The 2008–09 Taça da Liga was the second edition of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

, also known as

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

Cup due to sponsorship reasons. The first matches were played on 2 August 2008 and the final was held on 21 March 2009 at the

Estádio Algarve The Estádio Algarve (Algarve Stadium), also known as ''Estádio Faro/Loulé'' (Faro/Loule Stadium), is an association football stadium located between Faro and Loulé municipalities, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The stadium has a capacit ...

in Faro. Present for the second time in the final of this competition,

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

were once again defeated 3–2 on penalties, this time by their rivals Benfica.

Format

After the first season, a change in the format was approved by the

Portuguese League for Professional Football The Liga Portugal (Portugal League), also known by its acronym LPFP, is a governing body that manages professional football club competitions in Portugal. It was founded in 1978 as Liga Portuguesa dos Clubes de Futebol Profissional and works as an ...

. The Cup began with a two-legged round between teams from

Liga de Honra The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pri ...

(2nd level). Winners were joined by the clubs classified 7th–14th from last season's

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

(1st level) plus two promoted to this season's Liga. There were six groups of three clubs each, and every team played two matches (once home and once away). Winners of the groups joined the top-six teams from the last season's Primeira Liga and there were three groups of four teams, each club playing three matches. Winners of the groups and the best second-placed club competed in the one-legged semi-finals, with the winners advancing to the final.

Participating clubs

This is a list of clubs participating in the 2008–09 Portuguese League Cup: * Clubs starting from the first round: Boavista (''excluded''),Boavista were excluded from the League Cup due to missing players' inscription deadline
Clube excluído da Taça da Liga

União de Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

, Vizela,

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often re ...

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

, Beira-Mar,

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has ...

Desportivo das Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

, Varzim, Santa Clara,

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It als ...

, Gondomar, Freamunde, Feirense,

UD Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

, Sporting da Covilhã * Clubs starting from the second round:

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (i ...

, Belenenses, Nacional, Naval, Académica, Estrela da Amadora,

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto. Leixões Sport Club The Port of Leixões ( pt, P ...

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

, Trofense,

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atla ...

* Clubs starting from the third round:

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, Benfica, Marítimo, Vitória de Setúbal

First round

The matches were played on August 2 (first legs) and August 9 and 10, 2008 (second legs).

Second round

The matches were played from August 16 to November 5, 2008.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Third round

The matches were played from December 14, 2008 to January 18, 2009.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Knockout phase

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were held as one-legged matches with the two teams that had the highest number of points in the third round being given the home ground advantage. The draw was held at the LPFP headquarters on 20 January 2009, 12:30 UTC. The matches were played on 4 February 2009.Apurados para as meias-finais
----

Final

References

External links

Official page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taca De Liga 2008-09 2008-09 2008–09 European domestic association football cups 2008–09 in Portuguese football