2008–09 Ekstraklasa

Ekstraklasa
Season 2008–09
Champions Wisła Kraków
(12th title)
Relegated Górnik Zabrze
ŁKS (license revoked)
UEFA Champions League Wisła Kraków
UEFA Europa League Lech Poznań
(via Polish Cup)
Legia Warsaw
Polonia Warsaw
Matches played 240
Goals scored 524 (2.18 per match)
Top goalscorer Paweł Brożek
(19 goals)
Takesure Chinyama
(19 goals)
Biggest home win 7 matches with 4–0
Biggest away win ŁKS 0–4 Wisła
Pol. Bytom 0–4 Pol. Warsaw
Highest scoring ŁKS 4–3 Cracovia
Highest attendance 40,000[1]
Ruch 0–1 Górnik
(28 February 2009)
Total attendance 1,764,240
Average attendance 7,351 Increase0.3%[2]

The 2008–09 Ekstraklasa was the seventy-fifth season of top-tier football in Poland. It began on 8 August 2008 and ended on 30 May 2009. The season was originally scheduled to start on 25 July 2008. However, the first two rounds of games were postponed because of legal uncertainties about the number of teams in the competition following an association-wide corruption scandal.

Wisła Kraków won the league for the second time in a row and for the 12th time in their history after defeating Śląsk Wrocław 2–0 in the final match of the season. Legia Warsaw finished as runners-up and qualified for the second qualifying round of UEFA Europa League 2009-10. Lech Poznań finished third and qualified for the third qualifying round of the Europa League after winning the Polish Cup. Polonia Warsaw also managed to earn a spot in Europe by finishing fourth, thereby qualifying for the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Paweł Brożek of Wisła Kraków and Takesure Chinyama of Legia Warsaw finished as joint topscorers with 19 goals in the season.

On the bottom end of the table, relegation was once again subject to several non-competitive events. On competitive criteria, Górnik Zabrze and Cracovia would have been relegated to the I Liga, while Arka Gdynia would have had to compete in the relegation play-offs. However, ŁKS Łódź were denied a license for the 2009–10 season and thus were automatically relegated. The club appealed the decision without any success. Since ŁKS city rivals Widzew were also denied of promoting from the First League and appealed against this decision, thus creating uncertainties about the First League play-off participant, the Polish FA decided in June to postpone the relegation play-offs to an unknown date before eventually cancelling the matches completely. (see below).

Team changes from last season

Due to the corruption scandal several teams from last season have been punished with relegation. Those teams include Zagłębie Lubin, Korona Kielce and Zagłębie Sosnowiec.[3] Lubin and Kielce were relegated to the First League while Sosnowiec were demoted an additional level to the Second League because they also finished the season in 16th and last place, a regular demotion spot. Widzew Łódź, who ended the season in 15th place, originally were going to be penalized as well.[4] However, the club successfully appealed the decision in front of the Polish Olympic Committee,[5] so they were assigned to the First League as a regularly demoted club.

Promotion to this year's Ekstraklasa was earned by Polish First League champions Lechia Gdańsk, runners-up Śląsk Wrocław, 3rd placed Piast Gliwice and 4th placed Arka Gdynia.

Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski has been sold to an owner of First League club Polonia Warsaw. The two clubs merged, with Grodzisk's players and Ekstraklasa license transferred to Polonia.[6] The merger concluded a series of negotiations between Grodzisk and other clubs. The initially planned merger with Śląsk Wrocław was eventually denied by the latter after several months of discussions. Grodzisk chairman Zbigniew Drzymała then started conversations with Pogoń Szczecin, which were quickly stopped without an agreement as well, before eventually coming to an agreement with Polonia.

Team overview

Stadia and locations

Team Venue Capacity
Arka Gdynia GOSiR Stadium 12.000
Cracovia Cracovia Stadium 11.000
GKS Bełchatów GKS Stadium 5.238
Górnik Zabrze Ernest Pohl Stadium 17.722
Jagiellonia Białystok Municipal Stadium 10.000*
Lech Poznań Municipal Stadium 18.200*
Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Stadium 12.244
Legia Warsaw Polish Army Stadium 13.628*
Łódzki KS ŁKS Stadium 12.160
Odra Wodzisław Śląski MOSiR Stadium 6.620
Piast Gliwice Piast Stadium 6.000
Polonia Bytom Edward Szymkowiak Stadium 7.000
Polonia Warsaw Polonia Stadium 7.000
Ruch Chorzów Ruch Stadium 10.000
Śląsk Wrocław Oporowska Stadium 8.346
Wisła Kraków Henryk Reyman Stadium 15.595*

*Stadiums are under redevelopment

Personnel and sponsoring

Team Head coach Team captain Kitmaker Shirt sponsor
Arka Gdynia Poland Marek Chojnacki Poland Olgierd Moskalewicz Jako Polnord
Cracovia Poland Artur Płatek Poland Bartosz Ślusarski Zina ComArch
GKS Bełchatów Poland Rafał Ulatowski Poland Edward Cecot Adidas PGE
Górnik Zabrze Poland Henryk Kasperczak Poland Sebastian Nowak Jako Allianz
Jagiellonia Białystok Poland Michał Probierz Poland Tomasz Frankowski Joma VacansOleil
Lech Poznań Poland Franciszek Smuda Poland Rafał Murawski Puma Warka
Lechia Gdańsk Poland Tomasz Kafarski Poland Karol Piątek Jako SNG Energa
Legia Warsaw Poland Jan Urban Poland Wojciech Szala Adidas n
Łódzki KS Poland Grzegorz Wesołowski Poland Marcin Adamski Umbro BioAg Solutions
Odra Wodzisław Śląski Poland Ryszard Wieczorek Poland Jan Woś Tico Rojek-Decor
Piast Gliwice Poland Dariusz Fornalak Poland Jarosław Kaszowski Errea
Polonia Bytom Ukraine Yuri Shatalov Poland Jacek Trzeciak Tico Armanda Development
Polonia Warsaw Poland Jacek Grembocki Czech Republic Radek Mynář Zina JW Construction
Ruch Chorzów Poland Waldemar Fornalik Poland Wojciech Grzyb Colo GOCC
Śląsk Wrocław Poland Ryszard Tarasiewicz Poland Dariusz Sztylka Garman Piast
Wisła Kraków Poland Maciej Skorża Poland Marcin Baszczyński Umbro bet-at-home.com

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
Head-to-head
1 Wisła Kraków (C) 30 19 7 4 53 21+32 64 2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2 Legia Warsaw 30 18 7 5 52 17+35 61 2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
3 Lech Poznań 30 16 11 3 51 24+27 59 2009–10 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round 1
4 Polonia Warsaw 30 15 9 6 40 23+17 54 2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round GKS 1–2 PWA
PWA 1–0 GKS
5 GKS Bełchatów 30 17 3 10 40 28+12 54
6 Śląsk Wrocław 30 11 12 7 40 34+6 45
7 Polonia Bytom 30 10 5 15 30 4616 35
8 Jagiellonia Białystok 30 9 7 14 28 346 34 JAG 1–0 RUC
RUC 0–0 JAG
9 Ruch Chorzów 30 9 7 14 22 3210 34
10 Piast Gliwice 30 9 6 15 17 269 33
11 Lechia Gdańsk 30 9 5 16 30 4414 32 ODR 1–0 LGD
LGD 3–1 ODR
12 Odra Wodzisław 30 8 8 14 23 4017 32
13 Arka Gdynia 30 7 9 14 27 3912 30 ARK 2–1 CRA
CRA 0–0 ARK
14 Cracovia 30 7 9 14 24 4016 30
15 Górnik Zabrze (R) 30 7 8 15 20 3313 29 Relegation to First League 2009-10
16 ŁKS Łódź (R) 30 10 5 15 27 4316 0352

Source: 90minut.pl (in Polish)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th head-to-head away goals scored; 6th goal difference; 7th goals scored
1Lech Poznań are the winners of the Polish Cup 2008-09 competition and therefore have qualified for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
2ŁKS Łódź did not receive a license for the 2009–10 season due to financial problems.[7][8]
(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

Home ╲ Away ARK CRA BEŁGÓRJAGLPOLGDLEGŁKSODRPIAPBYPWARUCŚLĄWIS
Arka Gdynia 21 20 10 11 21 01 01 40 21 01 13 01 12 33 01
Cracovia 00 10 00 20 01 31 03 20 00 10 01 10 00 11 11
GKS Bełchatów 11 30 10 20 23 10 10 02 30 00 31 12 10 21 00
Górnik Zabrze 22 02 23 10 11 20 03 20 20 10 20 01 00 12 11
Jagiellonia Białystok 30 20 02 10 03 20 21 40 12 20 22 21 10 22 02
Lech Poznań 00 22 23 30 10 10 00 11 31 10 30 20 11 11 11
Lechia Gdańsk 21 20 12 10 31 03 23 21 31 00 01 00 20 11 24
Legia Warsaw 20 40 30 00 20 11 30 10 40 31 31 22 41 40 21
ŁKS Łódź 30 43 02 20 10 03 21 00 00 01 20 12 01 00 04
Odra Wodzisław 00 21 02 00 11 01 10 20 01 02 41 11 30 00 02
Piast Gliwice 12 20 10 10 11 12 02 01 21 01 10 02 00 01 11
Polonia Bytom 21 10 12 20 10 11 41 10 23 11 10 04 03 11 11
Polonia Warsaw 00 11 10 20 00 33 11 00 13 20 10 10 30 30 02
Ruch Chorzów 00 20 01 01 00 20 21 01 20 01 00 21 13 12 10
Śląsk Wrocław 21 11 21 11 20 02 11 11 30 40 01 30 01 31 21
Wisła Kraków 40 41 21 31 10 14 30 10 00 31 20 10 21 20 20

Source: 90minut.pl (in Polish)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Team Records

Top goalscorers

Source: onet.pl (in Polish)

19 goals
14 goals
12 goals
10 goals
9 goals

Relegation play-offs

The relegation play-offs were cancelled after a series of appeals over the question in which division both ŁKS Łódź and First League 2008–09 champions Widzew Łódź will play in the 2009-10 season. Originally, Arka Gdynia as 14th-placed team (sports court decisions excluded) of the Ekstraklasa and Korona Kielce as 3rd-placed team of the First League were scheduled to play in a two-legged play-off for a spot in Ekstraklasa 2009–10. However, the Polish FA were forced to postpone the series to an unknown later date[9] due to the appeals and, after the issues could not be settled in time, eventually decided not to hold any matches.

References

  1. "Ekstraklasa 2008/2009 - Kolejka 18". 90minut.pl. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  2. "Attendances – Archive Poland, 2008-2009, Ekstraklasa". EFS.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  3. "Orange Ekstraklasa 2007/2008" (in Polish). www.90minut.pl. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  4. "Polish club relegated after corruption probe". ESPNSoccernet. 17 January 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  5. "Widzew win relegation appeal". PA Sport. 24 July 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  6. Dwa kluby z Warszawy w piłkarskiej ekstraklasie. (in Polish) Retrieved on 11 July 2008.
  7. "Ekstraklasa: klub zdegradowany za "złą sytuację finansową"" (in Polish). www.onet.pl. 28 May 2009. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  8. "Łódzki KS nadal bez licencji" (in Polish). www.90minut.pl. 16 June 2009. Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  9. "PZPN odwołał baraże o Ekstraklasę" (in Polish). www.90minut.pl. 12 June 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.