# 2008–09 VfB Stuttgart season

During the 2008–09 VfB Stuttgart season, the club was a genuine contender for the Bundesliga title, losing out only to VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich and finishing in third position. Striker Mario Gómez scored 24 goals in the Bundesliga campaign, only to then make a shock switch to rivals Bayern for the highest-received transfer fee in the club's history.

## Players
### First-team squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Jens Lehmann |
| 3 | DF | MEX | Ricardo Osorio |
| 4 | DF | NED | Khalid Boulahrouz |
| 5 | DF | GER | Serdar Tasci |
| 6 | DF | GER | Georg Niedermeier (on loan from Bayern Munich II) |
| 7 | MF | GER | Martin Lanig |
| 8 | MF | CZE | Jan Šimák |
| 9 | FW | ROU | Ciprian Marica |
| 10 | MF | TUR | Yıldıray Baştürk |
| 11 | MF | GER | Thomas Hitzlsperger |
| 12 | GK | GER | Alexander Stolz |
| 13 | MF | GER | Timo Gebhart |
| 15 | DF | CIV | Arthur Boka |
| 16 | MF | GER | Sebastian Rudy |
| 17 | DF | FRA | Matthieu Delpierre |
| 18 | FW | GER | Cacau |
| 19 | DF | GER | Roberto Hilbert |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | SUI | Ludovic Magnin |
| 22 | FW | GER | Sven Schipplock |
| 24 | GK | GER | Sven Ulreich |
| 25 | MF | BRA | Élson |
| 26 | DF | GER | Tobias Feisthammel |
| 28 | MF | GER | Sami Khedira |
| 29 | MF | CMR | Georges Mandjeck |
| 33 | FW | GER | Mario Gómez |
| 35 | DF | GER | Christian Träsch |
| 36 | DF | GER | Robin Schuster |
| 37 | GK | GER | Timo Hammel |
| 38 | FW | SRB | Danijel Ljuboja |
| 39 | FW | GER | Julian Schieber |
| 40 | MF | GER | Marijan Kovačević |
| 42 | DF | GER | Marco Pischorn |
| 45 | DF | GER | Sebastian Enderle |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 13 | MF | MEX | Pável Pardo (to América) |
| 23 | FW | GER | Manuel Fischer (on loan to TuS Koblenz) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 31 | FW | POL | Matthias Morys (to Kickers Offenbach) |

### VfB Stuttgart II

VfB Stuttgart II were coached by Rainer Adrion and finished 11th in the 3. Liga.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Timo Hammel |
| 2 | DF | GER | Tobias Feisthammel |
| 3 | DF | GER | Joachim Schwabe |
| 4 | DF | GER | David Pisot |
| 5 | MF | GER | Marijan Kovačević |
| 6 | MF | GER | Christian Träsch |
| 7 | FW | GER | Nico Klotz |
| 8 | MF | GER | Martin Dausch |
| 9 | MF | GER | Sebastian Hofmann |
| 10 | MF | GER | José-Alex Ikeng (to January) |
| 10 | MF | GER | Markus Pazurek (from January) |
| 13 | FW | GER | Johannes Rahn |
| 15 | MF | GER | Daniel Didavi |
| 16 | MF | GER | Sebastian Rudy |
| 11 | MF | GER | Michael Klauß |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | GER | Patrick Funk |
| 17 | MF | GER | Jeremy Karikari |
| 18 | DF | GER | Robin Schuster |
| 19 | FW | GER | Julian Schieber |
| 20 | MF | GER | Andreas Hindelang |
| 21 | DF | GER | Dubravko Kolinger |
| 22 | FW | GER | Sven Schipplock |
| 23 | DF | GER | Sebastian Enderle |
| 24 | GK | GER | Sven Ulreich |
| 25 | DF | MKD | Shaban Ismaili |
| 26 | DF | GER | Sven Schimmel |
| 27 | MF | AUT | Clemens Walch |
| 30 | FW | GER | Manuel Fischer (to January) |
| 31 | GK | GER | Marcel Schmid |
| 42 | DF | GER | Marco Pischorn |

## Bundesliga
### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | VfL Wolfsburg (C) | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 80 | 41 | +39 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | 34 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 71 | 42 | +29 | 67 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 43 | +20 | 64 | Qualification to Champions League play-off round |
| 4 | Hertha BSC | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 63 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 47 | +2 | 61 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |

### Results
## Statistics
### Top scorers

* Mario Gómez 24
* Cacau 7
* Thomas Hitzlsperger 5
* Sami Khedira 5
* Ciprian Marica 4