# 2008–09 Serbian SuperLiga

The 2008–09 Serbian SuperLiga (known as the Jelen SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the league since its establishment in 2006. It began on 16 August 2008 and ended on 30 May 2009. Partizan successfully defended their title.

## Team changes from 2007–08

FK Bežanija were relegated to the Serbian First League after finishing in 12th place. Promoted from the First League were champions FK Javor Ivanjica and runners-up FK Jagodina.
FK Smederevo, having finished in 10th place, had to play a two-legged play-off against the fourth-placed team from the First League, FK Rad. Rad won 4–3 on aggregate and thus were promoted to the SuperLiga while Smederevo were also relegated.
FK Mladost Lučani declined their participation for the 2008–09 season due to financial problems on 2 July 2008. The spot left behind by Mladost was given to 11th placed (second to last) FK Banat Zrenjanin by the Serbian Football Association on the basis that the club has "better sponsors and more committed community support" than the other candidate for a free spot – FK Smederevo. This drew protests from FK Smederevo management who thought that their club has a better claim to stay in SuperLiga for the 2008–09 season based on their 2007–08 league finish. They even launched an official complaint with UEFA, but the answer they got was that UEFA stands by the Serbian Football Association's decision.

### Future changes

At the end of the 2007–08 season several SuperLiga clubs, most notably FK Bežanija, proposed an expansion of the league from 12 to 16 teams for 2008–09. The FSS board rejected that proposal. However, it was decided that the 2009–10 season will feature 16 teams. Only one team will be directly relegated, while five First League clubs will be directly promoted.

## Stadia and locations

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Banat | Zrenjanin | Karađorđev Park Stadium | 13,500 |
| Borac | Čačak | Čačak Stadium | 6,000 |
| Čukarički | Čukarica, Belgrade | Čukarički Stadium | 5,000 |
| Hajduk | Kula | Stadion Hajduk | 11,000 |
| FK Jagodina | Jagodina | Stadion FK Jagodina | 15,000 |
| Javor | Ivanjica | Ivanjica Stadium | 5,000 |
| Napredak | Kruševac | Stadion Mladost | 10,811 |
| OFK Beograd | Belgrade | Omladinski Stadium | 13,912 |
| Partizan | Belgrade | Partizan Stadium | 32,887 |
| Rad | Belgrade | Stadion Kralj Petar I | 6,000 |
| Red Star | Belgrade | Stadion Crvena Zvezda | 55,000 |
| FK Vojvodina | Novi Sad | Karađorđe Stadium | 15,000 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Partizan (C) | 33 | 25 | 5 | 3 | 63 | 15 | +48 | 80 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Vojvodina | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 46 | 25 | +21 | 61 | Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Red Star Belgrade | 33 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 59 | 32 | +27 | 59 | Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Javor Ivanjica | 33 | 13 | 14 | 6 | 39 | 27 | +12 | 53 | |
| 5 | Borac Čačak | 33 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 40 | |
| 6 | Napredak Kruševac | 33 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 28 | 37 | −9 | 38 | |
| 7 | Hajduk Kula | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 23 | 34 | −11 | 38 | |
| 8 | Rad | 33 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 27 | 35 | −8 | 36 | |
| 9 | Čukarički | 33 | 9 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 39 | −9 | 35 | |
| 10 | Jagodina | 33 | 10 | 4 | 19 | 28 | 47 | −19 | 34 | |
| 11 | OFK Beograd | 33 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 28 | 54 | −26 | 33 | |
| 12 | Banat Zrenjanin (R) | 33 | 7 | 10 | 16 | 21 | 40 | −19 | 31 | Relegation to Serbian First League |
* ↑ Because the Cup winners Partizan qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, the losing Cup finalists, First League club Sevojno, qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Therefore, the league runner-up will qualify for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

## Results

The schedule consists of three rounds. During the first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

### First and second round

| Home \ Away | BAN | BOR | ČUK | HAJ | JAG | JAV | NAP | OFK | PAR | RAD | RSB | VOJ |
| Banat Zrenjanin | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Borac Čačak | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Čukarički | 3–0 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Hajduk Kula | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Jagodina | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 |
| Javor Ivanjica | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Napredak Kruševac | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| OFK Beograd | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| Partizan | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 5–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Rad | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Red Star Belgrade | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | | 3–1 |
| Vojvodina | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | |
* ↑ The game of Round 13 was awarded to Rad with a score of 3–0 because Čukarički had been suspended by the league committee over unpaid debts to former player Mirko Poledica.

### Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):
| Round 23 | Round 24 | Round 25 | Round 26 | Round 27 | Round 28 | Round 29 | Round 30 | Round 31 | Round 32 | Round 33 |
| 1–12 | 01 – 2 | 3 – 01 | 01 – 4 | 5 – 01 | 01 – 6 | 7 – 01 | 01 – 08 | 09 – 01 | 01 – 10 | 11 – 01 |
| 2–11 | 11–3 | 2–12 | 02 – 3 | 4 – 02 | 02 – 5 | 6 – 02 | 02 – 07 | 08 – 02 | 02 – 09 | 10 – 02 |
| 3–10 | 10–4 | 4–11 | 11–5 | 3–12 | 03 – 4 | 5 – 03 | 03 – 06 | 07 – 03 | 03 – 08 | 09 – 03 |
| 4 – 09 | 09 – 5 | 5–10 | 10–6 | 6–11 | 11–7 | 4–12 | 04 – 05 | 06 – 04 | 04 – 07 | 08 – 04 |
| 5 – 08 | 08 – 6 | 6 – 09 | 09 – 7 | 7–10 | 10–8 | 8–11 | 11 – 09 | 05 – 12 | 05 – 06 | 07 – 05 |
| 6 – 07 | 12–7 | 7 – 08 | 12–8 | 8 – 09 | 12–9 | 9–10 | 12–10 | 10–11 | 12–11 | 06 – 12 |
| Home \ Away | BAN | BOR | ČUK | HAJ | JAG | JAV | NAP | OFK | PAR | RAD | RSB | VOJ |
| Banat Zrenjanin | | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | | | 0–0 | | |
| Borac Čačak | 2–0 | | | | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | | | 0–3 |
| Čukarički | | 0–0 | | 2–0 | | | | | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 4–4 |
| Hajduk Kula | | 2–1 | | | 1–0 | | 1–0 | | 1–2 | | | 0–0 |
| Jagodina | | | 1–2 | | | 1–2 | | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 1–5 | |
| Javor Ivanjica | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | | | | | 1–1 | 1–0 | |
| Napredak Kruševac | | | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | | | 2–2 | |
| OFK Beograd | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | | | | 0–2 | 1–1 | |
| Partizan | 1–0 | | | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | | | 2–0 | |
| Rad | | 1–0 | | 1–1 | | | 0–1 | | 1–5 | | | 2–2 |
| Red Star Belgrade | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | | | | | | 3–2 | | 0–1 |
| Vojvodina | 4–1 | | | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 0–2 | | | |
* ↑ The match was registered with a score of 0–3 due to Borac's use of ineligible player.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Lamine Diarra | Partizan | 19 |
| 2 | Nenad Milijaš | Red Star Belgrade | 18 |
| 3 | Dragan Mrđa | Vojvodina | 13 |
| 4 | Nikola Simić | Javor Ivanjica | 12 |
| 5 | Almami Moreira | Partizan | 9 |
| 5 | Eugene Sepuya | Čukarički | 9 |
| 5 | Dušan Tadić | Vojvodina | 9 |
Source: superliga.rs

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Lamine Diarra | Partizan | OFK Beograd | 5–1 | 23 November 2008 |
| Dragan Mrđa | Vojvodina | OFK Beograd | 6–1 | 9 May 2009 |
| Nenad Milijaš | Jagodina | Red Star | 1–5 | 16 May 2009 |

## Awards
### Player of the Year

Nenad Milijaš and Almami Moreira both received the same number of votes therefore they both share the title as co-winners.

### Team of the Year

The All Star team was voted on at the end of the season by the 12 coaches of each SuperLiga team. Almami Moreira was the only player to receive all 12 votes.
| GK | Mladen Božović | Partizan |
| RB | Ivan Stevanović | Partizan |
| CB | Nenad Đorđević | Partizan |
| CB | Boban Dmitrović | Borac Čačak |
| LB | Ivan Obradović | Partizan |
| DM | Ljubomir Fejsa | Partizan |
| RM | Nemanja Tomić | Partizan |
| CM | Nenad Milijaš | Red Star |
| LM | Ognjen Koroman | Red Star |
| AM | Almami Moreira | Partizan |
| ST | Lamine Diarra | Partizan |

## Champion squad

| 1. | FK Partizan |
| | Goalkeepers: Mladen Božović (33) Defenders: Ivan Obradović (29); Ivan Stevanović (26/1); Srđa Knežević (24/1); Nenad Đorđević (22/1); Marko Jovanović (16); Goran Gavrančić (12); Rajko Brežančić (7); Aleksandar Kosorić (2); Milovan Sikimić (2); Bogdan Stević (1). Midfielders: Ljubomir Fejsa (27); Almami Moreira (27/9); Adem Ljajić (24/5); Radosav Petrović (21/1); Juca (18/2); Nemanja Tomić (14/2); Nikola Vujović (11/3); Danijel Marčeta (2); Branko Mihajlović (1); Vojkan Miljković (1). Forwards: Miloš Bogunović (32/6); Lamine Diarra (29/19); Washington (12/4); Brana Ilić (11/2); Aleksandar Đoković (1). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets) Manager: Slaviša Jokanović. On the roster but have not played in a league game: Darko Božović; Aleksandar Radosavljević. Transferred out during the season: Vladimir Branković (on loan to Sevojno); Nenad Brnović (on loan to Rad); Dragan Čadikovski (to Incheon); Đorđe Lazić (to Metalurh); Nenad Marinković (to Teleoptik); Aleksandar Miljković (to Teleoptik); Alexis N'Gambi (to Daugava); Veljko Paunović (retired); Milan Perić (on loan to Jagodina); Zoran Tošić (to Manchester United); Kamel Zaiem (to Al-Khor). |