2008–09 Cypriot First Division

Marfin Laiki League
Season2008–09
ChampionsAPOEL
20th title
RelegatedAlki
AEK
Atromitos
Champions LeagueAPOEL
Europa LeagueOmonia
Anorthosis
APOP Kinyras
Matches played218
Goals scored612 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorerSerjão (24 goals)
Biggest home winOmonia 7–1 Enosis
Apollon 7–1 Alki
Biggest away winAtromitos 1–6 Anorthosis
Atromitos 0–5 Omonia
Highest scoringAtromitos 3–6 Apollon

The 2008–09 Cypriot First Division was the seventy season of top-tier football on Cyprus. It started on 30 August 2008 and ended on 10 May 2009. The defending champions were Anorthosis.

APOEL won the championship three matchweeks before the end of the season.

This year, for the second time, the championship also featured a group stage play-off system. Teams were divided into 3 groups: 1st–4th, 5th–8th and 9th–12th. Points from the main part of the season still counted.

Format

Fourteen teams participated in the 2008–09 Cypriot First Division. Each team played against every other team twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 26 matches. After these matches, the two teams with the worst records were relegated to the 2009–10 Cypriot Second Division. The remaining twelve teams were divided into three groups: 1st-4th, 5th-8th and 9th-12th.

The teams ranked first through fourth played out the champion and the participants for the European competitions. Teams ranked ninth through 12th determined the third relegated club, while the remaining four teams played a placement round. Every team played twice against its group opponents. Regular season records are carried over without any modifications.

The champions ensured their participation in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League and the runners-up and the third team in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.

Point system

Teams received three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Stadia and locations

Team Stadium
AEK Larnaca GSZ Stadium
AEL Limassol Tsirion Stadium
AEP Paphos Pafiako Stadium
Alki Larnaca Ammochostos Stadium
Anorthosis Famagusta Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium
APEP Tsirion Stadium
APOEL GSP Stadium
Apollon Limassol Tsirion Stadium
APOP Kinyras Peyia Municipal Stadium
Atromitos Yeroskipou Pafiako Stadium
Doxa Katokopias Makario Stadium
Ethnikos Achna Dasaki Stadium
ENP Paralimni Stadium
Omonia GSP Stadium

Promotion and relegation

Teams promoted from 2007-08 Cypriot Second Division:

Teams relegated to 2008–09 Cypriot Second Division :

Overview

Team Head Coach Team Captain Venue Capacity Kitmaker Shirt sponsor Club Chairman
AEK Larnaca Cyprus Savvas Constantinou Cyprus Constantinos Mina Neo GSZ Stadium 13,032 Mass CytaVision Marios Ellinas
AEL Limassol Romania Mihai Stoichiţă Cyprus Simos Krassas Tsirion Stadium 13,331 Mass Sinergatiko Tamieftirio Lemesou Andreas Sofokleous
AEP Paphos Israel Nir Klinger Cyprus Giorgos Georgiou Pafiako Stadium 10,000 Mass Eurolink Investment Group Fillippos Georgiou
Alki Larnaca Cyprus Panikos Xiourouppas Venezuela Andrés Rouga Ammochostos Stadium 5,500 Legea TEAM A Security Demetris Phantousis
Anorthosis Famagusta Cyprus Michalis Pamboris Cyprus Nikos Nicolaou Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium 10,003 Puma Quality Group Developments Chris Georgiades
APEP Pitsilia Netherlands Willy Scheepers Uruguay Bruno Piano Tsirion Stadium 13,331 Mass KKCG Panayiotis Neokleous
APOEL Serbia Ivan Jovanović Cyprus Marinos Satsias GSP Stadium 22,859 Lotto MTN Group Foivos Erotokritou
Apollon Limassol Germany Thomas von Heesen CyprusChristos Theophilou Tsirion Stadium 13,331 Lotto Columbia Ship Management Theodoros Antoniou
APOP Kinyras Peyias Cyprus Giorgos Polyviou Greece Giannis Sfakianakis Peyia Municipal Stadium 3,828 Puma PrimeTel Michalis Mitas
Atromitos Yeroskipou Cyprus Sofoklis Sofokleous Cyprus Argyris Petrou Pafiako Stadium 10,000 Umbro SPE Yeroskipou Vangelis Genis
Doxa Katokopia Cyprus Pambos Christodoulou Cyprus Kyriacos Polykarpou Makario Stadium 16,000 Puma Yiannakas Real Estate Ltd Charalambos Argyrou
Enosis Neon Paralimni Cyprus Adamos Adamou & Antonis Kleftis Cyprus Demos Goumenos Paralimni Stadium 5,800 Lotto Elian Developers Adamos Loizou
Ethnikos Achna Belgium Stéphane Demol Cyprus Christos Poyiatzis Dasaki Stadium 7,000 Nike Famagusta Developers Kikis Philippou
Omonia Greece Takis Lemonis Cyprus Kostas Kaiafas GSP Stadium 22,859 Lotto Ocean Tankers Miltiadis Neophytou

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment
Omonia Cyprus Giorgos Savvidis Resigned 4 March 2008 Bosnia and Herzegovina Nedim Tutić 4 March 2008
Apollon Israel Yossi Mizrahi Mutual consent 11 May 2008 Serbia Svetozar Šapurić 23 May 2008
Ethnikos Serbia Svetozar Šapurić Mutual consent 23 May 2008 Belgium Stéphane Demol 24 May 2008
Apollon Serbia Svetozar Šapurić Sacked 9 September 2008 Germany Thomas von Heesen 15 September 2008
AEK Israel Nir Klinger Sacked 27 October 2008 Greece Makis Katsavakis 28 October 2008
AEP Cyprus Savvas Constantinou Resigned 3 November 2008 Israel Nir Klinger 5 November 2008
APOP Bulgaria Eduard Eranosyan Sacked 27 November 2008 Cyprus Giorgos Polyviou 27 November 2008
AEK Greece Makis Katsavakis Resigned 2 December 2008 Cyprus Loizos Stefani 2 December 2008
Enosis Cyprus Marios Constantinou Resigned 7 December 2008 Cyprus Panayiotis Xiourouppas 8 December 2008
Alki Cyprus Christos Kassianos Resigned 17 December 2008 Cyprus Panayiotis Xiourouppas 7 January 2009
AEK Cyprus Loizos Stefani Mutual consent 18 December 2008 Cyprus Christos Kassianos 18 December 2008
Enosis Cyprus Panayiotis Xiourouppas Mutual consent 29 December 2008 Bulgaria Eduard Eranosyan 30 December 2008
AEK Cyprus Christos Kassianos Resigned 15 January 2009 Cyprus Savvas Constantinou 15 January 2009
AEL Cyprus Andreas Michaelides Mutual consent 26 January 2009 Romania Mihai Stoichiţă 27 January 2009
Enosis Bulgaria Eduard Eranosyan Resigned 28 January 2009 Cyprus Adamos Adamou & Antonis Kleftis 29 January 2009
Omonia Bosnia and Herzegovina Nedim Tutić Sacked 16 March 2009 Greece Takis Lemonis 17 March 2009
APEP Cyprus Tasos Kyriacou Sacked 5 April 2009 Netherlands Willy Scheepers 5 April 2009
Anorthosis Georgia (country) Temuri Ketsbaia Resigned 13 April 2009 Cyprus Michalis Pamboris 13 April 2009

First round

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 APOEL 26 22 3 1 53 14 +39 69 Qualification for second round, Group A
2 Omonia Nicosia 26 21 1 4 61 18 +43 64
3 Anorthosis Famagusta 26 20 2 4 49 19 +30 62
4 AEL Limassol 26 13 4 9 34 30 +4 43
5 Apollon Limassol 26 13 4 9 53 34 +19 43 Qualification for second round, Group B
6 APOP Kinyras 26 12 4 10 35 35 0 40
7 Ethnikos Achna 26 11 7 8 34 32 +2 40
8 Doxa Katokopias 26 8 7 11 37 39 −2 31
9 AEP Paphos 26 5 12 9 30 38 −8 27 Qualification for second round, Group C
10 Enosis Neon Paralimni 26 6 7 13 23 43 −20 25
11 APEP 26 5 8 13 28 44 −16 23
12 Alki Larnaca 26 4 7 15 27 50 −23 19
13 AEK Larnaca (R) 26 3 6 17 27 45 −18 15 Relegation to Cypriot Second Division
14 Atromitos (R) 26 1 4 21 19 69 −50 7
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
Teams qualified for Group A played out one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League and two spots in the UEFA Europa League, one in the second and one in the first qualifying round.
A spot in the third qualifying round of UEFA Europa League was awarded to the winners of the 2008–09 Cypriot Cup.
Teams qualified for Group C played out one additional relegation spot.
Points gained in the First round were taken over into the Second round groups.
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b AEL 1–0 APOL; APOL 1–3 AEL
  2. ^ a b ETH 1–4 APOP; APOP 1–2 ETH

Results

Home \ Away AEK AEL AEP ALK ANO APEP APOE APOL APOP ATR DOX ENP ETH OMO
AEK Larnaca 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–3 0–2 0–1 1–5 1–2 4–0 2–2 2–2 1–1 2–5
AEL Limassol 1–0 2–1 2–2 0–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 0–2
AEP Paphos 0–3 0–1 5–2 2–2 1–1 2–2 1–2 2–2 1–0 2–1 0–2 0–0 2–3
Alki Larnaca 1–0 1–2 2–2 0–2 3–1 1–0 0–3 1–3 2–2 1–2 2–1 0–1 0–1
Anorthosis Famagusta 1–0 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–0 1–2 2–1 2–0 3–0 2–0 1–0 2–1 1–2
APEP 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–1 1–2 0–1 2–1 3–3 0–0 2–2 1–3
APOEL 2–0 4–0 4–1 3–1 1–0 4–0 4–1 1–0 4–0 3–2 1–0 3–0 3–2
Apollon Limassol 1–0 1–3 4–1 7–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 3–1 2–1 0–2 4–0 2–1 0–2
APOP Kinyras 2–0 1–3 0–0 1–0 0–3 1–0 1–2 1–1 3–1 2–1 1–3 1–2 2–0
Atromitos 1–0 0–3 2–2 1–1 1–6 1–5 0–1 3–6 0–2 1–5 1–1 0–1 0–5
Doxa Katokopias 2–2 3–2 1–0 1–1 0–1 3–2 0–2 2–2 2–0 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–2
Enosis Neon Paralimni 2–1 0–3 0–0 1–1 0–3 4–0 0–1 0–3 1–2 1–0 1–1 0–4 0–2
Ethnikos Achna 2–1 3–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–4 2–1 2–0 2–1 2–1
Omonia Nicosia 4–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 4–0 3–0 0–1 1–0 4–1 2–0 2–0 7–1 1–0
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ The match of Round 8 was awarded to AEK with a score of 2–0 after being abandoned due to crowd violence.
  2. ^ The match of Round 12 was awarded to Doxa with a score of 2–0 after being abandoned due to crowd violence.
  3. ^ The match of Round 3 was awarded to Omonia with a score of 2–0 after being abandoned due to crowd violence.
  4. ^ The match of Round 1 was awarded to APOP with a score of 2–0 after being abandoned due to crowd violence.

Second round

Group A

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 APOEL (C) 32 26 4 2 62 17 +45 82 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Omonia Nicosia 32 25 1 6 70 22 +48 76 Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
3 Anorthosis Famagusta 32 21 4 7 52 26 +26 67 Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
4 AEL Limassol 32 13 5 14 38 41 −3 44
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away AEL ANO APOE OMO
AEL Limassol 1–1 0–1 2–3
Anorthosis Famagusta 1–0 1–1 0–2
APOEL 3–1 2–0 SUSP
Omonia Nicosia 2–0 1–0 1–2
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ The match of last round between APOEL and Omonia was suspended after the first half due to violent behaviour of both teams' fans and their mutual conflict. Disciplinary Committee later decided that the final result of the match is forfeit of both teams.

Group B

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
5 Apollon Limassol 32 17 6 9 68 42 +26 57
6 Ethnikos Achna 32 13 8 11 47 45 +2 47
7 APOP Kinyras 32 13 6 13 45 49 −4 39 Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round
8 Doxa Katokopias 32 10 8 14 46 51 −5 38
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
Notes:
  1. ^ APOP were docked 6 points due to unpaid debts.
  2. ^ APOP won the 2008–09 Cypriot Cup and qualified for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Results

Home \ Away APOL APOP DOX ETH
Apollon Limassol 3–2 3–1 2–0
APOP Kinyras 2–2 1–0 1–4
Doxa Katokopias 1–1 3–2 2–5
Ethnikos Achna 2–4 2–2 0–2
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group C

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
9 AEP Paphos 32 7 15 10 39 44 −5 36
10 Enosis Neon Paralimni 32 8 8 16 27 51 −24 32
11 APEP 32 7 10 15 33 51 −18 31
12 Alki Larnaca (R) 32 6 9 17 39 59 −20 27 Relegation to Cypriot Second Division
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away AEP ALK APEP ENP
AEP Paphos 3–4 1–1 3–0
Alki Larnaca 1–1 1–1 1–2
APEP 0–1 0–4 2–0
Enosis Neon Paralimni 0–0 2–1 0–1
Source: cfa.com.cy (in Greek)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Source: soccerway.com (First round, Second round)

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Brazil Serjão Doxa 24
2 Argentina Gastón Sangoy Apollon 22
3 Iran Ferydoon Zandi Alki 12
4 Cyprus Yiasoumis Yiasoumi Ethnikos 11
Poland Marcin Żewłakow APOEL
6 Cyprus Demetris Christofi Omonia 10
Brazil Gelson APEP
Poland Łukasz Sosin Anorthosis
Portugal Bernardo Vasconcelos APOP
10 Nigeria Haruna Babangida Apollon 9
Belgium Fangio Buyse APOP
Cyprus Kyriacos Chailis AEP
Cyprus Ioannis Okkas Omonia

Season statistics

Scoring

Discipline

See also

Sources


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