2017–18 Premier League of Belize

Premier League of Belize
Season	2017–18
Dates	12 August 2017 – 21 May 2018
Champions	Opening:; Verdes ; Closing:; Belmopan Bandits
CONCACAF League	Belmopan Bandits
Matches played	123
Goals scored	445 (3.62 per match)
Top goalscorer	Opening:; Georgie Welcome (18) ; Closing:; Trimayne Harris (13)
Biggest home win	Belmopan Bandits 7-0 Freedom Fighters ; (4 November 2017) ; Belize Defence Force 7-0 Freedom Fighters ; (12 November 2017)
Biggest away win	Belize Defence Force 1-7 Verdes ; (18 November 2017) ; San Pedro Pirates 0-6 Belmopan Bandits ; (19 November 2017)
Highest scoring	Police United 6-3 Wagiya ; (8 October 2017)
Longest winning run	Belmopan Bandits (8)
Longest unbeaten run	Belmopan Bandits (13)
Longest winless run	Wagiya (13)
Longest losing run	Freedom Fighters (10)
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Premier League of Belize was the seventh season of the highest competitive football league in Belize, after it was founded in 2011. There were two seasons which were spread over two years. The opening was played towards the end of 2017 and the closing was played at the beginning of 2018.

Team information

Team	City	Stadium
Belize Defence Force	Belize City	MCC Grounds
Belmopan Bandits	Belmopan	Isidoro Beaton Stadium
Freedom Fighters	Punta Gorda	Victor Sanchez Union Field
Placencia Assassins	Independence	Michael Ashcroft Stadium
Police United	Belmopan	Isidoro Beaton Stadium
San Pedro Pirates	San Pedro	Ambergris Stadium
Verdes	San Ignacio	Norman Broaster Stadium
Wagiya	Dangriga	Carl Ramos Stadium

Opening season

From the 2016–17 Premier League of Belize closing season, 7 teams continued to play in the opening season of 2017–18. FC Belize were replaced by a newly formed team, San Pedro Pirates, making 8 teams in total.^[1]

There would be one league consisting of the 8 teams, who will play each other twice, with the top 4 teams advancing to the end of season playoffs. The opening season commenced on 12 August 2017.^[2]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belmopan Bandits	14	11	2	1	38	12	+26	35	Qualification to the Playoffs
2	Verdes (C)	14	9	3	2	26	11	+15	30
3	Belize Defence Force	14	6	3	5	23	16	+7	21
4	San Pedro Pirates	14	6	2	6	26	21	+5	20
5	Police United	14	6	2	6	27	25	+2	20
6	Placencia Assassins	14	4	4	6	22	27	−5	16
7	Wagiya	14	3	2	9	26	46	−20	11
8	Freedom Fighters	14	2	0	12	16	46	−30	6

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	BDF	BEL	FRE	PLA	POL	SPE	VER	WAG
Belize Defence Force		1–0	7–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	2–0
Belmopan Bandits	2–1		7–0	3–1	3–2	2–0	1–0	7–2
Freedom Fighters	0–3	0–2		3–0	1–2	3–4	1–4	1–3
Placencia Assassins	3–1	1–1	2–1		1–0	1–1	1–5	6–1
Police United	2–1	1–5	1–3	4–2		1–2	1–0	6–3
San Pedro Pirates	1–1	1–2	2–0	3–1	3–2		1–2	5–0
Verdes	3–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0		1–0
Wagiya	1–1	1–2	6–2	2–2	0–4	4–3	3–4

Updated to match(es) played on 12 November 2017. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

Semi-Finals					Finals

1	Belmopan Bandits	6	3	9

4	San Pedro Pirates	0	1	1
					1	Belmopan Bandits	0	2	2

					2	Verdes (a)	1	1	2
2	Verdes	7	2	9

3	Belize Defence Force	1	2	3

Semi-finals

Game One^[3]

18 November 2017	Belize Defence Force	1–7	Verdes	MCC Grounds, Belize City
16:00	Vallan Symms 30' (pen.)		Alcides Thomas 15', 46', 73' Roberto Silva de Lima 51' Gilroy Thurton 68' Elroy Kuylen 69' Richard Jimenez 89'

19 November 2017	San Pedro Pirates	0–6	Belmopan Bandits	Ambergris Stadium, San Pedro
18:30			Darwin Bermudez 18' Elroy Smith 20' Jeromy James 33' Georgie Welcome 42', 74' Kervin Johnson 86'

Game Two^[4]

25 November 2017	Belmopan Bandits	3–1 (9 – 1 agg.)	San Pedro Pirates	Isidoro Beaton Stadium, Belmopan
20:00	Georgie Welcome 3', 34' Jeromy James 51'		Jesse Smith 47'

26 November 2017	Verdes	2–2 (9 – 3 agg.)	Belize Defence Force	Norman Broaster Stadium, San Ignacio
16:00	Alcides Thomas 17' Gilroy Thurton 36'		Shane Flores 67' Trimayne Harris 81' (pen.)

Finals

Game One^[5]

3 December 2017	Verdes	1–0	Belmopan Bandits	Norman Broaster Stadium, San Ignacio
16:00	Roberto Silva de Lima 84'			Referee: Christopher Reid

Game Two^[6]

9 December 2017	Belmopan Bandits	2–1 (2 – 2 (a) agg.)	Verdes	Isidoro Beaton Stadium, Belmopan
20:00	Darwin Bermudez 22' Jeromy James 43'		Kervin Johnson 5' (o.g.)

2017–18 Opening Season champions
Verdes 2nd title

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals^*
1	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits	18
2	Alcides Thomas	Verdes	14
3	Daniel Jimenez	Police United	10
3	Krisean Lopez	Wagiya	10
5	Jaren Lambey	Belize Defence Force	9
5	Hector Martinez	San Pedro Pirates	9
7	Darwin Bermudez	Belmopan Bandits	7
	Jeromy James	Belmopan Bandits
	Elroy Kuylen	Verdes
	Luis Torres	Placencia Assassins
11	Shane Flores	Belize Defence Force	6
11	Elroy Smith	Belmopan Bandits	6

^* Includes playoff goals.

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Alcides Thomas	Verdes	Belize Defence Force	3–1 (H)	3 September 2017
Daniel Jimenez	Police United	Wagiya	6–3 (H)	8 October 2017
Krisean Lopez	Wagiya	Freedom Fighters	6–2 (H)	15 October 2017
Georgie Welcome⁵	Belmopan Bandits	Freedom Fighters	7–0 (H)	4 November 2017
Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits	Wagiya	7–2 (H)	11 November 2017
Jaren Lambey⁴	Belize Defence Force	Freedom Fighters	7–0 (H)	12 November 2017
Alcides Thomas	Verdes	Belize Defence Force	7–1 (A)	18 November 2017

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
⁵ Player scored 5 goals

Awards

In the post-game ceremonies of the final game of the season, the individual awards were announced.^[7]

Award	Recipient	Team
Golden Boot	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits
MVP (Regular Season)	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits
MVP (Playoff)	Roberto Silva de Lima	Verdes
Best Young Player	Krisean Lopez	Wagiya
Best Forward	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits
Best Midfielder	Denmark Casey Jr.	Verdes
Best Defender	Elroy Smith	Belmopan Bandits
Golden Glove	Selvin Zeron Sagastume	Verdes
Best Coach	Marvin Ottley	Verdes
Best Manager	Lorin Frazer	Verdes

Closing season

All 8 teams that participated in the opening season will participate in the closing season.

The format will be the same as the opening season with one league consisting of the 8 teams, who will play each other twice, with the top 4 teams advancing to the end of season playoffs. The closing season commenced on 13 January 2018.^[8]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belmopan Bandits (C)	14	9	4	1	33	19	+14	31	Qualification to the Playoffs
2	Verdes	14	9	2	3	32	14	+18	29
3	Belize Defence Force	14	6	2	6	26	18	+8	20
4	Police United	14	6	2	6	26	28	−2	20
5	Freedom Fighters	14	5	1	8	25	31	−6	16
6	San Pedro Pirates	13	5	0	8	21	28	−7	15
7	Wagiya	13	4	2	7	17	28	−11	14
8	Placencia Assassins	14	2	5	7	15	29	−14	11

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	BDF	BEL	FRE	PLA	POL	SPE	VER	WAG
Belize Defence Force		2–2	2–3	3–0	3–2	4–0	1–3	2–0
Belmopan Bandits	2–1		4–2	3–1	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–2
Freedom Fighters	0–3	2–4		0–0	2–1	2–1	0–3	6–0
Placencia Assassins	1–1	2–2	3–2		2–3	1–0	0–2	1–4
Police United	1–0	0–2	2–1	3–3		3–1	2–1	1–1
San Pedro Pirates	2–1	3–4	4–1	3–0	1–6		0–1	3–1
Verdes	2–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	7–1	1–2		3–2
Wagiya	0–2	0–2	3–2	1–1	2–0		1–4

Updated to match(es) played on 15 April 2018. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

Semi-Finals					Finals

1	Belmopan Bandits (a)	2	1	3

4	Police United	2	1	3
					1	Belmopan Bandits	3	5	8

					3	Belize Defence Force	1	3	4
2	Verdes	0	0	0

3	Belize Defence Force	2	0	2

Semi-finals

Game One^[9]

21 April 2018	Police United	2–2	Belmopan Bandits	Isidoro Beaton Stadium, Belmopan
20:00	Marlon Meza 49' Harrison Roches 79'		Jeromy James 26' Tyrone Pandy 90+2'

22 April 2018	Belize Defence Force	2–0	Verdes	MCC Grounds, Belize City
16:00	Trimayne Harris 43', 83'

Game Two^[10]

28 April 2018	Belmopan Bandits	1–1 (3 – 3 (a) agg.)	Police United	Isidoro Beaton Stadium, Belmopan
20:00	Jeromy James 82'		Devon Makin 27'

16 May 2018	Verdes	0–0 (0 – 2 agg.)	Belize Defence Force	Norman Broaster Stadium, San Ignacio
19:30

Finals

Game One^[11]

19 May 2018	Belize Defence Force	1–3	Belmopan Bandits	MCC Grounds, Belize City
16:00	Trimayne Harris 90+2'		Tyrone Pandy 10' Rony Flores 42' Jeromy James 74'	Referee: Juan Alas

Game Two^[11]

21 May 2018	Belmopan Bandits	5–3 (8–4 agg.)	Belize Defence Force	Isidoro Beaton Stadium, Belmopan
20:00	Rony Flores 22' Georgie Welcome 29', 37', 54' (pen.) Darwin Bermudez 88'		Trimayne Harris 25', 73' (pen.) Tarell Flores 62'

2017–18 Closing Season champions
Belmopan Bandits 8th title

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals^*
1	Trimayne Harris	Belize Defence Force	13
2	Jonard Castillo	Wagiya	10
2	Rony Flores	Belmopan Bandits	10
4	Hector Martinez	Belmopan Bandits	8
	Elroy Smith	Belmopan Bandits
	Alcides Thomas	Verdes
7	Jarret Davis	Verdes	6
	Alexander Peters	Freedom Fighters
	Luis Torres	Placencia Assassins
	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits
11	Inri Gonzaga	San Pedro Pirates	5
	Daniel Jimenez	Police United
	Krisean Lopez	Verdes

^* Includes playoff goals.

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Byron Usher	Police United	San Pedro Pirates	6–1 (A)	14 January 2018
Luis Torres	Placencia Assassins	Police United	3–3 (A)	21 January 2018
Luis Mencia	San Pedro Pirates	Freedom Fighters	4–1 (H)	18 February 2018
Hector Martinez	Belmopan Bandits	San Pedro Pirates	4–3 (A)	11 March 2018
Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits	Belize Defence Force	5–3 (H)	21 May 2018

Awards

In the post-game ceremonies of the final game of the season, the individual awards were announced.^[11]

Award	Recipient	Team
Golden Boot (Regular Season)	Jonard Castillo	Wagiya
Golden Boot (Overall)	Trimayne Harris	Belize Defence Force
MVP (Regular Season)	Trimayne Harris	Belize Defence Force
MVP (Playoff)	Georgie Welcome	Belmopan Bandits
Best Young Player	Jonard Castillo	Wagiya
Best Midfielder	Denmark Casey Jr.	Verdes
Best Defender	Dalton Eiley	Belmopan Bandits
Golden Glove	Selvin Zeron Sagastume	Verdes
Best Coach	Kent Gabourel	Belmopan Bandits
Best Manager	Captain Kenrick Martinez	Belize Defence Force

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belmopan Bandits	28	20	6	2	71	31	+40	66	2018 CONCACAF League
2	Verdes	28	18	5	5	58	25	+33	59
3	Belize Defence Force	28	12	5	11	49	36	+13	41
4	Police United	28	12	4	12	43	53	−10	40
5	San Pedro Pirates	27	11	2	14	47	49	−2	35
6	Placencia Assassins	28	6	9	13	37	56	−19	27
7	Wagiya	27	7	4	16	43	74	−31	25
8	Freedom Fighters	28	7	1	20	31	77	−46	22

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

References

^ "San Pedro Pirates to take part in 2017 Premier League of Belize". San Pedro Sun. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
^ "PLB 2017-2018 Opening Season kicks off with a bang!!". Amandala. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
^ "Playoff favorites, Verdes and Bandits win by 6-goal margins in PLB semifinals game 1; on pace to finals showdown". Amandala. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
^ "Semifinals completed; the stage is set for PLB Finals game 1". Amandala. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
^ "Verdes, 1-nil, over Bandits in game 1 of PLB Finals; game 2 "for all the marbles" on Saturday at Isidoro Beaton". Amandala. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
^ "Verdes FC is the new PLB 2017-2018 Opening Season champion". Amandala. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
^ "Belize Premier League names individual awards winners". The Guardian. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
^ "Verdes FC to begin defence of national football title on Sunday". The Guardian. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
^ "PLB semifinals drama; top seeds shaken up in 1st leg". Amandala. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
^ "Old capital vs new – BDF defenders vs the Bandits from Belmopan in PLB Closing Season Finals". Amandala. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Bandits rule!". Amandala. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

[1] "San Pedro Pirates to take part in 2017 Premier League of Belize". San Pedro Sun. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

[2] "PLB 2017-2018 Opening Season kicks off with a bang!!". Amandala. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.

[3] "Playoff favorites, Verdes and Bandits win by 6-goal margins in PLB semifinals game 1; on pace to finals showdown". Amandala. 25 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.

[4] "Semifinals completed; the stage is set for PLB Finals game 1". Amandala. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2017.

[5] "Verdes, 1-nil, over Bandits in game 1 of PLB Finals; game 2 "for all the marbles" on Saturday at Isidoro Beaton". Amandala. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

[6] "Verdes FC is the new PLB 2017-2018 Opening Season champion". Amandala. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.

[7] "Belize Premier League names individual awards winners". The Guardian. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.

[8] "Verdes FC to begin defence of national football title on Sunday". The Guardian. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.

[9] "PLB semifinals drama; top seeds shaken up in 1st leg". Amandala. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.

[10] "Old capital vs new – BDF defenders vs the Bandits from Belmopan in PLB Closing Season Finals". Amandala. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

[playoffs_and_awards-11] "Bandits rule!". Amandala. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

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