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.

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 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. 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. However, the club successfully appealed the decision in front of the Polish Olympic Committee, so they were assigned to the First League as a regularly demoted club.

Promotion to this year's Ekstraklasa was earned by I liga 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 I liga's club Polonia Warsaw. The two clubs merged, with Grodzisk's players and Ekstraklasa license transferred to Polonia.Dwa kluby z Warszawy w piłkarskiej ekstraklasie. Retrieved on 11 July 2008. 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

TeamVenueCapacityArka GdyniaStadion Miejski12,000*CracoviaStadion Cracovii11,000GKS BełchatówStadion GKS5,264*Górnik ZabrzeStadion Ernesta Pohla17,722Jagiellonia BiałystokStadion Miejski10,000*Lech PoznańStadion Lecha24,166*Lechia GdańskStadion Lechii12,244Legia WarsawStadion Wojska Polskiego13,628*Łódzki KSStadion ŁKS12,160Odra Wodzisław ŚląskiStadion Miejski 6,620Piast GliwiceStadion Piasta6,000Polonia BytomStadion Edwarda Szymkowiaka7,000Polonia WarsawStadion Polonii7,150Ruch ChorzówStadion Ruchu9,300Śląsk WrocławStadion Oporowska8,346Wisła KrakówStadion Henryka Reymana15,595* *Stadiums are under redevelopment

Personnel and sponsoring TeamHead coachTeam captainKitmakerShirt sponsor Arka Gdynia Marek Chojnacki Olgierd MoskalewiczJakoPolnord Cracovia Artur Płatek Bartosz ŚlusarskiZinaComarch GKS Bełchatów Rafał Ulatowski Edward CecotAdidasPGE Górnik Zabrze Henryk Kasperczak Sebastian NowakJakoAllianz Jagiellonia Białystok Michał Probierz Tomasz FrankowskiJomaVacansOleil Lech Poznań Franciszek Smuda Rafał MurawskiPumaWarka Lechia Gdańsk Tomasz Kafarski Karol PiątekJakoSNG Energa Legia Warsaw Jan Urban Wojciech SzalaAdidasn Łódzki KS Grzegorz Wesołowski Marcin AdamskiUmbroBioAg Solutions Odra Wodzisław Śląski Ryszard Wieczorek Jan WośTicoRojek-Decor Piast Gliwice Dariusz Fornalak Jarosław KaszowskiErrea Polonia Bytom Yuri Shatalov Jacek TrzeciakTicoArmanda Development Polonia Warsaw Jacek Grembocki Radek MynářZinaJW Construction Ruch Chorzów Waldemar Fornalik Wojciech GrzybColoGOCC Śląsk Wrocław Ryszard Tarasiewicz Dariusz SztylkaGarmanPiast Wisła Kraków Maciej Skorża Marcin BaszczyńskiUmbrobet-at-home.com

League table

Results

Season statistics

Scoring First goal of the season: Hernán Rengifo (Lech Poznań) Match: 2-3 GKS Bełchatów, 47th minute (8 August 2008) Last goal of the season: Grzegorz Niciński (Arka Gdynia) Match: 2-1 Odra Wodzisław, 79th minute (30 May 2009) Fastest goal in a match: Arkadiusz Aleksander (Odra Wodzisław) Match: 2-0 Legia Warsaw, 1st minute (17 August 2008) First hat-trick of the season: Filip Ivanovski (Polonia Warsaw) Match: 3-0 Śląsk Wrocław, 21', 24', 67'.(29 August 2008); Fastest hat-trick of the season: Rafał Boguski (Wisła Kraków) Match: 3-1 Odra Wodzisław, 52', 62', 77', 25 minutes. (5 December 2008) Most goals scored by a player in one game: Daniel Mąka (Polonia Warsaw) Match: 4-0 Polonia Bytom, 64', 87', 89', 3 goals.(13 September 2008); Rafał Boguski (Wisła Kraków) Match: 3-1 Odra Wodzisław, 52', 62', 77', 3 goals. (5 December 2008) Filip Ivanovski (Polonia Warsaw) Match: 3-0 Śląsk Wrocław, 21', 24', 67', 3 goals.(29 August 2008) Marcin Komorowski (Polonia Bytom) Match: 4-1 Lechia Gdańsk, 9', 41', 69', 3 goals.(29 August 2008) Widest winning margin: 8 teams tied Match: 4-0, 4 goals. Most goals in a match: ŁKS Łódź Match: 4-3 Cracovia, 7 goals.(6 March 2009)

Team Records Most wins: Wisła Kraków (19 wins) Fewest wins: Cracovia, Arka Gdynia, Górnik Zabrze (7 wins) Most draws: Śląsk Wrocław (12 draws) Fewest draws: GKS Bełchatów (3 draws) Fewest losses: Lech Poznań (3 losses) Most losses: Lechia Gdańsk (16 losses) Most goals scored:Wisła Kraków (53 goals) Fewest goals scored: Piast Gliwice (17 goals) Most goals conceded: Polonia Bytom (46 goals) Fewest goals conceded: Legia Warsaw (17 goals)

Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Paweł BrożekWisła Kraków19 Takesure ChinyamaLegia Warsaw193 Robert LewandowskiLech Poznań144 Filip IvanovskiPolonia Warsaw125 Dawid NowakGKS Bełchatów10 Dariusz PawlusińskiCracovia107 Rafał BoguskiWisła Kraków9 Hernan RengifoLech Poznań9 Semir ŠtilićLech Poznań9 Tomasz SzewczukŚląsk Wrocław9

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 due to the appeals and, after the issues could not be settled in time, eventually decided not to hold any matches.

Attendances

No. Club Average Highest 1 Lech Poznań 16,300 24,000 2 Górnik Zabrze 14,633 18,000 3 Wisła Kraków 12,473 15,600 4 Lechia Gdańsk 9,133 13,000 5 Ruch Chorzów 8,923 40,000 6 Arka Gdynia 7,675 13,000 7 Jagiellonia Białystok 7,547 11,000 8 Śląsk Wrocław 7,425 10,000 9 Legia Warszawa 5,880 11,000 10 Polonia Bytom 5,133 8,000 11 ŁKS 4,833 7,000 12 Cracovia 4,187 7,000 13 Odra Wodzisław Śląski 3,910 7,000 14 Bełchatów 3,300 5,000 15 Polonia Warszawa 3,227 3,000 16 Piast Gliwice 3,033 4,500

Source:

References

External links

Official site