2008–09 Albanian Superliga

The Albanian Superliga 2008–09 was the sixty-eighth season of top-tier football in Albania and the eleventh season under the name Kategoria superiore. The season began on 24 August 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009. The defending champions were Dinamo Tirana.

KF Tirana won their 24th national league title and qualified for the UEFA Champions League; Vllaznia Shkodër, Dinamo Tirana and Albanian Cup 2008–09 winners Flamurtari Vlorë gained access to the UEFA Europa League. On the bottom end of the table, Lushnja and Elbasani were directly relegated. Bylis Ballsh and Partizani Tirana had to face teams from the First Division in relegation matches. Both teams lost and thus were demoted as well.

Promotion and relegation

Besëlidhja Lezhë and Skënderbeu Korçë were directly relegated to the First Division after finishing 11th and 12th in the previous year's standings. They were replaced by First Division champions Bylis Ballsh and runners-up Apolonia Fier.

9th placed Teuta Durrës and 10th placed Kastrioti Krujë had to compete in single-match relegation play-offs. Krujë were relegated in the process by losing on penalties against the 3rd placed team from First Division, Lushnja. On the other hand, Teuta Durrës saved their place in Albania's top league by beating Burreli, who had finished in 4th place in the First Division, with 2–1 after extra time.

Stadia and locations

League table

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
¹Flamurtari Vlorë won the Albanian Cup 2008–09 and qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Relegation play-offs

Bylis Ballsh as 9th-placed team (against the 4th-placed team of the First Division, Gramozi Ersekë) and 10th-placed Partizani Tirana (against 3rd-placed First Division team Kastrioti Krujë) both competed in relegation play-off games after the end of the season. Superliga sides Partizani and Bylis lost their matches and were thus relegated to the First Division.

Results

The schedule consisted of three rounds. During the first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

First and second round

Source: soccerway.com
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):

23rd round 24th round 25th round 26th round 27th round 28th round
 1 – 12     11 – 1     1 – 10     9 – 1      1 – 8      7 – 1
 2 – 11     10 – 2     2 – 9      8 – 2      2 – 7      6 – 2
 3 – 10      9 – 3     3 – 8      7 – 3      3 – 6      5 – 3
 4 – 9       8 – 4     4 – 7      6 – 4      4 – 5      4 – 12
 5 – 8       7 – 5     5 – 6      5 – 12    11 – 9      8 – 11
 6 – 7       6 – 12   12 – 11    10 – 11    12 – 10     9 – 10

29th round 30th round 31st round 32nd round 33rd round
 1 – 6       5 – 1     1 – 4      3 – 1      1 – 2
 2 – 5       4 – 2     2 – 3      2 – 12    11 – 3
 3 – 4       3 – 12   11 – 5      4 – 11    10 – 4
11 – 7       6 – 11   10 – 6      5 – 10     9 – 5
10 – 8       7 – 10    9 – 7      6 – 9      8 – 6
12 – 9       8 – 9    12 – 8      7 – 8     12 – 7

Source: soccerway.com
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Source: soccerway.com

23 goals

• Migen Memelli (KF Tirana)

17 goals

• Sebino Plaku (Dinamo Tirana)

14 goals

• Vioresin Sinani (Vllaznia)

12 goals

• Emiljano Vila (Teuta)

10 goals

• Xhevahir Sukaj (Vllaznia)

9 goals

• Mladen Brkić (Apolonia)
• Marius Ngjela (Partizani)
• Fatjon Sefa (Dinamo Tirana)

8 goals

• Endri Bakiu (Bylis)
• Vilfor Hysa (Teuta)
• Erjon Rizvanolli (Shkumbini)

External links

• Official website (Albanian)