Season 2008–09 Dates 15 Aug 2008 – 23 May 2009 Matches played 306 | Top goalscorer Grafite (28) Goals scored 894 | |
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Champions VfL Wolfsburg
1st Bundesliga title
1st German title Champions League VfL Wolfsburg
Bayern Munich
VfB Stuttgart Europa League Hertha BSC
Hamburger SV
Werder Bremen (via domestic cup) Biggest home win Dortmund 6–0 Bielefeld (16 May 2009) Relegated FC Energie Cottbus, Karlsruher SC, Arminia Bielefeld Similar 2009–10 Bundesliga, 2006–07 Bundesliga, 2007–08 Bundesliga, 2010–11 Bundesliga, 2005–06 Bundesliga | ||
The 2008–09 Bundesliga was the 46th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 15 August 2008 with a 2–2 draw between defending champions Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV and ended with the last matches on 23 May 2009. VfL Wolfsburg secured their first national title in the last game after a 5–1 win at home against Werder Bremen.
Contents
Structural changes
Starting with the 2008–09 season, two-legged relegation playoffs between the third last team of the Bundesliga and the third team of the 2. Bundesliga at the end of the regular season were re-introduced.
Due to the restructuring of European competitions, the third-placed team qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, entering in a separate qualifying round for non-champions. The fourth-placed team and the winner of the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League play-off round; the fifth-placed team qualified for the third qualifying round. The sixth-placed team did not qualify for any European competitions as the UEFA Intertoto Cup will not be continued after its final edition in 2008.
Promotion and relegation
1. FC Nürnberg, Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg finished the 2007–08 season in 16th through 18th place and thus were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. They were replaced by the best three teams of 2007–08 2. Bundesliga: Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1899 Hoffenheim and 1. FC Köln.
Stadia and locations
- 1899 Hoffenheim played their 2008 home games at Carl-Benz-Stadion in Mannheim because their Rhein-Neckar-Arena had not yet been completed.
- Bayer Leverkusen played their 2009 home games at LTU-Arena in Düsseldorf because their BayArena was being upgraded to a capacity of 30,000.
Personnel and sponsoring
- Jupp Heynckes acted as caretaker for the remainder of the season.
- Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck acted as caretakers for the remainder of the season.
League table
Source: kicker (German)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1Werder Bremen qualified for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League by winning the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal.
(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.
Positions by round
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
Source: kicker.de
Results
Official schedule (German)
Source: bundesliga.de (German)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Relegation playoff
Energie Cottbus, as the 16th-placed team, faced third-placed 2. Bundesliga team 1. FC Nürnberg for a two-legged playoff. Nürnberg won both matches on an aggregated score of 5–0 and thus secured promotion to the 2009–10 Bundesliga, while Cottbus were relegated to the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga.
After Energie were relegated, no teams from the former East Germany played in the Bundesliga until RB Leipzig earned promotion to the Bundesliga for 2016–17.