2008–09 Primeira Liga

The 2008–09 Primeira Liga was the 75th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. It began on 22 August 2008 and ended on 24 May 2009. Porto was the three-time defending champions and secured a fourth consecutive title for the second time in its history.

Primeira Liga

Season	2008–09
Dates	22 August 2008 – 24 May 2009
Champions	Porto 24th title
Relegated	Estrela da Amadora Trofense
Champions League	Porto Sporting CP
Europa League	Benfica Nacional Braga Paços de Ferreira
Matches played	240
Goals scored	552 (2.3 per match)
Average goals/game	2.30
Best Player	Bruno Alves
Top goalscorer	Nenê (20 goals)
Biggest home win	Braga 5–0 Estrela da Amadora (27 October 2008)
Biggest away win	Maritimo 0–6 Benfica (12 July 2008)
Highest scoring	Paços de Ferreira 3–4 Benfica (7 goals) (22 September 2008)
Highest attendance	60,022 (Benfica 2–0 Sporting CP) (27 September 2008)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Promotion and relegation

Teams relegated to Liga de Honra

• Boavista
• União de Leiria

União de Leiria have been relegated to the Liga de Honra after finishing in last place in 2007–08 Primeira Liga.

Boavista were also relegated as a punishment for their participation in a match fixing scandal in 2003–04 season. Accordingly, Paços de Ferreira, which was originally scheduled to be relegated, was saved from demotion.

Teams promoted from Liga de Honra

• Trofense
• Rio Ave

Leiria and Boavista were replaced by two promoted teams from Liga de Honra. The first was Trofense, which clinched the second level title. This was its first appearance in Primeira Liga.

Trofense was accompanied by Rio Ave, which returned to the Primeira Liga after two seasons in the Liga de Honra.

Club information

Estrela

Académica

Braga

Guimarães

Trofense

Leiria

Leixões

Naval

P. Ferreira

Porto

Setúbal

Funchal (Madeira): Marítimo
Nacional

Belenenses

Benfica

Sporting CP

Location of teams in the 2008–09 Liga

Club	Head Coach	City	Stadium	2007–08 season
Académica	Domingos Paciência	Coimbra	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra	12th in the Liga
Belenenses	Jaime Pacheco	Lisbon	Estádio do Restelo	8th in the Liga
Benfica	Quique Sánchez Flores	Lisbon	Estádio da Luz	4th in the Liga
Braga	Jorge Jesus	Braga	Estádio AXA	7th in the Liga
Estrela da Amadora	Lázaro	Amadora	Estádio José Gomes	13th in the Liga
Leixões	José Mota	Matosinhos	Estádio do Mar	14th in the Liga
Marítimo	Carlos Carvalhal	Funchal	Estádio dos Barreiros	5th in the Liga
Nacional	Manuel Machado	Funchal	Estádio da Madeira	10th in the Liga
Naval 1º de Maio	Ulisses Morais	Figueira da Foz	Estádio Municipal José Bento Pessoa	11th in the Liga
Paços de Ferreira	Paulo Sérgio	Paços de Ferreira	Estádio da Mata Real	15th in the Liga
Porto	Jesualdo Ferreira	Porto	Estádio do Dragão	1st in the Liga
Rio Ave	Carlos Brito	Vila do Conde	Estádio dos Arcos	2nd in Liga de Honra
Sporting CP	Paulo Bento	Lisbon	Estádio José Alvalade	2nd in the Liga
Trofense	Tulipa	Trofa	Estádio do Clube Desportivo Trofense	1st in Liga de Honra
Vitória de Guimarães	Manuel Cajuda	Guimarães	Estádio D. Afonso Henriques	3rd in the Liga
Vitória de Setúbal	Carlos Cardoso	Setúbal	Estádio do Bonfim	6th in the Liga

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Porto (C)	30	21	7	2	61	18	+43	70	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Sporting CP	30	20	6	4	45	20	+25	66	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
3	Benfica	30	17	8	5	54	32	+22	59	Qualification to Europa League play-off round
4	Nacional	30	15	7	8	47	32	+15	52
5	Braga	30	13	11	6	38	21	+17	50	Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round
6	Leixões	30	12	9	9	30	31	−1	45
7	Académica	30	10	9	11	28	32	−4	39
8	Vitória de Guimarães	30	10	8	12	32	36	−4	38
9	Marítimo	30	9	10	11	35	36	−1	37
10	Paços de Ferreira	30	9	7	14	37	42	−5	34[lower-alpha 1]	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
11	Estrela da Amadora (R)	30	8	10	12	26	38	−12	34[lower-alpha 1]	Relegation to Liga de Honra[lower-alpha 3]
12	Rio Ave	30	8	6	16	20	35	−15	30
13	Naval 1º de Maio	30	7	8	15	25	39	−14	29
14	Vitória de Setúbal	30	7	5	18	21	46	−25	26
15	Belenenses	30	5	9	16	28	52	−24	24
16	Trofense (R)	30	5	8	17	25	42	−17	23	Relegation to Liga de Honra

Source: lpfp.pt (in Portuguese)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head away goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Matches won; 7) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Paços de Ferreira ahead of Estrela da Amadora on head-to-head record; Paços de Ferreira–Estrela da Amadora 1–0, Estrela da Amadora–Paços de Ferreira 0–2.
2. Since Porto, winners of 2008–09 Taça de Portugal, already qualified for 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, cup runners-up Paços de Ferreira earned a spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
3. Estrela da Amadora were relegated after this season ended due to financial problems. Therefore, Belenenses was saved from relegation.^[1]

Results

Home \ Away	ACA	BEL	BEN	BRA	EST	LEI	MAR	NAC	NAV	PAÇ	POR	RAV	SCP	TRO	VGU	VSE
Académica		1–0	0–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	3–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	0–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–0
Belenenses	1–0		0–0	0–5	2–2	0–1	0–2	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–2	3–2	1–1	2–1
Benfica	0–1	3–1		1–0	1–0	2–1	3–2	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	0–1	2–2
Braga	1–1	2–0	1–3		5–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
Estrela da Amadora	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2		2–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	2–4	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	0–0
Leixões	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1		1–0	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–4	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–2	0–0
Marítimo	2–0	1–1	0–6	0–0	1–0	0–0		4–2	1–0	4–1	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	5–1
Nacional	3–1	4–2	3–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1		2–1	1–0	2–4	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–0
Naval 1º de Maio	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–4		0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–2
Paços de Ferreira	1–1	1–1	3–4	0–2	1–0	4–0	2–1	2–3	2–1		0–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–0
Porto	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	2–3	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–0		3–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–0
Rio Ave	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–3	2–0	3–2	0–0		0–1	2–1	2–4	1–0
Sporting CP	0–0	2–0	3–2	2–3	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	2–0	1–2	2–0		3–1	2–0	2–1
Trofense	0–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–3	1–4	2–0	0–0		1–3	0–1
Vitória de Guimarães	3–2	3–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–2	0–1		1–1
Vitória de Setúbal	2–1	2–0	0–4	0–3	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	0–3	1–0	0–2	0–2	2–4

Source: lpfp.pt (in Portuguese)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[2]
1	Nenê	Nacional	20
2	Liédson	Sporting CP	17
	Óscar Cardozo	Benfica	17
4	Ernesto Farías	Porto	10
	Baba Diawara	Marítimo	10
	Lisandro López	Porto	10
7	William	Paços de Ferreira	9
	Lucho González	Porto	9
9	Albert Meyong	Braga	8
	Hulk	Porto	8
	Roberto	Vitória de Guimarães	8

Awards

SJPF Player of the Month Month Player Team September[3] Hassan Yebda Benfica October[4] Bruno Braga Leixões November[5] Beto Leixões December[6] Boris Peškovič Académica January[7] Liédson Sporting CP February[8] Hulk Porto March[9] Baba Diawara Marítimo April[10] Liédson Sporting CP May[11] Óscar Cardozo Benfica

SJPF Young Player of the Month Month Player Club September Miguel Vítor Benfica October Miguel Lopes Rio Ave November Miguel Lopes Rio Ave December Celestino Estrela da Amadora January Bruno Gama Vitória de Setúbal February Yazalde Rio Ave March Daniel Carriço Sporting CP April Rui Patrício Sporting CP May Bruno Gama Vitória de Setúbal

Awards

• Primeira Liga Champions – Porto
• Primeira Liga Top Scorer – Nenê (20 goals)
• Primeira Liga Player of the Year – Bruno Alves
• Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year – Beto
• Primeira Liga Referee of the Year – Olegário Benquerença

References

1. "Inscrição do E. Amadora rejeitada, Belenenses fica na Liga" [Registration of E. Amadora rejected, Belenenses is in Liga] (in Portuguese). Mais futebol. 30 June 2009. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
2. "Melhor marcador – Liga Sagres 2008–2009". lpfp.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 January 2010.
3. "Jogador do Mês de Setembro – Yebda" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Retrieved 21 January 2010.^{[dead link]}
4. "Jogador do Mês de Outubro – Braga" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
5. "Jogador do Mês Novembro – Beto" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
6. "Jogador do Mês Dezembro – Peskovic" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
7. "Liedson recebe título de melhor jogador do mês" (in Portuguese). dn.sapo.pt. 17 February 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. "Sindicato dos Jogadores distingue Hulk" (in Portuguese). futebolar.portugalmail.pt. 18 March 2009. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
9. "Baba é o rei de Março" (in Portuguese). infordesporto.sapo.pt. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
10. "Jogador do Mês Abril – Liedson" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
11. "Jogador do Mês Maio – Cardozo" (in Portuguese). SJPF. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2010.

External links

• Calendar of the Portuguese League (in Portuguese)