The communication from the ABFA sent out on the 18th of January, 2024, has alerted the premier division clubs of the new format for the group stage of the associations top league. The decisions comes after the the Tryum Football Club did not take part in the 2023/24 competition.
System OF Play APL
- All Premier and Second Division will be played in the same format except for the First Division. The First Division will be play two rounds of matches. All other competitions’ formats will be determined by the Competitions Committee.
- In the league play system of the APL, teams will be awarded three (3) points for a victory, One (1) point for a draw and zero (0) points for a loss.
- In all play-off games, if the score is tied after full time, thirty (30) minutes of extra time (two equal halves of fifteen minutes) will be played. If after extra time that the scores are still tied, penalty kicks will be taken to determine the winners. The Best of Five format will be used followed by sudden death if still tied.
- In the Premier Division, the four teams finishing the season in positions thirteen (13), fourteen (14), fifteen (15) and Tryum FC (16 – no participation) will be regulated to the First Division.
First Round of the APL will be played via League format, based on points accumulated, teams will be rank accordingly 1 through 15 (each team will play a total of 14 games in the 1st round).
The Second Round will be executed via a group stage format based on the top three ranked teams.
Teams will be ceded within the group format (Group A. B. C.), each team will play a total of 4 games in the 2nd round, with all points from the first round will be carried forward to the second round, the team with the most accumulative points wins the APL.
GROUP A | GROUP B | GROUP C |
1 | 2 | 3 |
6 | 5 | 4 |
9 | 8 | 7 |
12 | 11 | 10 |
15 | 14 | 13 |
Group A: Group B: Group C:
1 vs 15. 2 vs 14. 3 vs 13.
6 vs 12. 5 vs 11. 4 vs 10.
9 vs 15. 8 vs 14. 7 vs 13.
1 vs 12. 2 vs 11. 3 vs 10.
6 vs 15. 5 vs 14. 4 vs 13.
1 vs 9. 2 vs 8. 3 vs 7.
12 vs 15. 11 vs 14. 10 vs 13.
9 vs 12. 8 vs 11. 7 vs 10.
6 vs 9. 5 vs 8. 4 vs 7.
1 vs 6. 2 vs 5. 3 vs 4.
At the end of this stage, points will be totaled, Antigua Premier League (APL) Winner will be declared.
- The team finishing in position twelve (12) will enter a round robin play off with teams finishing in positions three (3) and four (4) in the First Division.
- The winner of this play off will play in the Premier Division in the next season.
- If the winner is not team the twelve (12) of the Premier Division, then team twelve (12) will also be relegated to the First Division.
