mohamed Nazeeh | Hussain Shimaz |
| Victory | László Kiss | Shafiu Ahmed |

### Coaching changes
## Foreign players

Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 (Asian) |
| Club Eagles | Luiz Eduardo Purcino | Mahmoud Sayed | | Sujan Perera |
| Club Green Streets | Ilya Sobol | Roland Bilala | Oleh Yefimchuk | Sergey Smorodin |
| Club Valencia | Dryga Sergi | Heysham Valeri | Jun Kochi | Aidar Mambetaliev |
| Maziya | Miloš Kovačević | Mauro Boerchio | Cornelius Stewart | |
| New Radiant | Candela | Jorge Gotor | Guillem Martí Misut | Zohib Islam Amiri |
| TC Sports Club | Alaaeldin Nasr | Dioh Williams | | Anatoliy Vlasichev |
| United Victory | Rafael Betim Marti | Paulo Helber | Kordell Samuel | Artur Muladzhanov |
| Victory | Ángel Carrascosa Muñoz | Simon Tibor Csordás | Joaco Cañas | |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | New Radiant | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 10 | +30 | 37 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 2 | Eagles | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 25 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 3 | Maziya | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 26 | 12 | +14 | 24 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 4 | TC Sports Club | 14 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 20 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 5 | Victory | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 24 | −3 | 20 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 6 | Green Streets | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 31 | −3 | 14 | 2018 Dhivehi Premier League |
| 7 | United Victory | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 33 | −18 | 9 | Malé League qualification |
| 8 | Valencia | 14 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 45 | −34 | 7 | Malé League qualification |

## Season summary
### Round One and Two

| Home \ Away | EAG | GRS | VLC | MAZ | NRA | TCS | UVI | VIC |
| Eagles | | 2–1 | 6–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Green Streets | | | | 2–2 | 1–6 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Valencia | 3–3 | 0–5 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–3 | | 1–3 |
| Maziya | 0–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | | 0–1 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 |
| New Radiant | 4–1 | 4–1 | 5–0 | | | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 |
| TC Sports | 3–2 | 3–4 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | | 2–1 | |
| United Victory | 2–4 | 0–5 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 2–1 |
| Victory | 1–4 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 3–1 | |
Note 1: The notion of home and away fixtures in the 2018 Malé League is moot as all games are played at National Football Stadium. As such, for the purpose of this table, the first result chronologically has been deemed that team's "home" game and the second the "away" game.

### Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.
* Team ╲ Round
* Eagles
* Green Streets
* Valencia
* Maziya
* New Radiant
* TC Sports
* United Victory
* Victory

### Matches
#### First round

A total of 28 matches will be played in this round.

#### Second round

A total of 28 matches will be played in this round.

## 2019 Malé League qualification

The qualifiers were to be played between 2018 Malé League bottom two teams– United Victory and Club Valencia, and 2018 Second Division runner up JJ Sports Club. Due to unknown reasons, JJ Sports Club withdrew their chance in the qualification phase.
* United Victory won 4–2 on aggregate and secured their first division spot for next season.
* Club Valencia relegated for the first time in the 39-year history of the club.