2008–09 Umaglesi Liga

Umaglesi Liga
Season	2008–09
Dates	13 September 2008 – 23 May 2009
Champions	WIT Georgia; 2nd Georgian title
Relegated	Meskheti; Borjomi
Champions League	WIT Georgia
Europa League	Dinamo Tbilisi; Olimpi Rustavi; Zestafoni
Matches played	165
Goals scored	411 (2.49 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nikoloz Gelashvili (20)
Biggest home win	Dinamo Tbilisi 12–0 Borjomi
Biggest away win	Borjomi 0–4 Dinamo Tbilisi; Gagra 0–4 WIT Georgia; Zestafoni 0–4 Dinamo Tbilisi
Highest scoring	Dinamo Tbilisi 12–0 Borjomi
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Umaglesi Liga was the twentieth season of top-tier football in Georgia. It was scheduled to begin in August 2008, but the start of the league was delayed due to the 2008 South Ossetia war. The first round of games finally took place on 13 and 14 September 2008. The season ended with the 33rd round played on 23 May 2009. Dinamo Tbilisi were the defending champions.

The league was reduced from 14 to 12 teams prior to this season. However, Ameri Tbilisi voluntarily withdrew from the competition in mid-July because of financial reasons. As no replacement team was announced, the league featured only 11 teams.

Promotion and relegation

Merani Tbilisi, Dinamo Batumi and Dila Gori were relegated at the end of the previous season due to finishing 12th through 14th, respectively. Spartaki Tskhinvali, who finished the previous season in 11th place, retained their spot in Umaglesi Liga after defeating Pirveli Liga runners-up Gagra by 1–0.

Due to the reduction of league size, only Pirveli Liga champions Chiatura were promoted. However, they did not want to compete in 2008–09 Umaglesi Liga because of unknown reasons, so Gagra took their spot.

Stadia and locations

Tbilisi

Tbilisi teams:
Dinamo
Gagra
Locomotive
Spartaki-Tskhinvali
WIT Georgia

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Location of teams in 2008–09 Umaglesi Liga

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
FC Borjomi	Borjomi	Jemal Zeinklishvili Stadium	5,000
Dinamo	Tbilisi	Boris Paichadze Stadium	54,549
Gagra	Tbilisi	Ameri Stadium	1,000
Locomotive	Tbilisi	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223
Meskheti	Akhaltsikhe	Central Stadium	3,000
Mglebi	Zugdidi	Gulia Tutberidze Stadium	3,000
Olimpi	Rustavi	Poladi Stadium	10,720
Sioni	Bolnisi	Tamaz Stephania Stadium	3,000
Spartaki-Tskhinvali	Tbilisi	Kartli Stadium	1,500
WIT Georgia	Tbilisi	Shevardeni Stadium	4,000
FC Zestafoni	Zestaponi	David Abashidze Stadium	10,000

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	WIT Georgia (C)	30	20	9	1	57	19	+38	69	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Dinamo Tbilisi	30	19	6	5	70	21	+49	63	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round^[a]
3	Olimpi Rustavi	30	16	9	5	40	20	+20	57	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round^[a]
4	Zestafoni	30	16	4	10	43	27	+16	52
5	Sioni Bolnisi	30	11	11	8	35	29	+6	44
6	Locomotive Tbilisi	30	10	8	12	35	33	+2	38
7	Mglebi Zugdidi^[b] (R)	30	10	6	14	36	41	−5	36	Withdrew from the league
8	Meskheti Akhaltsikhe^[c] (R)	30	7	8	15	23	42	−19	29	Relegation to Pirveli Liga
9	Gagra	30	7	7	16	23	48	−25	28
10	Spartaki Tskhinvali	30	6	7	17	28	46	−18	25
11	Borjomi (R)	30	2	7	21	21	85	−64	13	Withdrew from the league
—	Ameri Tbilisi^[d] (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew from the league

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Dinamo Tbilisi won the 2008–09 Georgian Cup and thereby qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since they also finished second in the league, fourth-placed Zestafoni qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
^ Mglebi withdrew from the league. The club was merged with FC Baia Zugdidi.^[1]
^ Meskheti withdrew from the league after the season concluded due to financial reasons. Therefore, Gagra and Spartaki Tskhinvali, who originally were to be demoted, were spared from relegation and play in the 2009–10 season of Umaglesi Liga.^[1]
^ Ameri Tbilisi voluntarily withdrew their participation before the start of the season due to financial reasons.

Results

First and second round

Home \ Away	BOR	DIN	GAG	LOC	MES	MGL	OLI	SIO	SPA	WIT	ZES
Borjomi		0–4	3–2	0–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–1
Dinamo Tbilisi	5–0		3–0	2–1	4–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	4–1	2–2	2–0
Gagra	2–0	2–1		0–0	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–4	1–3
Locomotive Tbilisi	4–0	1–0	2–0		2–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2
Meskheti Akhaltsikhe	2–2	1–3	2–0	3–1		0–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–0
Mglebi Zugdidi	4–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–2		3–1	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–1
Olimpi Rustavi	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	4–0	2–1		0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Sioni Bolnisi	2–1	1–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	0–1		0–0	2–2	0–1
Spartaki Tskhinvali	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–4	1–1	4–0	1–1	0–3		0–1	1–2
WIT Georgia	4–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0		2–1
Zestafoni	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	4–1	1–2

Source: soccerway.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Home \ Away	BOR	DIN	GAG	LOC	MES	MGL	OLI	SIO	SPA	WIT	ZES
Borjomi			1–2	1–1				1–2		0–3	1–3
Dinamo Tbilisi	12–0				2–0		2–1		2–2	1–1
Gagra		0–1			2–0	2–2	0–1	1–2	1–1
Locomotive Tbilisi		0–0	0–1		0–0	1–1	1–3	1–1
Meskheti Akhaltsikhe	6–0						0–1		1–0	0–3
Mglebi Zugdidi	5–0	1–0			4–1		1–2	2–0	2–1
Olimpi Rustavi	6–1							0–1	1–0	1–3	1–0
Sioni Bolnisi		1–1			2–0					3–4	0–0
Spartaki Tskhinvali	2–0			1–3				2–1		0–0	1–0
WIT Georgia			0–0	3–1		4–0					2–1
Zestafoni		0–4	6–0	1–3	3–0	3–1