2007–08 Serbian SuperLiga

Meridian SuperLiga
Season 2007–08
Champions Partizan
1st SuperLiga title
20th domestic title
Relegated Bežanija
Mladost Lučani
Smederevo
Champions League Partizan (second qualifying round)
UEFA Cup Red Star
Vojvodina
Borac Čačak
Matches played 198
Goals scored 452 (2.28 per match)
Top goalscorer Nenad Jestrović (13)
Biggest home win Red Star 5–0 Napredak (2 April 2008)
Vojvodina 5–0 Borac Čačak (30 April 2008)
Biggest away win Banat 0–4 Napredak (3 May 2008)
Highest scoring Bežanija 6–2 Banat (29 March 2008)
Location of teams in the Serbian SuperLiga 2007–08

The 2007–08 Serbian SuperLiga season (known as the Meridian SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons) was the second since its establishment in 2006. Red Star Belgrade were the defending SuperLiga champions, having won their twenty-fifth national title the season before.

The SuperLiga changed its format from this season. The League was no longer divided into a playoff and play-out group midway through the campaign. Instead the 12 teams played each other three times in a conventional league format. For the SuperLiga's unnagural season and this one the league had been named the Meridian SuperLiga. This however, was the last season that Meridian Bank had sponsorship rights to the SuperLiga. The rights to the Serbian SuperLiga were bought by Jelen and starting from the 2008–09 season the league would be known as the Jelen SuperLiga.

Participating clubs and their stadia

The following twelve clubs competed in the 2007–08 Serbian SuperLiga season.

Team Stadium Capacity
Crvena zvezdaStadion Crvena Zvezda55,000
PartizanPartizan Stadium32,710
VojvodinaKarađorđe Stadium20,000
BanatKarađorđev Park Stadium18,700
SmederevoFortress Stadium17,200
OFK BeogradOmladinski Stadion16,000
Hajduk KulaStadion Hajduk12,000
NapredakKruševac Stadium10,811
BežanijaStadion Bežanije9,350
Mladost LučaniStadion Mladost8,000
Borac ČačakČačak Stadium7,600
ČukaričkiČukarički Stadion6,600

League table

Final standings

Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1Partizan 3324816323+4080
2Red Star 33211206522+4375
3Vojvodina 3318875333+2062
4Borac Čačak 331210112933-446
5Napredak 33118142533-841
6Čukarički 331010133132-140
7Mladost Lučani 33814113241-938
8Hajduk Kula 33813122531-637
9OFK Beograd 3399153145-1436
10Smederevo 33106173344-1136
11Banat (R) 33610173457-2328
12Bežanija (R) 3354243158-2719
UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round
UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round
UEFA Cup First Qualifying Round
UEFA Intertoto Cup Second Round
Relegation Playoff
Direct relegation to Serbian First League

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

The schedule consists of three rounds. During the first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

First and second round

Home \ Away[1] BAN BEŽ BORČUKHAJNAPMLAOFKPARRSBSMEVOJ
Banat Zrenjanin 2–1 2–1 1–3 1–2 0–1 0–0 2–1 0–2 2–2 2–3 1–1
Bežanija 6–2 1–2 1–2 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–2 0–1 2–0 0–1
Borac Čačak 0–0 4–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 0–1 0–0 0–2 2–4
Čukarički 2–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 0–0 2–0 0–2 0–3 0–1 2–2 1–0
Hajduk Kula 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–0 2–2 1–0 0–1 0–2 3–1 1–2
Napredak Kruševac 0–2 1–0 0–0 0–2 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–2 0–1 3–1 0–1
Mladost 1–1 3–0 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–2 1–4 1–1 3–2 0–1
OFK Beograd 0–2 1–0 2–0 0–3 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–2 1–2 0–0
Partizan 4–2 2–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 4–0 5–1 2–2 1–0 3–3
Red Star Belgrade 2–0 2–0 4–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 2–2 2–0 4–1 1–0 1–1
Smederevo 0–1 2–1 0–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–5 1–0
Vojvodina 1–0 3–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–1

Source: soccerway.com
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.


SuperLiga 2007–08 Winners
Partizan
20th Title

Champions: PARTIZAN BELGRADE (coach: Miroslav Đukić until 18 round, Slaviša Jokanović from 18 round)

Players(League matches/league goals)

Like in many previous seasons, the allocation of European spots based on the final 2007–08 league and cup standings turned out to be messy.

According to the propositions, the second UEFA Cup spot is supposed to go to the Serbian Cup winner. However, since the Cup was won by FK Partizan, a club that also won the league, the second UEFA Cup spot went to the 2007–08 Serbian Cup finalist FK Zemun. This created problems, since FK Zemun couldn't obtain the UEFA licence for the year due to poor financial situation at the club, and their UEFA Cup spot went to the 4th placed league team - Borac Čačak. Now, since Borac Čačak earned a 2008 Intertoto Cup berth based on finishing 4th in the league, they now passed their Intertoto Cup spot down to 9th placed OFK Beograd because Napredak Kruševac, Čukarički, Mladost Lučani, and Hajduk Kula (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th placed teams in the league, respectively) didn't want it.

This created a bizarre situation whereby a team that finished fourth from the bottom barely avoiding relegation playoff (OFK Beograd) still got to play in the 2008 Intertoto Cup.

Top scorers

Rank Player Team Goals
1 Serbia Nenad Jestrović Red Star
13
2 Senegal Lamine Diarra Partizan
12
Montenegro Stevan Jovetić Partizan
12
Serbia Predrag Ranđelović Bežanija
12
5 Serbia Gojko Kačar Vojvodina
11

Hat-tricks

Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstResultDate
Serbia Nenad JestrovićSmederevoRed Star2-511 November 2007
Chad Misdongarde BetolngarRed StarNapredak5–02 April 2008
Serbia Nenad MilijašRed StarBežanija4-112 April 2008

Relegation playoff

The third-placed team form the bottom in 2007–08 SuperLiga (FK Smederevo) plays the winner of the 4-team playoff consisting of 3rd to 6th placed teams from 2007–08 Serbian First League (FK Rad). The playoff has a home-and-away tie format

  • June 7, 2008, FK Rad - FK Smederevo 3:1 [1][2]
  • June 11, 2008, FK Smederevo - FK Rad 2:1

The following teams were promoted to the Meridian SuperLiga at the end of the 2007–08 season:

Relegated teams

The following teams were relegated to the Serbian First League at the end of the 2007–08 season based on their performance:

  • Bežanija - Automatically relegated after finishing the season in the 12th position (last place).
  • Banat Zrenjanin - Automatically relegated after finishing in the 11th position (second last place).
  • Smederevo - As a result of finishing 10th (third place from the bottom) entered and lost relegation playoffs against FK Rad (a team that won the chance to compete for promotion from First League amongst the 4 teams that finished 3rd to 6th inclusive)

However, following speculation on June 29, 2008 that 7th placed SuperLiga team - Mladost from Lučani - might decline the opportunity to compete in 2008–09 SuperLiga season due to lacking the funds required to compete at the top level,[3] the official confirmation of their decision came on July 2, 2008.[4] The possibility of Mladost Lučani being relegated two levels down to Srpska Liga as punishment was initially talked about, nut the club was eventually moved only one level down to First League for the 2008–09 season.

By the decision of Serbian Football Association (FSS), the relegated team that ended up keeping its SuperLiga status as a result of Mladost's withdrawal became 11th placed Banat Zrenjanin, not the 10th placed FK Smederevo. The FA made the decision based on their opinion that Banat Zrenjanin has better support of the sponsors and its community (city of Zrenjanin) than does FK Smederevo.

The decision caused a lot of controversy and protest from FK Smederevo officials who claimed they should've been given the opportunity to retain the SuperLiga status after Mladost's withdrawal. They even launched an official appeal with UEFA, but it got rejected.[5]

So, in the end, the three 2007–08 SuperLiga teams that will not compete in the 2008–09 SuperLiga season are:

References

  1. ↑ Rad pobedio Smederevo 3:1 u prvoj utakmici baraža, Blic, June 7, 2008
  2. ↑ "Rad pobedio Smederevo u prvoj utakmici Baraža". Studio B. 7 June 2008. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  3. ↑ Lučanci istupaju iz MSL!?, MTS Mondo, June 29, 2008
  4. ↑ Mladost iz Lučana napustila Superligu, MTS Mondo, July 2, 2008
  5. ↑ UEFA odbila žalbu Smedereva, MTS Mondo, August 6, 2008
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