2008–09 Superleague Greece

The 2008–09 Superleague Greece season was the third since its establishment. It began on 31 August 2008 and ended on 26 April 2009. The league consisted of 16 teams. Participants were the 13 best teams from the 2007–08 season and three teams who have been promoted from Beta Ethniki. Olympiacos successfully defended their title after claiming their 37th title overall with three rounds remaining.

Team changes from 2007–08

Teams promoted from 2007–08 Beta Ethniki:

• Champions: Panserraikos
• Runners-up: Thrasyvoulos
• 3rd placed team: Panthrakikos

Teams relegated to 2008–09 Beta Ethniki:

• 14th placed team: Atromitos
• 15th placed team: Veria
• 16th placed team: Apollon Kalamarias

Overview

AEK Athens
Panathinaikos
Panionios

Aris
Iraklis
PAOK

Asteras

Ergotelis
OFI

Larissa

Levadiakos

Olympiacos

Panserraikos

Panthrakikos

Skoda Xanthi

Thrasyvoulos

Location of teams in 2008–09 Superleague Greece

Club	Manager	Stadium	Capacity
AEK Athens	Dušan Bajević	Athens Olympic Stadium	71,030
Aris	Mazinho	Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium	22,800
Asteras Tripoli	Nikos Kostenoglou	Asteras Tripolis Stadium	4,200
Ergotelis	Nikos Karageorgiou	Pankritio Stadium	26,400
Iraklis	Oleh Protasov	Kaftanzoglio Stadium	28,028
Larissa	Marinos Ouzounidis	Alcazar Stadium	13,108
Levadiakos	Momčilo Vukotić	Levadia Municipal Stadium	8,000
OFI	Ioannis Matzourakis	Pankritio Stadium	26,400
Olympiacos	Ernesto Valverde	Karaiskakis Stadium	33,334
Panathinaikos	Henk ten Cate	Athens Olympic Stadium	71,030
Panionios	Giotis Stamatopoulos	Nea Smyrni Stadium	11,700
Panserraikos	Hugo Broos	Serres Municipal Stadium	8,500
Panthrakikos	Emilio Ferrera	Komotini Municipal Stadium	4,500
P.A.O.K.	Fernando Santos	Toumba Stadium	28,850
Thrasyvoulos	Sakis Tsiolis	Fyli Municipal Stadium	3,142
Xanthi	Georgios Paraschos	Skoda Xanthi Arena	7,422

League table (regular season)

Source: superleaguegreece.net (Greek)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th decision match
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

According to the official Superleague playoff regulation, the position after the playoffs replaces the regular season position.^[1]

Results

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

Play-offs

The play-offs for an additional Champions League spot were conducted in a home and away round robin format. Its participants have entered the mini-league with a number of bonus points based on their regular season record. Every team had the number of points earned by the fifth-placed team subtracted from its own amount of points. The result was then divided through five and rounded to the nearest whole number to determine the amount of bonus points.

The teams started the play-offs with the following number of points:

• P.A.O.K. – 3 points ((63–49) / 5 = 2.8, rounded up to 3)
• Panathinaikos – 2 points ((61–49) / 5 = 2.4, rounded down to 2)
• AEK Athens – 1 point ((55–49) / 5 = 1.2, rounded down to 1)
• Larissa – 0 points ((49 –49) / 5 = 0)

The play-off winners entered the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Since AEK Athens have lost the final of the Greek Cup 2008–09 to Champions League-bound Olympiacos, all three Greek Europa League spots (two via league, one via domestic cup) were allotted according to the position of the respective teams in the play-off.

Play-off table

Source: superleaguegreece.net (Greek)
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; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

Results

Source: superleaguegreece.net (Greek)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Most valuable players (excluding goalkeepers)

Position	Player	Club	Index
1	Luciano Galletti	Olympiacos	0.250
2	Dudu Cearense	Olympiacos	0.242
3	Fernando Belluschi	Olympiacos	0.217
4	Fabián Estoyanoff	Panionios	0.215
5	Vladimir Ivić	P.A.O.K.	0.201
6	Diego Romano	Ergotelis	0.197
7	Dimitris Salpingidis	Panathinaikos	0.196
8	Leonardo	Levadiakos	0.192
9	Serge Dié	Iraklis	0.188
10	Dame N'Doye	OFI	0.183

Source: galanissportsdata.com

Transfers

Teams by region

See also

• 2008–09 Greek Cup
• 2008–09 Beta Ethniki

External links

• Official website (Greek)
• Superleague Statistics

References

1. ↑ Playoff regulation (pdf, greek)