2008–09 Liga I

Liga I

Season	2008–09
Champions	Unirea Urziceni
Relegated	Argeş Piteşti Farul Constanţa Otopeni Gloria Buzău
Champions League	Unirea Urziceni Timişoara
Europa League	Dinamo Bucureşti CFR Cluj Vaslui Steaua Bucureşti
Matches played	306
Goals scored	707 (2.31 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gheorghe Bucur, Florin Costea (17)
Biggest home win	Otopeni 6–0 Farul
Biggest away win	Pandurii 1–5 Unirea Buzău 1–5 Unirea Otopeni 0–4 CFR
Highest scoring	Argeş 5–2 Dinamo Vaslui 4–3 Timişoara Gaz Metan 2–5 Universitatea
Highest attendance	Timişoara–Steaua (30,000)
Lowest attendance	Otopeni–Bistriţa (100)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Liga I was the ninety-first season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. Season began on 26 July 2008 and ended on 10 June 2009. CFR Cluj were the defending champions.

Team changes

Promoted

Teams promoted from Liga II at the beginning of the season.

• Serie 1 Champions: Braşov
• Serie 2 Champions: Argeş Piteşti
• Serie 1 Runners-up: Otopeni
• Serie 2 Runners-up: Gaz Metan Mediaş

Relegated

Teams relegated to Liga II at the end of season.

• Argeş Piteşti
• Farul Constanţa
• Otopeni
• Gloria Buzău

Overview

Stadiums by capacity and locations

FC Timișoara	Steaua Bucureşti	Universitatea Craiova	CFR Cluj	Rapid Bucureşti	Gloria Buzău
Dan Păltinișanu	Steaua	Ion Oblemenco	Dr. Constantin Rădulescu	Valentin Stănescu	Municipal
Capacity: 32,972	Capacity: 27,063	Capacity: 25,252	Capacity: 23,500	Capacity: 19,100	Capacity: 18,000

Argeş Piteşti	Farul Constanţa	Dinamo Bucureşti	Oţelul Galaţi	Politehnica Iaşi	CS Otopeni
Nicolae Dobrin	Farul	Dinamo	Oţelul	Emil Alexandrescu	Astra
Capacity: 16,500	Capacity: 15,500	Capacity: 15,167	Capacity: 13,932	Capacity: 11,390	Capacity: 10,000

FC Vaslui	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	FC Braşov	Gloria Bistriţa	Gaz Metan Mediaş	Unirea Urziceni
Municipal	Tudor Vladimirescu	Silviu Ploeșteanu	Gloria	Gaz Metan	Tineretului
Capacity: 9,240	Capacity: 9,200	Capacity: 8,800	Capacity: 7,800	Capacity: 7,000	Capacity: 7,000

.

Stadia and locations

Argeş

Braşov

CFR Cluj

Craiova

Dinamo

Farul

Gaz Metan

Gloria Bistriţa

Gloria Buzău

Otopeni        

Oţelul

Pandurii

Poli Iaşi

Rapid

Steaua

Timişoara

Unirea Urziceni

Vaslui

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Location of teams in Liga I 2008–09

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Dinamo Bucureşti	Cornel Ţălnar	Contract not renewed	17 April 2008	Mircea Rednic	17 April 2008
Rapid Bucureşti	Marian Rada	Contract not renewed	3 June 2008	José Peseiro	3 June 2008
Vaslui	Emil Săndoi	Contract not renewed	10 June 2008	Viorel Hizo	10 June 2008
Otopeni	Liviu Ciobotariu	Contract not renewed	18 June 2008	Miodrag Ješić	21 June 2008
Gloria Buzău	Ştefan Stoica	Sacked	11 August 2008	Álvaro Magalhães	12 August 2008
Otopeni	Miodrag Ješić	Caretaker	18 August 2008	Gabriel Mărgărit	18 August 2008
CFR Cluj	Ioan Andone	Sacked	30 August 2008	Maurizio Trombetta	1 September 2008
Otopeni	Gabriel Mărgărit	Sacked	8 September 2008	Marian Bucurescu	8 September 2008
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Eugen Neagoe	Sacked	21 September 2008	Sorin Cârţu	21 September 2008
Rapid Bucureşti	José Peseiro	Sacked	2 October 2008	Nicolae Manea	3 October 2008
Gloria Buzău	Álvaro Magalhães	Sacked	3 October 2008	Mario Marinică	9 October 2008
Rapid Bucureşti	Nicolae Manea	Caretaker	9 October 2008	José Peseiro	9 October 2008
Steaua Bucureşti	Marius Lăcătuş	Resigned	22 October 2008	Dorinel Munteanu	26 October 2008
Vaslui	Viorel Hizo	Sacked	1 November 2008	Viorel Moldovan	1 November 2008
Otopeni	Marian Bucurescu	Resigned	24 November 2008	Liviu Ciobotariu	24 November 2008
Timişoara	Dušan Uhrin, Jr.	Sacked	2 December 2008	Gavril Balint	29 December 2008
Gloria Buzău	Mario Marinică	Sacked	17 December 2008	Constantin Cârstea	28 January 2009
Steaua Bucureşti	Dorinel Munteanu	Sacked	31 December 2008	Marius Lăcătuş	1 January 2009
CFR Cluj	Maurizio Trombetta	Sacked	6 January 2009	Ales Jindra and Dušan Uhrin, Jr.	8 January 2009
Politehnica Iaşi	Ionuţ Popa	Resigned	11 January 2009	Cristiano Bergodi	18 January 2009
Rapid Bucureşti	José Peseiro	Sacked	12 January 2009	Marian Rada	14 January 2009
CFR Cluj	Ales Jindra and Dušan Uhrin, Jr.	Sacked	5 April 2009	Toni	6 April 2009
Farul Constanţa	Ion Marin	Resigned	13 April 2009	Lucian Marinof	13 April 2009
Rapid Bucureşti	Marian Rada	Resigned	17 April 2009	Viorel Hizo	3 May 2009
Universitatea Craiova	Nicolo Napoli	Sacked	15 May 2009	Ionel Gane	15 May 2009
Steaua Bucureşti	Marius Lăcătuş	Resigned	17 May 2009	Massimo Pedrazzini	18 May 2009
Vaslui	Viorel Moldovan	Resigned	26 May 2009	Cristian Dulca	26 May 2009
Timişoara	Gavril Balint	Sacked	31 May 2009	Valentin Velcea	1 June 2009

League table

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Positions by round

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_{Timişoara finish the championship on the place 3 and Dinamo on the place 2. But after finish championship Timişoara has received the 6 points and advanced to ranks 2.}

Leaders; Liga I

2nd place; Liga I

3rd place; Liga I Results Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r 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Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Template:Fb r Top goalscorers Pos Player Club Goals 1 Florin Costea Universitatea Craiova 17 Gheorghe Bucur Timişoara 3 Spadacio Rapid Bucureşti 16 4 Ionel Dănciulescu Dinamo Bucureşti 12 Marius Niculae 6 Pantelis Kapetanos Steaua Bucureşti 11 Bogdan Stancu 8 Yssouf Koné CFR Cluj 10 9 Gabriel Paraschiv Oţelul Galaţi 9 10 Alexandru Curtean Gaz Metan Mediaş / Timişoara 8 Mike Temwanjera Vaslui Chico Farul Constanţa Marius Onofraş Unirea Urziceni Marius Bilaşco Source: Liga1.ro Template:Ro icon Season statistics Scoring First goal of the season: Andrei Prepeliţă for Craiova against Iaşi, 64 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) Last goal of the season: Claudiu Niculescu for Dinamo against Argeş, 90+3 minutes (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) Fastest goal in a match: Andrei Cristea for Iaşi against Pandurii, 10 seconds (Round 30 – 9 May 2009) Fastest two goals in a match: Pandurii 1–1 Bistriţa, minutes 2 and 4 seconds (Round 14 – 8 November 2008) Goal scored at the latest point in a match: Cristian Oroş for Braşov against Unirea, 90+4 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) First own goal of the season: Zhivko Zhelev (Oţelul) for Gaz Metan, 31 minutes (Round 1 – 27 July 2008) Two own goals by the same team in a match: Diogo and Alexandru Tudose (both Buzău) for CFR, minutes 14 and 79 (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) Two goals in one minute and one second: Farul 1–1 Braşov, between 5:53 and 6:54 (Round 13 – 1 November 2008) Three goals in three minutes: Farul 1–4 Steaua, minutes 89, 90 and 90+2 (Round 7 – 13 September 2008) Six goals in 30 minutes: Gaz Metan 5–1 Timişoara, minutes 60 through 90 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Most goals in one half: Gaz Metan 0–0 at half time, 5–1 final Timişoara (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Widest winning margin: Otopeni 6–0 Farul (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) Hattricks scored: 4 Alexandru Curtean for Gaz Metan against Timişoara, minutes 65, 75 and 81 (Round 3 – 9 August 2008) Marius Niculae for Dinamo against Vaslui, minutes 24, 78 and 90 (Round 24 – 11 April 2009) Marius Niculae for Dinamo against Bistriţa, minutes 20, 56 and 72 (Round 26 – 21 April 2009) Victoraş Iacob for Otopeni against Farul, minutes 4, 34 and 50 (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) Cards First yellow card: Attila Hadnagy for Braşov against Unirea, 19 minutes (Round 1 – 26 July 2008) First red card: Rafael Pereira for Gaz Metan against Dinamo, 22 minutes (Round 2 – 3 August 2008) Most red cards in a single match: 3 Dinamo 1–0 Craiova – 2 for Dinamo (Júlio César, Adrian Ropotan) and 1 for Craiova (Josh Mitchell) (Round 6 – 30 August 2008) Argeş 1–1 Craiova – 2 for Craiova (Mircea Bornescu, Michael Baird) and 1 for Argeş (Daniel Bălaşa) (Round 10 – 3 October 2008) Match without any cards: Unirea 1–1 Steaua (Round 34 – 10 June 2009) References