2008–09 IFA Premiership
| Season | 2008–09 |
|---|---|
| Champions |
Glentoran 23rd Irish title |
| Relegated | Bangor |
| UEFA Champions League | Glentoran |
| UEFA Europa League |
Linfield Crusaders Lisburn Distillery |
| Matches played | 228 |
| Goals scored | 619 (2.71 per match) |
| Biggest home win | Linfield 7–0 Institute |
| Biggest away win |
Bangor 0–5 Crusaders Bangor 0–5 Linfield Crusaders 0–5 Linfield |
| Highest scoring | Dungannon Swifts 3–6 Crusaders |
| Highest attendance | 9,500 Linfield 3–0 Glentoran (26 December 2008) |
| Lowest attendance | 76 Bangor 1–3 Dungannon Swifts (25 April 2009) |
| Average attendance | 858 |
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← 2007–08
2009–10 →
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The 2008–09 IFA Premiership (known as the JJB Sports Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the first season after a major overhaul of the league system in Northern Ireland, and the 108th season of Irish league football overall. It was scheduled to begin on 9 August 2008. However, the start of the league was delayed by a week due to a referees' strike. The season eventually began on 16 August 2008, and concluded on 2 May 2009. Linfield were the defending champions, but narrowly fell short of retaining the title as rivals Glentoran pipped them by a single point to win their 23rd league title overall.
The league was reduced from sixteen to twelve teams as a result of the league system in Northern Ireland being restructured by the IFA.
Five of last season's sixteen Premier League teams failed to gain a place in the new twelve-team Premiership, and one new team - Bangor - gained entry from the IFA Intermediate League.
Of the five teams who missed out, three - Armagh City, Larne and Limavady United failed to obtain the necessary domestic licence. Portadown obtained a licence, but was controversially excluded because a club official missed a deadline for submitting an application form by several minutes. Finally, Donegal Celtic obtained a licence, but was ranked thirteenth in the entry list, and thus missed out by one place.
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th head-to-head points; 5th head-to-head goal difference
1Crusaders won the 2008–09 Irish Cup and qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Therefore the fourth placed team, Lisburn Distillery, also earned a spot in the Europa League.
2On 2 February 2009, Bangor announced that they would not be able to renew their domestic licence due to financial difficulties, and therefore would not compete in the 2009–10 IFA Premiership. Therefore, they were automatically relegated and the play-off place was passed down to the 12th-placed team, Dungannon Swifts.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
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