2008–09 Syrian Premier League

The 2008–09 Syrian Premier League is the 38th season of the Syrian Premier League, Syria's premier football league. The season began on 10 October 2008 and finished on 12 June 2009.

Syrian Premier League
Season2008–09
ChampionsAl-Karamah
RelegatedAl-Futowa
Hutteen
AFC CupAl-Karamah
Al-Ittihad
Arab Champions LeagueAl-Jaish
Al-Nawair
Top goalscorer Mohamed Al Zeno (17)

Afrin and Al-Horriya were relegated from the previous season. Al-Wathba and Omyyah moved up from the Syrian League 1st Division.

At the end of the campaign, defending champions Al-Karamah were level on 52 points with Al-Ittihad and therefore were required to have a one off playoff match to determine the league champions.[1]

Al-Futowa and Hutteen were relegated and would be replaced by Afrin and Al-Jazeera for the 2009–10 Syrian Premier League campaign.

Syrian international Mohamed Al Zeno finished the campaign as leading goalscorer with 17 goals.

Continental Cups

AFC Cup

Al-Karamah and Al-Majd entered the AFC Cup 2009 tournament. A tournament for second ranked Asian nations.

During the domestic Syrian league season, only the group phases of this prestigious tournament is played until the knockout rounds which will take place in the next Syrian season.

Al-Majd comfortably qualified with one game to spare to reach the knockout rounds whilst Al-Karamah had somewhat of a shaky start and after 5 games find themselves in 3rd position.

Arab Champions League

Al-Ittihad and Al-Taliya entered the Arab Champions League but Al-Taliya found the going tough, being thumped by Raja Casablanca of Morocco in the first round.

Al-Ittihad went one round better but got beat by Wydad Casablanca, also of Morocco.

Premier League teams (2008–2009)
Club City Stadium 2007–2008 season Notes
Al-Karamah Homs Khaled bin Walid Stadium Syrian Premier League Champions AFC Cup 2009 representative
Al-Majd Damascus Abbasiyyin Stadium 2nd in Syrian Premier League AFC Cup 2009 representative
Al-Ittihad Aleppo Aleppo International Stadium 3rd in Syrian Premier League 2008–09 Arab Champions League representative
Al-Taliya Hamah Al Baladi Stadium Hama 4th in Syrian Premier League 2008–09 Arab Champions League representative
Al-Jaish Damascus Abbasiyyin Stadium 5th in Syrian Premier League
Al-Futowa Deir ez-Zor Al Baladi Stadium Deir ez-Zor 6th in Syrian Premier League
Teshrin Latakia Al Basil Stadium 7th in Syrian Premier League
Hutteen Latakia Al Basil Stadium 8th in Syrian Premier League
Al-Wahda Damascus Abbasiyyin Stadium 9th in Syrian Premier League
Jableh Jableh Al-Baath Stadium 10th in Syrian Premier League
Al-Shorta Damascus Abbasiyyin Stadium 11th in Syrian Premier League
Al-Nawair Hamah Al Baladi Stadium Hama 12th in Syrian Premier League
Al-Wathba Homs Khaled bin Walid Stadium 1st Division / North Champions
Omayya Idlib Al Baladi Stadium Idlib 1st Division / South Champions

Final league standings
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Al-Ittihad 26 16 4 6 48 24 +24 52 2010 AFC Cup
2 Al-Karamah 26 16 4 6 34 22 +12 52 2010 AFC Champions League play-off (as 2009 AFC Cup Finalist)
3 Al-Jaish 26 14 9 3 36 15 +21 51 2010 AFC Cup
4 Al-Nawair 26 12 2 12 32 29 +3 38
5 Al-Wathba 26 9 10 7 36 32 +4 37
6 Al-Majd 26 10 7 9 40 39 +1 37
7 Omayya 26 9 8 9 32 32 0 35
8 Teshrin 26 7 9 10 27 30 −3 30
9 Al-Taliya 26 8 6 12 31 36 −5 30
10 Al-Wahda 26 8 6 12 26 33 −7 30
11 Jableh 26 7 8 11 28 34 −6 29
12 Al-Shorta 26 7 7 12 20 36 −16 28
13 Al-Futowa 26 6 8 12 31 42 −11 26 Relegate to Syrian League 1st Division
14 Hutteen 26 6 6 14 29 46 −17 24
Source:

Playoffs

5th and 6th placed teams Al-Wathba and Al-Majd had a one match playoff at the end of the season due to both clubs finishing the regular season on 37 points. Al-Wathba won the tie 3–2 to claim 5th position in the final standings.

Championship match
Al-Ittihad1–2Al-Karamah
Otto  21' (pen.) Hamwi  71'
Mando  90+5'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Muhsen Basma (Syria)

Winner
 Syrian Premier League
2008–09 Winners 

Al-Karamah
8th Title
4th in a row

Top goalscorers
17 goals
  • Mohamed Al Zeno (Al-Majd)
14 goals
12 goals
11 goals
  • Maher Al Sayed (Al-Wahda)
  • Ali Ghalium (Al-Wathba)
  • Samer Yazji (Omayya)
  • Obode Efe (Teshrin)
10 goals

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Date Outgoing Reason of departure Replaced by Date of Replacement
Al-Wahda Damascus Emad Shouman August 26, 2008 Change of manager for new season Nizar Mahrous August 26, 2008
Al-Wahda Damascus Nizar Mahrous February 4, 2009 Left to go to Al-Faisaly [2] Assaf Khalefah
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References
  1. Ittihad, Karamah in league climax
  2. Mahrous takes up Al Faisaly job
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