2008–09 Umaglesi Liga

Umaglesi Liga

Season	2008–09
Champions	WIT Georgia 2nd Georgian title
Relegated	Meskheti Borjomi
Champions League	WIT Georgia
Europa League	Dinamo Tbilisi Olimpi Rustavi Zestaponi
Goals scored	411
Average goals/game	2.49
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 Zestaponi 0–4 Dinamo Tbilisi
Highest scoring	Dinamo Tbilisi 12–0 Borjomi
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Umaglesi Liga 2008–09 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.

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.

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Dinamo Tbilisi won the Georgian Cup 2008–09 and thereby qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since they also finished second in the league, fourth-placed Zestaponi qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

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