2008–09 La Liga – Wikipedia

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78th season of La Liga

Football league season

The 2008–09 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th since its establishment. Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won their 31st La Liga title in the previous season. The campaign began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009. A total of 20 teams contested the league, 17 of which already contested in the 2007–08 season, and three of which were promoted from the Segunda División. A new match ball – the Nike T90 Omni – served as the official ball for all matches.

On 16 May 2009, after Villarreal’s 3–2 victory over Real Madrid, Barcelona were declared champions, their 19th La Liga title, with three matches to play. Lionel Messi received the inaugural LaLiga Award for Best Player from the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.

Promotion and relegation[edit]

Real Zaragoza, Real Murcia and Levante were relegated to the 2008–09 Segunda División after finishing in the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the 2007–08 La Liga. Zaragoza were relegated to the Segunda División after five seasons of continuous membership in the top football league of Spain; Levante returned in Segunda División after two-year tenured in La Liga; and Murcia made their immediate return to the second level.

The three relegated teams were replaced by three 2007–08 Segunda División sides. Champions Numancia, who ended their second-level status after three years, runners-up Málaga, who returned to the top flight after two season in the second level, and Sporting de Gijón returned to the highest Spanish league after ten years.

Team information[edit]

Stadia and locations[edit]

Location of teams in La Liga 2008–09
Team Venue Capacity
Almería Estadio del Mediterráneo 22,000
Athletic Bilbao San Mamés 39,750
Atlético Madrid Vicente Calderón 54,851
Barcelona Camp Nou 98,772
Betis Manuel Ruiz de Lopera 52,132
Deportivo Riazor 34,600
Espanyol Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys 55,926
Getafe Coliseum Alfonso Pérez 16,300
Málaga La Rosaleda 35,530
Mallorca ONO Estadi 23,142
Numancia Los Pajaritos 9,700
Osasuna Estadio Reyno de Navarra 19,553
Racing Santander El Sardinero 22,400
Real Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 80,354
Recreativo Nuevo Colombino 21,600
Sevilla Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán 45,500
Sporting El Molinón 25,885
Valencia Mestalla 55,000
Valladolid Estadio José Zorrilla 26,512
Villarreal El Madrigal 23,000

Personnel and sponsoring[edit]

  • (*) Barcelona had no shirt sponsor during the 2008–09 season. Instead, following the signing of a five-year agreement with the humanitarian organisation UNICEF in 2006,[8] the club sported the UNICEF logo on the front of its jersey while making an annual donation to the organisation.
  • (†) on the back of the shirt

Managerial changes[edit]

League table[edit]

Source: LFP and Yahoo! Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b ALM 1–1 RAC; RAC 0–2 ALM
  2. ^ Since Barcelona, winners of the 2008–09 Copa del Rey, already qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Athletic Bilbao earned a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.
  3. ^ a b c SPG: 12 pts; OSA: 2 pts → OSA 3–3 VLD; VLD: 2 pts → VLD 0–0 OSA
  4. ^ a b GET 0–0 BET; BET 2–2 GET
 La Liga 2008–09 winners 
Barcelona
19th title

Results[edit]

Source: LFP (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

LaLiga Awards[edit]

For the first time in La Liga’s history, its governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition’s best players and coach with the LaLiga Awards.[29]

Pichichi Trophy[edit]

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season.

Source: Yahoo! Sport

Zamora Trophy[edit]

The Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with least goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper must play at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.

Source: LFP

Fair Play award[edit]

  • Source: 2008–09 Fair Play Rankings Season.[30]

Scoring[edit]

Hat-tricks[edit]

4Player scored four goals(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Discipline[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]