Football League Championship 2008-09

The Football League 2008–09 (called Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons), was the seventeenth season under its current league division format. It began in August 2008 and concluded on the 25th of May 2009, with the promotion play-off finals. The winners of the Championship in 2009 are Wolverhampton Wanderers.
==Promotion and relegation==
===Start of season===
Teams promoted to Premier League 2008-09
* West Bromwich Albion (Champions)
* Stoke City (Runners-up)
* Hull City (Playoff winners)
Teams promoted from League One 2007-08
* Swansea City (Champions)
* Nottingham Forest (Runners-up)
* Doncaster Rovers (Playoff winners)
===End of season===
Teams relegated from Premier League 2008-09
* Newcastle United
* Middlesbrough
* West Bromwich Albion
Teams relegated to League One 2009-10
* Norwich City
* Southampton
* Charlton Athletic
==Final league table==
Pos	Club	P 	W 	D 	L 	GF	GA	GD 	Pts	Comments
1 	 	46	27	9 	10	80	52	+28	90 	Promotion to Premier League
2 	 	46	23	14	9 	54	37	+17	83 	Promotion to Premier League
3 	 	46	22	14	10	64	39	+25	80 	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
4 	 	46	21	14	11	72	40	+32	77 	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
5 	 	46	21	13	12	72	60	+12	76 	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
6 	 	46	21	11	14	66	54	+12	74 	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
7 	 	46	19	17	10	65	53	+12	74 	
8 	 	46	16	20	10	63	50	+13	68 	
9 	 	46	17	15	14	62	53	+9 	66 	
10 	 	46	15	16	15	54	54	0 	61 	
11 	 	46	15	16	15	42	44	-2 	61 	
12 	 	46	16	13	17	51	58	-7 	61 	
13 	 	46	16	10	20	68	72	-4 	58 	
14 	 	46	17	7 	22	43	54	-11	58 	
15 	 	46	15	12	19	52	55	-3 	56*	
16 	 	46	13	17	16	47	58	-11	56 	
17 	 	46	13	15	18	49	60	-11	54 	
18 	 	46	14	12	20	55	67	-12	54 	
19 	 	46	13	14	19	50	65	-15	53 	
20 	 	46	13	13	20	46	59	-13	52 	
21 	 	46	13	12	21	44	57	-13	51 	
22 	(R) 	46	12	10	24	57	70	-13	46 	Relegated to League One
23 	(R) 	46	10	15	21	46	69	-23	45 	Relegated to League One
24 	(R) 	46	8 	15	23	52	74	-22	39 	Relegated to League One
Football League Championship 2008-09 Winners
Wolverhampton Wanderers1st Championship title
==Play-offs==
==Top goalscorers==
Scorer 	Goals	Team
Rickie Lambert 	29 	Bristol Rovers
Simon Cox 	29 	Swindon Town
Matty Fryatt 	27 	Leicester City
Jermaine Beckford 	27 	Leeds United
Gary Hooper 	24 	Scunthorpe United
Craig Mackail-Smith	23 	Peterborough United
Lee Hughes 	18 	Oldham Athletic
Aaron McLean 	18 	Peterborough United
Joel Porter 	18 	Hartlepool United
Paul Hayes 	17 	Scunthorpe United
==External links and references==
2008-09