The 2008–09 Liga I was the ninety-first season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. Season began on 26 July 2008 and ended on 10 June 2009. CFR Cluj were the defending champions.
Teams
Promoted Teams promoted from Liga II at the beginning of the season. Serie 1 Champions: Brașov Serie 2 Champions: Argeș Pitești Serie 1 Runners-up: Otopeni Serie 2 Runners-up: Gaz Metan Mediaș
Relegated Teams relegated to Liga II at the end of season. Argeș Pitești Farul Constanța Otopeni Gloria Buzău
Venues FC Timișoara Steaua București FC U Craiova CFR Cluj Dan Păltinișanu Steaua Ion Oblemenco Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Capacity: 32,972 Capacity: 28,365 Capacity: 25,252 Capacity: 23,500 Gloria Buzău Farul Constanța Dinamo București Argeș Pitești Municipal Farul Dinamo Nicolae Dobrin Capacity: 18,000 Capacity: 15,520 Capacity: 15,032 Capacity: 15,000 Oțelul Galați Rapid București Oțelul Giulești-Valentin Stănescu Capacity: 13,500 Capacity: 11,704 Politehnica Iași FC Vaslui Emil Alexandrescu Municipal Capacity: 11,390 Capacity: 9,240 Pandurii Târgu Jiu FC Brașov Tudor Vladimirescu Silviu Ploeșteanu Capacity: 9,200 Capacity: 8,800 Gloria Bistrița CS Otopeni Unirea Urziceni Gaz Metan Mediaș Gloria Astra Tineretului Gaz Metan Capacity: 7,800 Capacity: 7,000 Capacity: 7,000 Capacity: 5,300
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt Sponsor Argeș Pitești Daniel Bălașa Adidas Pic Brașov Robert Ilyeș Diadora Roman CFR Cluj Cadú Nike DOMO Group, Sigma Towers Dinamo București Marius Niculae Nike Orange Farul Constanța George Curcă Umbro SNC FC U Craiova Dorel Stoica Adidas editie.ro Gaz Metan Mediaș Claudiu Boaru Joma RomGaz Gloria Bistrița Adrian Nalați Puma Teraplast, Aldis, Darimex Gloria Buzău Mansour Gueye Hummel — Otopeni Florin Pârvu Kappa Urban Oțelul Galați Gabriel Paraschiv Hummel ArcelorMittal Pandurii Târgu Jiu Florin Stângă Umbro USMO Politehnica Iași Bogdan Onuț Nike Iulius Mall Rapid București Vasile Maftei Lotto Arsis Steaua București Sorin Ghionea Nike CitiFinancial Timișoara Artavazd Karamyan Lotto Balkan Petroleum Unirea Urziceni George Galamaz Givova Alexandrion Vaslui Gabriel Cânu Umbro Kia Motors
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Dinamo București Cornel Țălnar Contract not renewed Mircea Rednic Rapid București Marian Rada Contract not renewed José Peseiro Vaslui Emil Săndoi Contract not renewed Viorel Hizo Otopeni Liviu Ciobotariu Contract not renewed Miodrag Ješić Gloria Buzău Ștefan Stoica Sacked Álvaro Magalhães Otopeni Miodrag Ješić Caretaker Gabriel Mărgărit CFR Cluj Ioan Andone Sacked Maurizio Trombetta Otopeni Gabriel Mărgărit Sacked Marian Bucurescu Pandurii Târgu Jiu Eugen Neagoe Sacked Sorin Cârțu Rapid București José Peseiro Sacked Nicolae Manea Gloria Buzău Álvaro Magalhães Sacked Mario Marinică Rapid București Nicolae Manea Caretaker José Peseiro Steaua București Marius Lăcătuș Resigned Dorinel Munteanu Vaslui Viorel Hizo Sacked Viorel Moldovan Otopeni Marian Bucurescu Resigned Liviu Ciobotariu Timișoara Dušan Uhrin, Jr. Sacked Gavril Balint Gloria Buzău Mario Marinică Sacked Constantin Cârstea Steaua București Dorinel Munteanu Sacked Marius Lăcătuș CFR Cluj Maurizio Trombetta Sacked Ales Jindra and Dušan Uhrin, Jr. Politehnica Iași Ionuț Popa Resigned Cristiano Bergodi Rapid București José Peseiro Sacked Marian Rada CFR Cluj Ales Jindra and Dušan Uhrin, Jr. Sacked Toni Farul Constanța Ion Marin Resigned Lucian Marinof Rapid București Marian Rada Resigned Viorel Hizo Universitatea Craiova Nicolo Napoli Sacked Ionel Gane Steaua București Marius Lăcătuș Resigned Massimo Pedrazzini Vaslui Viorel Moldovan Resigned Cristian Dulca Timișoara Gavril Balint Sacked Valentin Velcea
League table
Positions by round
Results
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Florin Costea Universitatea Craiova 17 Gheorghe Bucur Timișoara 3 Spadacio Rapid București 16 4 Ionel Dănciulescu Dinamo București 12 Marius Niculae 6 Pantelis Kapetanos Steaua București 11 Bogdan Stancu 8 Yssouf Koné CFR Cluj 10 9 Gabriel Paraschiv Oțelul Galați 9 10 Alexandru Curtean Gaz Metan Mediaș / Timișoara 8 Mike Temwanjera Vaslui Chico Farul Constanța Marius Onofraș Unirea Urziceni Marius Bilașco Romeo Surdu Brașov Cristian Bud Gaz Metan Mediaș
Source: Liga1.ro
Champion squad
Unirea UrziceniGoalkeepers: Giedrius Arlauskis (30 / 0); Cătălin Grigore (2 / 0); Daniel Tudor (2 / 0). Defenders: Valeriu Bordeanu (30 / 0); Pablo Brandán (26 / 1); George Galamaz (32 / 4); Ersin Mehmedović (18 / 0); Bruno Fernandes (19 / 0); Epaminonda Nicu (30 / 0). Midfielders: Iulian Apostol (28 / 2); Tiberiu Bălan (25 / 4); George Bârlădeanu (2 / 0); Jacob Burns (10 / 0); Sorin Frunză (25 / 1); Răzvan Pădurețu (31 / 3); Ricardo Vilana (20 / 1); Dinu Todoran (22 / 2); Dacian Varga (14 / 4). Forwards: Bogdan Aldea (1 / 0); Marius Bilașco (27 / 8); Cristian Dănălache (20 / 3); Bogdan Mara (17 / 5); Marius Onofraș (22 / 8); Raul Rusescu (23 / 5). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
Manager: Dan Petrescu.
Season statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: Andrei Prepeliță for Craiova against Iași, 64 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) Last goal of the season: Claudiu Niculescu for Dinamo against Argeș, 90+3 minutes (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) Fastest goal in a match: Andrei Cristea for Iași against Pandurii, 10 seconds (Round 30 – 9 May 2009) Fastest two goals in a match: Pandurii 1–1 Bistrița, minutes 2 and 4 seconds (Round 14 – 8 November 2008) Goal scored at the latest point in a match: Cristian Oroș for Brașov against Unirea, 90+4 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) First own goal of the season: Zhivko Zhelev (Oțelul) for Gaz Metan, 31 minutes (Round 1 – 27 July 2008) Two own goals by the same team in a match: Diogo and Alexandru Tudose (both Buzău) for CFR, minutes 14 and 79 (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) Two goals in one minute and one second: Farul 1–1 Brașov, between 5:53 and 6:54 (Round 13 – 1 November 2008) Three goals in three minutes: Farul 1–4 Steaua, minutes 89, 90 and 90+2 (Round 7 – 13 September 2008) Six goals in 30 minutes: Gaz Metan 5–1 Timișoara, minutes 60 through 90 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Most goals in one half: Gaz Metan 0–0 at half time, 5–1 final Timișoara (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Widest winning margin: Otopeni 6–0 Farul (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) Hattricks scored: 4 Alexandru Curtean for Gaz Metan against Timișoara, minutes 65, 75 and 81 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Marius Niculae for Dinamo against Vaslui, minutes 24, 78 and 90 (Round 24 – 11 April 2009) Marius Niculae for Dinamo against Bistrița, minutes 20, 56 and 72 (Round 26 – 21 April 2009) Victoraș Iacob for Otopeni against Farul, minutes 4, 34 and 50 (Round 34 – 10 June 2009)
Cards First yellow card: Attila Hadnagy for Brașov against Unirea, 19 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) First red card: Rafael Pereira for Gaz Metan against Dinamo, 22 minutes (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) Most red cards in a single match: 3 Dinamo 1–0 Craiova – 2 for Dinamo (Júlio César, Adrian Ropotan) and 1 for Craiova (Josh Mitchell) (Round 6 – 30 August 2008) Argeș 1–1 Craiova – 2 for Craiova (Mircea Bornescu, Michael Baird) and 1 for Argeș (Daniel Bălașa) (Round 10 – 3 October 2008) Match without any cards: Unirea 1–1 Steaua (Round 34 – 10 June 2009)
Attendances
# Club Average 1 Timișoara 13,956 2 Steaua 11,485 3 Craiova 10,706 4 CFR Cluj 9,121 5 Dinamo 1948 6,412 6 Iași 6,176 7 FC Rapid 5,706 8 Vaslui 5,324 9 Brașov 5,171 10 Buzău 5,088 11 Pandurii 5,059 12 Oțelul 5,029 13 Unirea 4,335 14 Gaz Metan 4,135 15 Argeș 3,771 16 Bistriţa 3,447 17 Farul 2,076 18 Otopeni 1,788Source:
References