Season 2008–09 Goals scored 1,350 | Start date August 2008 Matches played 552 | |
 | ||
Promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers
Birmingham City
Burnley Top goalscorer Sylvan Ebanks-Blake
(25 goals) Biggest home win Reading 6–0 Sheffield Wednesday,
Preston North End 6–0 Cardiff City Biggest away win Charlton Athletic 2–5 Sheffield United Highest scoring Norwich City 5–2 Wolverhampton Wanderers,
Watford 3–4 Blackpool,
Charlton Athletic 2–5 Sheffield United Champion Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Relegated Norwich City F.C., Southampton F.C., Charlton Athletic F.C. Similar 2010–11 Football League C, 2016–17 EFL Championship, 2008–09 Premier League, 2008–09 FA Cup, 1999–2000 FA Premier League | ||
The 2008–09 Football League Championship (known as the Coca-Cola Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the league under its current title and seventeenth season under its current league division format.
Contents
- Team changes from previous season
- League table
- Results
- Awards
- Goal controversies
- Southampton administration
- References
Wolverhampton Wanderers won the division to return to the Premier League after a five-year absence. They secured the Championship title on 25 April, one week after having confirmed their promotion with a victory over QPR.
Birmingham City were promoted at the first attempt following their relegation. They secured their return to the top flight on the final day of the season by winning at promotion rivals Reading 2–1. Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton Athletic were relegated;
Burnley won the play-offs to reach the Premier League for the first time after a 1–0 win in the play-off final against Sheffield United, who had been in with a chance of automatic promotion on the final day.
Team changes from previous season
Relegated from the Premier League:
Promoted from League One:
Promoted to the Premier League:
Relegated to League One:
League table
|} Updated to games played on 3 May 2009.
Source: The Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Crystal Palace were give a one-point deduction for using an ineligible player during a match against Sheffield United on 3 May 2009.
2 Southampton were given a ten-point deduction for breaching insolvency regulations, regarding their holding company. As they finished in the bottom three this season, the points deduction will be applied next season.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Results
Source: The Football League
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.
Awards
Goal controversies
Southampton administration
On 23 April 2009, The Football League announced that Southampton had been placed into administration. The ruling occurred after the deadline for immediate points deduction application, so the ten-point deduction would have to await whether or not Southampton, in 22nd place at the time of the announcement, were relegated. If they had finished above the relegation zone, then the points would have been deducted from their total for the current year to thereby relegate them. However, since their relegation was confirmed following their penultimate match, their point penalty would be applied the next season in League One.