# 2008–09 Super League Greece

The 2008–09 Super League Greece was the 73rd season of the highest football league of Greece and the third under the name Super League. The season began on 31 August 2008 and ended on 26 April 2009. The league consisted of 16 teams. Participants were the 13 best teams from the 2007–08 season and three teams who have been promoted from Beta Ethniki. Olympiacos successfully defended their title after claiming their 37th title overall with three rounds remaining.

## Team changes from 2007–08

Teams promoted from 2007–08 Beta Ethniki:
* Champions: Panserraikos
* Runners-up: Thrasyvoulos
* 3rd placed team: Panthrakikos
Teams relegated to 2008–09 Beta Ethniki:
* 14th placed team: Atromitos
* 15th placed team: Veria
* 16th placed team: Apollon Kalamarias

## Teams
### Stadia and personnel

| Team | Manager$^1$ | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| AEK Athens | Dušan Bajević | Athens | Athens Olympic Stadium | 71,030 |
| AEL | Marinos Ouzounidis | Larissa | Alcazar Stadium | 13,108 |
| Aris | Mazinho | Thessaloniki | Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium | 22,800 |
| Asteras Tripolis | Nikos Kostenoglou | Tripoli | Asteras Tripolis Stadium | 4,200 |
| Ergotelis | Nikos Karageorgiou | Heraklion | Pankritio Stadium | 26,400 |
| Iraklis | Oleh Protasov | Thessaloniki | Kaftanzoglio Stadium | 28,028 |
| Levadiakos | Momčilo Vukotić | Livadeia | Levadia Municipal Stadium | 8,000 |
| OFI | Giannis Matzourakis | Heraklion | Pankritio Stadium | 26,400 |
| Olympiacos | Ernesto Valverde | Piraeus | Karaiskakis Stadium | 33,334 |
| Panathinaikos | Henk ten Cate | Athens | Athens Olympic Stadium | 71,030 |
| Panionios | Giotis Stamatopoulos | Nea Smyrni | Nea Smyrni Stadium | 11,700 |
| Panserraikos | Hugo Broos | Serres | Serres Municipal Stadium | 8,500 |
| Panthrakikos | Emilio Ferrera | Komotini | Komotini Municipal Stadium | 4,500 |
| PAOK | Fernando Santos | Thessaloniki | Toumba Stadium | 28,850 |
| Skoda Xanthi | Giorgos Paraschos | Xanthi | Skoda Xanthi Arena | 7,422 |
| Thrasyvoulos | Sakis Tsiolis | Fyli | Fyli Municipal Stadium | 3,142 |
* $^1$ On final match day of the season, played on 26 April 2009.

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Olympiacos (C) | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 50 | 14 | +36 | 71 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | PAOK | 30 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 39 | 16 | +23 | 63 | Qualification for the Play-offs |
| 3 | Panathinaikos | 30 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 51 | 18 | +33 | 61 | Qualification for the Play-offs |
| 4 | AEK Athens | 30 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 40 | 24 | +16 | 55 | Qualification for the Play-offs |
| 5 | AEL | 30 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 36 | 26 | +10 | 49 | Qualification for the Play-offs |
| 6 | Aris | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 30 | 31 | −1 | 47 | |
| 7 | Skoda Xanthi | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 38 | |
| 8 | Panionios | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 37 | |
| 9 | Ergotelis | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 36 | |
| 10 | Iraklis | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 38 | −16 | 33 | |
| 11 | Panthrakikos | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 23 | 37 | −14 | 33 | |
| 12 | Asteras Tripolis | 30 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 33 | 31 | +2 | 33 | |
| 13 | Levadiakos | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 28 | 36 | −8 | 32 | |
| 14 | OFI (R) | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 30 | 50 | −20 | 24 | Relegation to the Beta Ethniki |
| 15 | Panserraikos (R) | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 19 | 45 | −26 | 24 | Relegation to the Beta Ethniki |
| 16 | Thrasyvoulos (R) | 30 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 22 | 53 | −31 | 14 | Relegation to the Beta Ethniki |
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Iraklis 7, Panthrakikos 6, Asteras Tripolis 2.
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: OFI 4, Panserraikos 1.

### Results

| Home \ Away | AEK | AEL | ARIS | AST | ERG | IRA | LEV | OFI | OLY | PAO | PGSS | PNS | PNT | PAOK | XAN | THR |
| AEK Athens | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| AEL | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Aris | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Asteras Tripolis | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–4 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Ergotelis | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–5 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Iraklis | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Levadiakos | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| OFI | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Olympiacos | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Panathinaikos | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Panionios | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 |
| Panserraikos | 1–5 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Panthrakikos | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| PAOK | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Skoda Xanthi | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | | 1–0 |
| Thrasyvoulos | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | |

## Play-offs

The play-offs for an additional Champions League spot were conducted in a home and away round robin format. Its participants have entered the mini-league with a number of bonus points based on their regular season record. Every team had the number of points earned by the fifth-placed team subtracted from its own number of points. The result was then divided through five and rounded to the nearest whole number to determine the number of bonus points.
The teams started the play-offs with the following number of points:
* PAOK – 3 points ((63–49) / 5 = 2.8, rounded up to 3)
* Panathinaikos – 2 points ((61–49) / 5 = 2.4, rounded down to 2)
* AEK Athens – 1 point ((55–49) / 5 = 1.2, rounded down to 1)
* AEL – 0 points ((49 –49) / 5 = 0)
The play-off winners entered the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Since AEK Athens have lost the final of the 2008–09 Greek Cup to Champions League-bound Olympiacos, all three Greek Europa League spots (two via league, one via domestic cup) were allotted according to the position of the respective teams in the play-off.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAO | AEK | PAOK | AEL |
| 2 | Panathinaikos | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 18 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round | | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 |
| 3 | AEK Athens | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 12 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round | 0–2 | | 3–1 | 3–2 |
| 4 | PAOK | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 9 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 1–0 |
| 5 | AEL | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 1 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | |

## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ismael Blanco | AEK Athens | 14 |
| 1 | Luciano Galletti | Olympiacos | 14 |
| 3 | Dimitris Salpingidis | Panathinaikos | 10 |
| 4 | Leonardo | Levadiakos | 9 |
| 4 | Maciej Żurawski | AEL | 9 |
| 6 | Danijel Cesarec | Asteras Tripolis | 8 |
| 6 | Patrick Ogunsoto | Ergotelis | 8 |
| 6 | Zdravko Popović | OFI | 8 |
| 6 | Rafik Djebbour | AEK Athens | 8 |
| 10 | Ibrahima Bakayoko | PAOK | 7 |
| 10 | Edinho | AEK Athens | 7 |
| 10 | Fabián Estoyanoff | Panionios | 7 |
| 10 | Lucio Filomeno | Asteras Tripolis | 7 |
| 10 | Bennard Kumordzi | Panionios | 7 |
| 10 | Zlatan Muslimović | PAOK | 7 |
| 10 | Dame N'Doye | OFI | 7 |
Source: galanissportsdata.com

### Most valuable players (excluding goalkeepers)

| Position | Player | Club | Index |
| 1 | Luciano Galletti | Olympiacos | 0.250 |
| 2 | Dudu Cearense | Olympiacos | 0.242 |
| 3 | Fernando Belluschi | Olympiacos | 0.217 |
| 4 | Fabián Estoyanoff | Panionios | 0.215 |
| 5 | Vladimir Ivić | PAOK | 0.201 |
| 6 | Diego Romano | Ergotelis | 0.197 |
| 7 | Dimitris Salpingidis | Panathinaikos | 0.196 |
| 8 | Leonardo | Levadiakos | 0.192 |
| 9 | Serge Dié | Iraklis | 0.188 |
| 10 | Dame N'Doye | OFI | 0.183 |
Source: galanissportsdata.com

## Awards
### MVP and Best Goal Awards

| Matchday | MVP | Best Goal |
| 1st | | |
| 2nd | | |
| 3rd | | |
| 4th | | |
| 5th | | |
| 6th | Jozef Kožlej (Thrasyvoulos) | Anderson Gonzaga (Panionios) |
| 7th | Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos) | Javito (Aris) |
| 8th | Gabriel (Panathinaikos) | Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens) |
| 9th | Sérgio Conceição (PAOK) | Patrick Ogunsoto (Ergotelis) |
| 10th | Denis Epstein (Iraklis) | Koke (Aris) |
| 11th | Fernando Belluschi (Olympiacos) | Dudu Cearense (Olympiacos) |
| 12th | Srđan Blažić (Levadiakos) | Fanouris Goundoulakis (Panionios) |
| 13th | Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos) | Dimitrios Souanis (Skoda Xanthi) |
| 14th | Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos) | Edinho (AEK Athens) |
| 15th | Fabián Estoyanoff (Panionios) | Sebastián Leto (Olympiacos) |
| 16th | Achilleas Angelopoulos (Panthrakikos) | Zlatan Muslimović (PAOK) |
| 17th | Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos) | Luciano Galletti (Olympiacos) |
| 18th | Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos) | Zdravko Popović (OFI) |
| 19th | Ignacio Scocco (AEK Athens) | Ignacio Scocco (AEK Athens) |
| 20th | Antonis Nikopolidis (Olympiacos) | Luciano Galletti (Olympiacos) |
| 21st | Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos) | Manolis Papasterianos (Iraklis) |
| 22nd | Anastasios Papazoglou (Panserraikos) | Panagiotis Tachtsidis (AEK Athens) |
| 23rd | Spyros Vrontaras (Panthrakikos) | Vasilios Koutsianikoulis (Ergotelis) |
| 24th | Ibrahima Bakayoko (PAOK) | Edinho (AEK Athens) |
| 25th | Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos) | Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos) |
| 26th | Fernando Belluschi (Olympiacos) | Victor Agali (Skoda Xanthi) |
| 27th | Ignacio Scocco (AEK Athens) | Stelios Sfakianakis (OFI) |
| 28th | Georgios Georgiadis (Panserraikos) | Sérgio Conceição (PAOK) |
| 29th | Neto (Aris) | Vladimir Ivić (PAOK) |
| 30th | Tümer Metin (AEL) | Xenofon Gittas (Panthrakikos) |

### Annual awards

Annual awards were announced on 9 November 2009.
| Award | Winner | Club |
| Greek Player of the Season | Dimitris Salpingidis | Panathinaikos |
| Foreign Player of the Season | Luciano Galletti | Olympiacos |
| Young Player of the Season | Vasilios Koutsianikoulis | Ergotelis |
| Goalkeeper of the Season | Antonis Nikopolidis | Olympiacos |
| Golden Boot | Luciano Galletti Ismael Blanco | Olympiacos AEK Athens |
| Manager of the Season | Fernando Santos | PAOK |