Süper Lig
The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...
(also known as ''Turkcell Super League'' due to sponsoring reasons) was the fifty-first season since its establishment. It began on 22 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009.
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
were the defending champions.
Beşiktaş clinched the championship after winning at
Denizlispor
Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...
on the last matchday. The latter barely avoided relegation after finishing in a three-way tie on points with Gençlerbirliği and
Konyaspor
Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium ...
. Head-to-head comparison between those three teams eventually resulted in the demotion of Konyaspor, who joined
Kocaelispor
Kocaelispor is a Turkish football club based in İzmit. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980–1988 and 1992–2003. Their best finish was in 1992–93 season, where they finished fourth. They have won the Turkish C ...
Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
had to settle for fourth and fifth place, respectively, after
Sivasspor
Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...
came in as runners-up and
Trabzonspor
Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...
finished third. The final positions for the three
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
clubs marked the first time since the 1980–81 season that only one of them was able to finish among the top three teams in Turkish football.
Promotion and relegation from 2007–08
Çaykur Rizespor
Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Rize. The club play in the TFF First League. The club was founded on May 19, 1953, with green-yellow as club colours, but later changed to blue-green. Since 1990, the team ...
,
Manisaspor
Manisaspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Manisa. Originally formed in 1931 as Sakaryaspor, the club changed its name to Manisaspor on 15 June 1965.Kasımpaşa were relegated at the end of the 2007–08 season after finishing on the bottom three places of the standings. They were replaced by
TFF First League
The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...
champions
Kocaelispor
Kocaelispor is a Turkish football club based in İzmit. They were founded in 1966 and played in the top level between 1980–1988 and 1992–2003. Their best finish was in 1992–93 season, where they finished fourth. They have won the Turkish C ...
, runners-up
Antalyaspor
Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...
and play-off winners
Eskişehirspor
Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...
.
Team overview
;Notes
# Kayserispor played their 2008 home matches at Kayseri Atatürk Stadium. Before moving to their current stadium in March 2009, the team played several home matches at 5 Ocak Stadium in
Adana
Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million.
Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...
2008–09 TFF Third League The standings of the teams playing in TFF 3. Lig ''Ranking Groups'', ''Classifying Groups'' and '' Promotion Group'' in 2008–09 season are as follows.
According to league regulations, if two or more teams are on equal points after the end of the ...
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...