The 2008–09

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

began on 19 August 2008, and its final was held on 25 April 2009 at the

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

. The former defending champions,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

, were initially barred from participating in the cup after a group of PSG supporters unfurled an offensive banner during last year's final. After PSG appealed the ban, however, the Tribunal Administratif de Paris judge vacated the ruling allowing PSG to defend their Coupe de la Ligue title. Due to this, a new draw was announced.PSG allowed to defend Coupe de la Ligue
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French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF and 3F; or Triple F; , ) is the governing body of football in France. It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital, Paris. The FFF is a founding member of FIFA and is responsible for overseeing all aspec ...

(FFF) president Jean-Pierre Escalettes vowed to get the second ruling overturned, stating, "I won't give up," and, "I can't allow acts like this to go unpunished," but was unsuccessful. The winners of the Coupe de la Ligue qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. Numbers within brackets represented a team's league level in the 2008–09 season, level 1 being

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, level 2

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

, and level 3 the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

won the competition by defeating

club

Vannes Vannes (; , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Morbihan, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern mainland France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago. History Celtic ...

by a score of 4–0 in the final.

Calendar

On 16 July, the Ligue de Football Professionnel announced the calendar for the Coupe de la Ligue. ''Note: Due to

's re-entry into the tournament, the draw was redone with different dates attached to the matches.La LFP est amenée à modifier le calendrier
''

First round

The matches were played on 3 September 2008.

Second round

The matches were played on 9 September 2008.

Third round

The matches were played on 23 and 24 September 2008.

Final Draw

Right Side Bracket

Left side bracket

Final draw results

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Topscorer

Madjid Bouabdellah (3 goals)

External links

* Coupe de la Ligue official websites: *
English
*
French

References

Coupe de la Ligue seasons

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

League Cup {{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Coupe de la Ligue