| Season | 2008–09 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 15 August 2008 – 23 May 2009 |
| Champions | VfL Wolfsburg 1st Bundesliga title 1stGerman title |
| Relegated | Energie Cottbus (via play-off) Karlsruher SC Arminia Bielefeld |
| Champions League | VfL Wolfsburg Bayern Munich VfB Stuttgart |
| Europa League | Hertha BSC Hamburger SV Werder Bremen (viadomestic cup) |
| Matches | 306 |
| Goals | 894 (2.92 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Grafite (28) |
| Biggest home win | Dortmund 6–0Bielefeld (16 May 2009)[1] |
| Biggest away win | Frankfurt 0–5Bremen (13 May 2009)[2] Hannover 0–5Wolfsburg (16 May 2009)[3] |
| Highest scoring | Bremen 5–4Hoffenheim (27 September 2008)[4] (9 goals) |
| Average attendance | 42,565 |
2009–10 → | |

The2008–09 Bundesliga was the 46th season of theBundesliga, Germany's premierfootball league. The season began on 15 August 2008 with a 2–2 draw between defending championsBayern Munich andHamburger SV and ended with the last matches on 23 May 2009.[5]VfL Wolfsburg secured their firstnational title in the last match after a 5–1 win at home againstWerder Bremen.
Starting with the 2008–09 season, two-legged relegation playoffs between the third last team of theBundesliga and the third team of the2. Bundesliga at the end of the regular season were re-introduced.
Due to the restructuring of European competitions, the third-placed team qualified for the2009–10 UEFA Champions League, entering in a separate qualifying round for non-champions. The fourth-placed team and the winner of the2008–09 DFB-Pokal qualified for the2009–10 UEFA Europa League play-off round; the fifth-placed team qualified for the third qualifying round. The sixth-placed team did not qualify for any European competitions because theUEFA Intertoto Cup will not be continued after itsfinal edition in 2008.
1. FC Nürnberg,Hansa Rostock andMSV Duisburg finished the2007–08 season in 16th through 18th place, respectively, and therefore were relegated to the2. Bundesliga. They were replaced by the top three teams of2007–08 2. Bundesliga:Borussia Mönchengladbach,1899 Hoffenheim and1. FC Köln, respectively.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VfL Wolfsburg(C) | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 80 | 41 | +39 | 69 | Qualification toChampions League group stage |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | 34 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 71 | 42 | +29 | 67 | |
| 3 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 43 | +20 | 64 | Qualification toChampions League play-off round |
| 4 | Hertha BSC | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 63 | Qualification toEuropa League play-off round |
| 5 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 47 | +2 | 61 | Qualification toEuropa League third qualifying round |
| 6 | Borussia Dortmund | 34 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 60 | 37 | +23 | 59 | |
| 7 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 63 | 49 | +14 | 55 | |
| 8 | Schalke 04 | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 47 | 35 | +12 | 50 | |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 59 | 46 | +13 | 49 | |
| 10 | Werder Bremen[a] | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 64 | 50 | +14 | 45 | Qualification toEuropa League play-off round |
| 11 | Hannover 96 | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 49 | 69 | −20 | 40 | |
| 12 | 1. FC Köln | 34 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 35 | 50 | −15 | 39 | |
| 13 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 39 | 60 | −21 | 33 | |
| 14 | VfL Bochum | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 39 | 55 | −16 | 32 | |
| 15 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 62 | −23 | 31 | |
| 16 | Energie Cottbus(R) | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 30 | 57 | −27 | 30 | Qualification torelegation play-offs |
| 17 | Karlsruher SC(R) | 34 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 30 | 54 | −24 | 29 | Relegation to2. Bundesliga |
| 18 | Arminia Bielefeld(R) | 34 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 29 | 56 | −27 | 28 |
| Home \ Away | BSC | DSC | BOC | SVW | FCE | BVB | SGE | HSV | H96 | TSG | KSC | KOE | B04 | BMG | FCB | S04 | VFB | WOB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hertha BSC | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Arminia Bielefeld | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–3 |
| VfL Bochum | 2–3 | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| Werder Bremen | 5–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — | 3–0 | 3–3 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 5–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Energie Cottbus | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 1–1 | 6–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–5 | 2–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–3 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 |
| Hamburger SV | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 |
| Hannover 96 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–4 | 1–1 | 3–0 | — | 2–5 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–5 |
| 1899 Hoffenheim | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | — | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 |
| Karlsruher SC | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | — | 0–2 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| 1. FC Köln | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | — | 0–2 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 5–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | — | 5–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 2–0 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 |
| Bayern Munich | 4–1 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 |
| Schalke 04 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | — | 4–1 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 5–1 | 4–3 | 4–1 | — |
Energie Cottbus, as the 16th-placed team, faced third-placed2. Bundesliga team1. FC Nürnberg for a two-legged playoff. Nürnberg won both matches on anaggregated score of 5–0 and thus secured promotion to the2009–10 Bundesliga, while Cottbus were relegated to the2009–10 2. Bundesliga.
After Energie were relegated, no teams from the former East Germany played in the Bundesliga untilRB Leipzig earned promotion to the Bundesliga for2016–17.
| Energie Cottbus | 0–3 | 1. FC Nürnberg |
|---|---|---|
| Report (in German) | Boakye Eigler |
| 1. FC Nürnberg | 2–0 | Energie Cottbus |
|---|---|---|
| Eigler Mintál | Report (in German) |
Top goalscorers[edit]Source:kicker.de(in German)
|
| Month | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| August[19] | Arminia Bielefeld | |
| September[20] | Werder Bremen | |
| October[21] | 1899 Hoffenheim | |
| November[22] | Bayern Munich | |
| December[23] | VfB Stuttgart | |
| February[24] | VfB Stuttgart | |
| March[25] | VfL Wolfsburg | |
| April[26] | VfB Stuttgart | |
| May[27] | VfB Stuttgart |