2008–09 Ekstraklasa
The 2008–09 Ekstraklasa was the 83rd season of the Polish Football Championship, the 75th season of the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1927 and the 1st season of the Ekstraklasa under its current title. The league is operated by the Ekstraklasa S.A.
| Season | 2008–09 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 8 August 2008 – 30 May 2009 |
| Champions | Wisła Kraków (13th Ekstraklasa title 12th Polish title) |
| Relegated | Górnik Zabrze ŁKS (license revoked) |
| Champions League | Wisła Kraków |
| 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 Takesure Chinyama (19 goals each) |
| Biggest home win | 7 matches with 4–0 |
| Biggest away win | Polonia B. 0–4 Polonia W. (13 September 2008) ŁKS 0–4 Wisła (17 May 2009) |
| Highest scoring | ŁKS 4–3 Cracovia (6 March 2009) |
| Highest attendance | 40,000 Ruch 0–1 Górnik (28 February 2009) |
| Total attendance | 1,764,696 |
| Average attendance | 7,353 0.3% |
← 2007–08 2009–10 → | |
The season was played as a round-robin tournament. It began on 8 August 2008 and concluded 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. Each team played a total of 30 matches, half at home and half away.
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 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. 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).