The 2008–09 Bundesliga was the 46th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 15 August 2008 with a 2–2 draw between defending champions Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV and ended with the last matches on 23 May 2009. VfL Wolfsburg secured their first national title in the last match after a 5–1 win at home against Werder Bremen.
Changes from 2007–08
Structural changes Starting with the 2008–09 season, two-legged relegation playoffs between the third last team of the Bundesliga 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 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 was not continued after its final edition in 2008.
Promotion and relegation 1. FC Nürnberg, Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg 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, 1899 Hoffenheim and 1. FC Köln, respectively.
Teams
Stadia and locations
TeamLocationVenueCapacityHertha BSC BerlinOlympic Stadium74,228Arminia BielefeldBielefeldBielefelder Alm28,008VfL BochumBochumrewirpowerSTADION31,328Werder BremenBremenWeserstadion42,358Energie CottbusCottbusStadion der Freundschaft22,450Borussia DortmundDortmundWestfalenstadion80,708Eintracht FrankfurtFrankfurtCommerzbank-Arena52,300Hamburger SVHamburgHSH Nordbank Arena57,274Hannover 96HanoverAWD-Arena49,0001899 HoffenheimSinsheimRhein-Neckar-Arena130,000Karlsruher SCKarlsruheWildparkstadion32,3061. FC KölnCologneRheinEnergieStadion50,374Bayer LeverkusenLeverkusenBayArena222,500Borussia MönchengladbachMönchengladbachBorussia-Park54,067Bayern MunichMunichAllianz Arena69,901Schalke 04GelsenkirchenVeltins-Arena61,673VfB StuttgartStuttgartMercedes-Benz Arena58,000VfL WolfsburgWolfsburgVolkswagen Arena30,122
Notes 1899 Hoffenheim played their 2008 home matches at Carl-Benz-Stadion in Mannheim because their Rhein-Neckar-Arena had not yet been completed. Bayer Leverkusen played their 2009 home matches at LTU-Arena in Düsseldorf because their BayArena was being upgraded to a capacity of 30,000.
Personnel and sponsoring TeamHead CoachTeam CaptainKitmakerShirt sponsorHertha BSC Lucien Favre Arne FriedrichNikeDeutsche BahnArminia Bielefeld Jörg Berger Rüdiger KaufSallerKrombacherVfL Bochum Marcel Koller Marcel MaltritzDo You FootballKiKWerder Bremen Thomas Schaaf Frank BaumannKappaCitibankEnergie Cottbus Bojan Prašnikar Timo RostSallerenviaMBorussia Dortmund Jürgen Klopp Sebastian KehlNikeEvonikEintracht Frankfurt Friedhelm Funkel Ioannis AmanatidisJakoFraportHamburger SV Martin Jol David JarolímadidasEmiratesHannover 96 Dieter Hecking Robert EnkeUnder ArmourTUI1899 Hoffenheim Ralf Rangnick Selim TeberPumaTV DigitalKarlsruher SC Edmund Becker Maik FranzJakoEnBW1. FC Köln Christoph Daum Milivoje NovakovićReebokREWEBayer Leverkusen Bruno Labbadia Simon RolfesadidasTelDaFaxBorussia Mönchengladbach Hans Meyer Filip DaemsLottoKyoceraBayern Munich Jupp Heynckes1 Mark van BommeladidasT-HomeSchalke 04 Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck2 Mladen KrstajićadidasGazpromVfB Stuttgart Markus Babbel Thomas HitzlspergerPumaEnBWVfL Wolfsburg Felix Magath JosuéNikeEin Herz Für Kinder*/Polo
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's sponsorship during the 2008–09 season to celebrate the 20th year of the Charity.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in tableBayer Leverkusen Michael SkibbeSacked30 June 2008 Bruno Labbadia1 July 2008Pre-seasonBayern Munich Ottmar HitzfeldEnd of contract30 June 2008 Jürgen Klinsmann1 July 2008Pre-seasonBorussia Dortmund Thomas DollResigned30 June 2008 Jürgen Klopp1 July 2008Pre-seasonHamburger SV Huub StevensEnd of contract30 June 2008 Martin Jol1 July 2008Pre-seasonSchalke 04 Mike Büskens & Youri MulderStepped downto assistant position30 June 2008 Fred Rutten1 July 2008Pre-seasonBorussia Mönchengladbach Jos LuhukaySacked5 October 2008 Hans Meyer18 October 200818thVfB Stuttgart Armin VehSacked23 November 2008 Markus Babbel23 November 200811thSchalke 04 Fred RuttenSacked26 March 2009 Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck1 April 20098thBayern Munich Jürgen KlinsmannSacked27 April 2009 Jupp Heynckes27 April 20093rdArminia Bielefeld Michael FrontzeckSacked17 May 2009 Jörg Berger19 May 200916th
League table
Results
Promotion/relegation play-offs Energie Cottbus, 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 earned promotion to the Bundesliga for 2016–17.
Statistics
Top goalscorers Source: kicker.de
Rank Player Club Goals 1 Grafite VfL Wolfsburg28 2 Edin Džeko VfL Wolfsburg 26 3 Mario Gómez VfB Stuttgart24 4 Patrick Helmes Bayer Leverkusen21 5 Vedad Ibišević 1899 Hoffenheim18 6 Claudio Pizarro Werder Bremen17 7 Milivoje Novaković 1. FC Köln168 Demba Ba 1899 Hoffenheim14 Luca Toni Bayern Munich1410 Kevin Kurányi Schalke 04 13 Artur Wichniarek Arminia Bielefeld 13
Awards
Player of the Month MonthPlayerTeamAugustDie bisherigen Sieger – August 2008 Artur WichniarekArminia BielefeldSeptemberDie bisherigen Sieger – September 2008 Mesut ÖzilWerder BremenOctoberDie bisherigen Sieger – Oktober 2008 Vedad Ibišević1899 HoffenheimNovemberDie bisherigen Sieger – November 2008 Franck RibéryBayern MunichDecemberDie bisherigen Sieger – Dezember 2008 Sami KhediraVfB StuttgartFebruaryDie bisherigen Sieger – Februar 2009 Mario GómezVfB StuttgartMarchDie bisherigen Sieger – März 2009 GrafiteVfL WolfsburgAprilDie bisherigen Sieger – April 2009 Mario GómezVfB StuttgartMayDie bisherigen Sieger – Mai 2009 Mario GómezVfB Stuttgart Annual awards Award Winner Club Footballer of the Year Grafite VfL Wolfsburg Top Scorer Grafite VfL Wolfsburg Team of the Season Goalkeeper Dennis Eilhoff(Arminia Bielefeld) Defence Josip Šimunić(Hertha BSC) Philipp Lahm(Bayern Munich) Heiko Westermann(Schalke 04) Midfield Franck Ribéry(Bayern Munich) Zvjezdan Misimović(Wolfsburg) Sejad Salihović(Hoffenheim) Jermaine Jones(Schalke 04) Attack Edin Džeko(Wolfsburg) Grafite(Wolfsburg) Mario Gómez(VfB Stuttgart)
Attendances
Source:
No. Team Matches Total Average 1 Borussia Dortmund 17 1,272,460 74,851 2 Bayern München 17 1,173,000 69,000 3 Schalke 04 17 1,043,580 61,387 4 Hamburger SV 17 931,165 54,774 5 Hertha BSC 17 886,668 52,157 6 VfB Stuttgart 17 883,646 51,979 7 1. FC Köln 17 838,367 49,316 8 Borussia Mönchengladbach 17 805,397 47,376 9 Eintracht Frankfurt 17 800,100 47,065 10 Hannover 96 17 711,616 41,860 11 Werder Bremen 17 686,381 40,375 12 1899 Hoffenheim 17 477,300 28,076 13 Karlsruher SC 17 476,312 28,018 14 VfL Wolfsburg 17 465,929 27,408 15 Bayer Leverkusen 17 442,750 26,044 16 VfL Bochum 17 433,762 25,515 17 Arminia Bielefeld 17 398,900 23,465 18 Energie Cottbus 17 284,245 16,720
References
External links
Official site Bundesliga on DFB page