The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the list of fixtures made on 25 July 2008. 20 teams competed in the league, 17 of which returned from the previous season, and three (Chievo, Bologna and Lecce) were promoted from 2007–08 Serie B.
20 clubs represented 13 different regions. The most represented region was Lombardy with three teams: Atalanta, A.C. Milan, and Inter Milan. Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio and Sicily featured two teams each while Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Apulia, Calabria, and Sardinia were represented by one team each. There was a record number of southern teams in the top division with six teams: Cagliari, Catania, Lecce, Napoli, Palermo, and Reggina.
The new match ball was the Nike T90 Omni.
On 16 May 2009, Internazionale won the league by holding an unassailable lead after A.C. Milan's loss away to Udinese.
Rule changes The 2008–09 season saw new rules relating to the transfer of player registration introduced. Clubs without non-EU players in their squad were allowed three incoming non-EU player transfers (whereas previously only newly promoted clubs could have three). Clubs with one non-EU player were allowed two such transfers and clubs with two non-EU players were permitted one transfer and a further one if they cancelled the registration of one of their non-EU players or that player gained EU nationality. Clubs with three or more non-EU players were given two conditional quotas with the caveat that the release (as opposed to transfer) of two non-EU players as free agent would only allow for one further non-EU signing. Teams Three teams were promoted from Serie B: Chievo, Bologna, and Lecce. The first two earned direct promotion, while Lecce won the promotional playoffs, defeating AlbinoLeffe 2–1 on aggregate in a two-legged playoff final.
Stadiums and locations Club City Stadium Capacity 2007–08 season Atalanta Bergamo Atleti Azzurri d'Italia 26,393 9th in Serie A Bologna Bologna Renato Dall'Ara 39,444 2nd in Serie B Cagliari Cagliari Sant'Elia 23,486 14th in Serie A Catania Catania Angelo Massimino 23,420 17th in Serie A Chievo Verona Verona Marc'Antonio Bentegodi 39,211 Serie B Champions Fiorentina Florence Artemio Franchi (Florence) 47,282 4th in Serie A Genoa Genoa Luigi Ferraris 36,685 10th in Serie A Internazionale Milan San Siro 80,074 Serie A Champions Juventus Turin Olimpico di Torino 27,500 3rd in Serie A Lazio Rome Olimpico 72,700 12th in Serie A Lecce Lecce Via del Mare 33,876 Serie B Playoff WinnersMilan Milan San Siro 80,074 5th in Serie A Napoli Naples San Paolo 60,240 8th in Serie A Palermo Palermo Renzo Barbera 37,242 11th in Serie A Reggina Reggio Calabria Oreste Granillo 27,454 16th in Serie A Roma Rome Olimpico 72,700 2nd in Serie A Sampdoria Genoa Luigi Ferraris 36,685 6th in Serie A Siena Siena Artemio Franchi (Siena) 15,373 13th in Serie A Torino Turin Olimpico di Torino 27,500 15th in Serie A Udinese Udine Friuli 41,652 7th in Serie A
Personnel and sponsoring Team Head coachCaptain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Atalanta Luigi Delneri Cristiano Doni Asics Sit in Sport, Daihatsu Bologna Siniša Mihajlović Marcello Castellini Macron Unipol, COGEI Cagliari Massimiliano Allegri Diego López Macron Tiscali, Sky Catania Walter Zenga Davide Baiocco Legea SP Energia Siciliana, Provincia di Catania Chievo Domenico Di Carlo Sergio Pellissier Lotto Paluani/Banca Popolare di Verona Fiorentina Cesare Prandelli Dario Dainelli Lotto Toyota Genoa Gian Piero Gasperini Marco Rossi Asics Eurobet Internazionale José Mourinho Javier Zanetti Nike Pirelli Juventus Claudio Ranieri Alessandro Del Piero Nike New Holland Lazio Delio Rossi Tommaso Rocchi Puma Pro Evolution Soccer 2009/Groupama/Cucciolone Algida Lecce Mario Beretta Andrea Zanchetta Asics Salento, LachifarmaMilan Carlo Ancelotti Paolo Maldini Adidas Bwin Napoli Edoardo Reja Paolo Cannavaro Diadora Lete Palermo Davide Ballardini Fabio Liverani Lotto BetShop Reggina Nevio Orlandi Francesco Cozza Onze Gicos, Regione Calabria Roma Luciano Spalletti Francesco Totti Kappa Wind Sampdoria Walter Mazzarri Angelo Palombo Kappa Erg/Air One (in cup and UEFA matches) Siena Marco Giampaolo Simone Vergassola Umbro Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena Torino Walter Novellino Alessandro Rosina Kappa Movida/MG.K Vis/Renault Trucks, Reale Mutua Udinese Pasquale Marino Antonio Di Natale Lotto Lotto/Automobile Dacia, Regione Friuli/Il Granchio
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Siena Mario Beretta Contract expired 27 May 2008 Marco Giampaolo 27 May 2008 Cagliari Davide Ballardini Massimiliano Allegri 29 May 2008 Internazionale Roberto Mancini Sacked 29 May 2008 José Mourinho 2 June 2008 Lecce Giuseppe Papadopulo Contract expired 23 June 2008 Mario Beretta 23 June 2008 Palermo Stefano Colantuono Sacked 4 September 2008 Davide Ballardini 4 September 2008 Bologna Daniele Arrigoni 3 November 2008 Siniša Mihajlović 3 November 2008 Chievo Verona Giuseppe Iachini 4 November 2008 Domenico Di Carlo 4 November 2008 Torino Gianni De Biasi 8 December 2008 Walter Novellino 8 December 2008 Reggina Nevio Orlandi 16 December 2008 Giuseppe Pillon 16 December 2008 Reggina Giuseppe Pillon 25 January 2009 Nevio Orlandi 25 January 2009 Lecce Mario Beretta 9 March 2009 Luigi De Canio 9 March 2009 Napoli Edoardo Reja 10 March 2009 Roberto Donadoni 10 March 2009 Torino Walter Novellino 24 March 2009 Giancarlo Camolese 24 March 2009 Bologna Siniša Mihajlović 14 April 2009 Giuseppe Papadopulo 14 April 2009 Juventus Claudio Ranieri 18 May 2009 Ciro Ferrara 18 May 2009 Juventus youth sector chief Ciro Ferrara was originally appointed on a temporary basis for the two final weeks of the season. The appointment was made permanent on 5 June 2009.
League table
Results
Top goalscorers
Source: gazzetta.it RankPlayerClubGoals1 Zlatan IbrahimovićInternazionale252 Diego MilitoGenoa24 Marco Di VaioBologna4 Alberto GilardinoFiorentina195 KakáMilan166 Alexandre PatoMilan157 Robert AcquafrescaCagliari14 Edinson CavaniPalermo Fabrizio MiccoliPalermo10 Alessandro Del PieroJuventus13 Filippo InzaghiMilan Adrian MutuFiorentina Sergio PellissierChievo Fabio QuagliarellaUdinese Francesco TottiRoma Mauro ZárateLazio Awards AIC Awards Award Winner Club Best Italian Player Daniele De Rossi Roma Best Foreign Player Zlatan Ibrahimović Inter Milan Best Overall Player Zlatan Ibrahimović Inter Milan Best Young Player Alexandre Pato AC Milan Best Goalkeeper Júlio César Inter Milan Best Defender Giorgio Chiellini Juventus Best Coach José Mourinho Inter Milan Best Referee Roberto Rosetti Best Goal Fabio Quagliarella Napoli Fan Award Diego Milito Genoa Team of the Year Inter Milan Team of the Year Goalkeeper Júlio César(Inter Milan) Defenders Maicon(Inter Milan) Alessandro Gamberini(Fiorentina) Giorgio Chiellini(Juventus) Domenico Criscito(Genoa) Midfielders Felipe Melo(Fiorentina) Esteban Cambiasso(Inter Milan) Kaká(AC Milan) Gaetano D'Agostino(Udinese) Forwards Marco Di Vaio(Bologna) Diego Milito(Genoa)
Attendances Source:
# Club Avg. attendance Highest 1 AC Milan 59,731 79,057 2 Internazionale 55,345 76,437 3 SSC Napoli 39,851 60,240 4 AS Roma 39,396 61,198 5 SS Lazio 34,626 55,490 6 ACF Fiorentina 31,200 41,839 7 Genoa CFC 26,583 32,744 8 UC Sampdoria 23,323 34,395 9 US Città di Palermo 23,228 35,293 10 Juventus FC 21,218 24,862 11 Bologna FC 20,762 34,571 12 Calcio Catania 18,167 20,738 13 Torino FC 17,552 23,982 14 Udinese Calcio 16,880 27,497 15 ChievoVerona 13,352 28,924 16 Cagliari Calcio 12,442 20,000 17 Atalanta BC 12,231 21,814 18 US Lecce 12,171 29,658 19 Reggina Calcio 11,805 21,033 20 AC Siena 11,026 15,446
References