The 2008–09
Cypriot First Division
The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...
was the seventy season of top-tier football on
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. It started on 30 August 2008 and ended on 10 May 2009. The defending champions were
Anorthosis
Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta. .
APOEL won the championship three matchweeks before the end of the season.
This year, for the second time, the championship also featured a group stage play-off system. Teams were divided into 3 groups: 1st–4th, 5th–8th and 9th–12th. Points from the main part of the season still counted.
Format
Fourteen teams participated in the 2008–09 Cypriot First Division. Each team played against every other team twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 26 matches. After these matches, the two teams with the worst records were relegated to the
2009–10 Cypriot Second Division
The 2009–10 Cypriot Second Division was the 55th season of the Cypriot second-level football league. It started in September 2009 and finished in May 2010. Alki Larnaca won their 4th title.
Team Changes from 2008–09
Teams promoted to 2009� ...
. The remaining twelve teams were divided into three groups: 1st-4th, 5th-8th and 9th-12th.
The teams ranked first through fourth played out the champion and the participants for the European competitions. Teams ranked ninth through 12th determined the third relegated club, while the remaining four teams played a placement round. Every team played twice against its group opponents. Regular season records are carried over without any modifications.
The champions ensured their participation in the
2009–10 UEFA Champions League
The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...
and the runners-up and the third team in 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 ...
.
Point system
Teams received three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.
Stadia and locations
Promotion and relegation
Teams promoted from
2007-08 Cypriot Second Division:
* Champions:
AE Paphos
* Runners-up:
APEP
Apophis (; ), also known as Apep () or Aphoph (, ) Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Re ...
* 3rd placed team:
Atromitos
Teams relegated to
2008–09 Cypriot Second Division :
*
Aris Limassol
Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...
*
Nea Salamina
Nea Salamis Famagusta or Nea Salamina Famagusta () is a Cypriot sports club based in Ammochostos (also known by its romanized name, Famagusta), Cyprus. The club is named after Salamis, Cyprus, Salamis (or Salamina), an ancient city near present- ...
*
Olympiakos Nicosia
Olympiakos Nicosia (, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a Cypriot football club based in Nicosia and competes in the . The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cyprus Football Association. The club colors are black and green. ...
Overview
Managerial changes
First round
League table
Results
Second round
Group A
Table
Results
Group B
Table
Results
Group C
Table
Results
Top goalscorers
''Source: soccerway.com
First roundSecond round
''
Season statistics
Scoring
*First goal of the season: Peter Ofori-Quaye for AEL against Apollon, 2nd minute (30 August 2008)
*Fastest goal in a match: 47 seconds – Demetris Christofi
Dimitris Christofi (; born 28 September 1988) is a Greek Cypriot professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ethnikos Achna.
Career
Christofi is a winger who also plays as a centre-forward or second striker. He is highly regarded fo ...
for Omonia against Alki (29 December 2008)
*Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+3 minutes
** Klodian Duro for Omonia against APOP
In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, it i ...
(14 December 2008)
** Chrysis Michael for APOEL against AEL (22 March 2009)
*Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+2 minutes
** Francisco Aguirre for Omonia against Atromitos (27 September 2008)
** Nikolaos Frousos for Anorthosis
Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta. against APOP
In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, it i ...
(31 October 2008)
**Tinga Tinga may refer to:
Tinga (given name)
* Tinga Stewart, Jamaican reggae singer
Tinga (surname)
* Dante Tinga, incumbent Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Nickname
* "Tinga", Brazilian footballer Guilherme de Jesus da S ...
for AEP against Alki (21 December 2008)
*Widest winning margin:
**6 goals – Omonia 7–1 Enosis
''Enosis'' (, , "union") is an irredentist ideology held by various Greek communities living outside Greece that calls for them and the regions that they inhabit to be incorporated into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea ...
(22 December 2008)
**6 goals – Apollon 7–1 Alki (25 January 2009)
*Most goals in a match: 9 goals – Atromitos 3–6 Apollon (8 February 2009)
*Most goals in one half: 5 goals – APOEL 3–2 Doxa
Doxa (; from verb ) Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. 1940.δοκέω" In ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', edited by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. – via Perseus Project. is a common belief or popular opinion. In ...
(31 August 2008)APOP
In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, it i ...
(14 December 2008)
Discipline
*First yellow card of the season: Levan Maghradze for Apollon against AEL, 11th minute (30 August 2008)
*First red card of the season: Levan Maghradze for Apollon against AEL, 78th minute (30 August 2008)
*Most yellow cards in a single match: 9 – Apollon 1–3 AEL – 4 for Apollon ( Levan Maghradze (2), Christos Marangos & Gastón Sangoy) and 5 for AEL ( Panos Constantinou, Dušan Kerkez
Dušan Kerkez (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Керкез; born 1 May 1976) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Club career
In the 2001–02 season, Kerkez played regularly for Radnički Obr ...
, Peter Ofori-Quaye, Laurent Fassotte & Silvio Augusto González) (30 August 2008)
*Most red cards in a single match: 3 – AEP 2–3 Omonia – 2 for AEP ( Almir Tanjič & Jefisley André Caldeira) and 1 for Omonia ( Aleksandar Pantić)
*Card given at latest point in a game: Aleksandar Pantić (red) at 90+2' for Omonia against AEP (30 November 2008)
See also
* 2008–09 Cypriot Cup
* 2008–09 Cypriot Second Division
* List of Cypriot football transfers summer 2008
Sources
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Cypriot First Division
Cypriot First Division seasons
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
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