The 2008–09 Liga I was the ninety-first season of

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, the top-level

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 of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Season began on 26 July 2008 and ended on 10 June 2009.

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

were the defending champions.

Teams

Promoted

Teams promoted from

Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

at the beginning of the season. * Serie 1 Champions:

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

* Serie 2 Champions: Argeș Pitești * Serie 1 Runners-up:

Otopeni Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city. H ...

* Serie 2 Runners-up:

Gaz Metan Mediaș Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

Relegated

Teams relegated to

at the end of season. * Argeș Pitești * Farul Constanța *

* Gloria Buzău

Venues

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Positions by round

Results

Top goalscorers

Source
Liga1.ro

Champion squad

Season statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season: Andrei Prepeliță for

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

against

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, 64 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) * Last goal of the season:

Claudiu Niculescu Claudiu Iulian Niculescu (born 23 June 1976) is a Romanian football coach and former striker, currently in charge of Liga II club CSM Slatina. Club career Early career Claudiu Niculescu was born in Slatina and started playing football at th ...

for Dinamo against Argeș, 90+3 minutes (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) * Fastest goal in a match: Andrei Cristea for

against Pandurii, 10 seconds (Round 30 – 9 May 2009) * Fastest two goals in a match: Pandurii 1–1

Bistrița (; , archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers s ...

, minutes 2 and 4 seconds (Round 14 – 8 November 2008) * Goal scored at the latest point in a match: Cristian Oroș for

against Unirea, 90+4 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) * First own goal of the season: Zhivko Zhelev ( Oțelul) for Gaz Metan, 31 minutes (Round 1 – 27 July 2008) * Two own goals by the same team in a match: Diogo and Alexandru Tudose (both

Buzău Buzău (; formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu'') is a city in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania, and the county seat of Buzău County. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

) for CFR, minutes 14 and 79 (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) * Two goals in one minute and one second: Farul 1–1

, between 5:53 and 6:54 (Round 13 – 1 November 2008) * Three goals in three minutes: Farul 1–4 Steaua, minutes 89, 90 and 90+2 (Round 7 – 13 September 2008) * Six goals in 30 minutes: Gaz Metan 5–1

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

, minutes 60 through 90 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) * Most goals in one half: Gaz Metan 0–0 at half time, 5–1 final

(Round 3 – 9 August 2008) * Widest winning margin:

6–0 Farul (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) * Hattricks scored: 4 ** Alexandru Curtean for Gaz Metan against

, minutes 65, 75 and 81 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) ** Marius Niculae for Dinamo against

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate t ...

, minutes 24, 78 and 90 (Round 24 – 11 April 2009) ** Marius Niculae for Dinamo against

, minutes 20, 56 and 72 (Round 26 – 21 April 2009) ** Victoraș Iacob for

against Farul, minutes 4, 34 and 50 (Round 34 – 10 June 2009)

Cards

* First yellow card:

Attila Hadnagy Attila László Hadnagy (born 8 September 1980) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a forward and serves as the general director of Liga I club Sepsi OSK. Career Oltul Sfântu Gheorghe Hadnagy started his career at hometown club Ol ...

for

against Unirea, 19 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) * First red card: Rafael Pereira for Gaz Metan against Dinamo, 22 minutes (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) * Most red cards in a single match: 3 ** Dinamo 1–0

– 2 for Dinamo ( Júlio César, Adrian Ropotan) and 1 for

( Josh Mitchell) (Round 6 – 30 August 2008) ** Argeș 1–1

– 2 for

( Mircea Bornescu, Michael Baird) and 1 for Argeș (

Daniel Bălașa Daniel Ilie Bălașa (born 6 August 1981) is a Romanian former football player who played as a centre back for teams such as Metalul Plopeni, Zimbru Chișinău or FC Argeș Pitești, among others. In his career Bălașa played for teams such as ...

) (Round 10 – 3 October 2008) * Match without any cards: Unirea 1–1 Steaua (Round 34 – 10 June 2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Liga I Liga I seasons