The yellow and red-clad Birkirkara fans are expected to throng the National Stadium today as the newly-crowned champions play their last match of the season against runners-up Valletta (kick-off 7.30 p.m.).
The Stripes kickstarted their title celebrations last Friday when a 1-0 defeat of Tarxien Rainbows made sure their unassailable four-point lead at the top of the standings remained intact.
However, their jubilation will reach a peak tonight when skipper Michael Galea lifts the cham-pionship trophy no matter what the result against Valletta will be.
True, Birkirkara did wrap up the title issue with one match to spare but they wouldn't want rivals Valletta to dampen their celebrations, so another bruising clash could be in the offing as pride ranks high on the two contenders' priority list in the final day of the 2009-10 championship.
Paul Zammit, the Birkirkara coach, knows his club is in party mood but is keeping his players focused before uncorking the champagne bottles.
"It was difficult for us to prepare for this last match of the season," Zammit told The Times.
"Making sure of the championship in our previous match inevitably took all the pressure from us. The players deserved to have some time off so it's not easy to regain focus so quickly.
"Having said that, we want to end our season in style not to let down the fans. Consistency has been the major factor behind this championship and we have every intention to remain consistent till our last match of the season."
Zammit said the hunger shown by his players throughout the season saw the team through in the end.
"There were many factors attributed to this success," he remarked.
"The administration, coaching staff and fans played their roles to perfection, no doubt. However, the players also worked hard and showed great desire to succeed right from the start.
"There were many who didn't believe this team could win the league but we proved that the most important thing in team sport is how hard you try in practice and the mental strength you show during matches... in the end our joint efforts were justly rewarded."
While Birkirkara are set to party all night to mark their third league title in history, Valletta, still in the FA Trophy semi-finals, will have a lot of soul-searching to do for missing out on the top prize for a second successive year despite being billed as favourites.
City coach Ton Caanen, who steps down from his post at the end of the season, is urging his team to complete the league calendar with a win.
"Obviously, missing out on the league was a great setback for us," the Dutch coach remarked.
"We hoped till the end that Birkirkara could slip up to get back in contention. However, for one reason or another, that did not happen and now we only have the FA Trophy to play for.
"Valletta did pretty well these last few matches and, in my opinion, deserved better but there's no use crying over spilt milk. Now, we are looking at our last league match as a good opportunity to win and increase confidence levels ahead of the semi-finals."
Valletta will have to do without defender Luke Dimech, suspended by the club till the end of the season, while Irish forward Declan O'Brien is also out of contention after agreeing to end his contract earlier this week.
Results so far: Birkirkara vs Valletta 1-3, 1-1, 1-0.