
The 2008–09 Bundesliga was the 46th season of the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
, Germany's premier
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
league. The season began on 15 August 2008 with a 2–2 draw between defending champions
Bayern Munich and
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...
and ended with the last matches on 23 May 2009.
VfL Wolfsburg
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...
secured their first
national title in the last match after a 5–1 win at home against
Werder Bremen
Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...
.
Changes from 2007–08
Structural changes
Starting with the 2008–09 season, two-legged relegation playoffs between the third last team of the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...
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
The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.
Spai ...
play-off round; the fifth-placed team qualified for the third qualifying round. The sixth-placed team did not qualify for any European competitions because the
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
will not be continued after its
final edition in 2008.
Promotion and relegation
1. FC Nürnberg,
Hansa Rostock and
MSV Duisburg
Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...
finished the
2007–08 season in 16th through 18th place, respectively, and therefore were relegated to the
2. Bundesliga. They were replaced by the top three teams of
2007–08 2. Bundesliga:
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...
,
1899 Hoffenheim and
1. FC Köln, respectively.
Teams
Stadia and locations
;Notes
#
1899 Hoffenheim played their 2008 home matches at
Carl-Benz-Stadion in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
because their
Rhein-Neckar-Arena had not yet been completed.
#
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...
played their 2009 home matches at
LTU-Arena in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
because their
BayArena
BayArena () is a Association football, football stadium in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which has been the home ground of Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen since 1958.
History
The stadium was originally known as ''Ulrich-Haber ...
was being upgraded to a capacity of 30,000.
Personnel and sponsoring
;Notes
#
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.
*Ein Herz Für Kinder took the place of
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...
's sponsorship during the 2008–09 season to celebrate the 20th year of the Charity.
Managerial changes
League table
Results
Promotion/relegation play-offs
Energie Cottbus
FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...
, 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
RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...
earned promotion to the Bundesliga for
2016–17.
----
Statistics
Top goalscorers
''Source
kicker.de''
Awards
Player of the Month
References
External links
Official site
Bundesliga on DFB page
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Bundesliga
Bundesliga seasons
1
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...