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
Matches played	165
Goals scored	411 (2.49 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nikoloz Gelashvili (20)
Biggest home win	Dinamo Tbilisi 12–0 Borjomi
Biggest away win	3 matches Borjomi 0–4 Dinamo Tbilisi ; Gagra 0–4 WIT Georgia ; Zestafoni 0–4 Dinamo Tbilisi ;
Highest scoring	Dinamo Tbilisi 12–0 Borjomi
	← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Umaglesi Liga 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.

Promotion and relegation

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.

Stadia and locations

Tbilisi

Tbilisi clubs:

Dinamo
Gagra
Lokomotivi
Tskhinvali
WIT Georgia

Location of teams in Umaglesi Liga 2008–09

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
FC Borjomi	Borjomi	Jemal Zeinklishvili Stadium	5,000
Dinamo	Tbilisi	Boris Paichadze Stadium	54,549
Gagra	Tbilisi	Ameri Stadium	1,000
Lokomotivi	Tbilisi	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium	27,223
Meskheti	Akhaltsikhe	Central Stadium	3,000
Mglebi	Zugdidi	Gulia Tutberidze Stadium	3,000
Olimpi	Rustavi	Poladi Stadium	10,720
Sioni	Bolnisi	Tamaz Stephania Stadium	3,000
Spartaki-Tskhinvali	Tbilisi	Kartli Stadium	1,500
WIT Georgia	Tbilisi	Shevardeni Stadium	4,000
FC Zestaponi	Zestaponi	Municipal Stadium	10,000

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	WIT Georgia (C)	30	20	9	1	57	19	+38	69	2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Dinamo Tbilisi	30	19	6	5	70	21	+49	63	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round ¹
3	Olimpi Rustavi	30	16	9	5	40	20	+20	57	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ¹
4	Zestafoni	30	16	4	10	43	27	+16	52	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round ¹
5	Sioni	30	11	11	8	35	29	+6	44
6	Locomotive Tbilisi	30	10	8	12	35	33	+2	38
7	Mglebi (R)	30	10	6	14	36	41	−5	036⁴
8	Meskheti (R)	30	7	8	15	23	42	−19	029³	Relegation to 2009–10 Pirveli Liga
9	Gagra	30	7	7	16	23	48	−25	28
10	Spartaki Tskhinvali	30	6	7	17	28	46	−18	25
11	Borjomi (R)	30	2	7	21	21	85	−64	13
—	Ameri (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	00²

Source: soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Dinamo Tbilisi won the 2008–09 Georgian Cup and thereby qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since they also finished second in the league, fourth-placed Zestafoni qualified for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
²Ameri Tbilisi voluntarily withdrew their participation before the start of the season due to financial reasons.
³Meskheti withdrew from the league after the season concluded due to financial reasons. Therefore, Gagra and Spartaki Tskhinvali, who originally were to be demoted, were spared from relegation and play in the 2009–10 season of Umaglesi Liga.^[1]
⁴Mglebi withdrew from the league. The club was merged with FC Baia Zugdidi.^[1]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

First and second round

Home \ Away^[1]	BOR	DIN	GAG	LOC	MES	MGL	OLI	SIO	SPA	WIT	ZES
Borjomi		0–4	3–2	0–2	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–1
Dinamo Tbilisi	5–0		3–0	2–1	4–0	2–1	2–1	4–1	4–1	2–2	2–0
Gagra	2–0	2–1		0–0	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–4	1–3
Locomotive Tbilisi	4–0	1–0	2–0		2–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2
Meskheti	2–2	1–3	2–0	3–1		0–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–0
Mglebi	4–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–2		3–1	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–1
Olimpi Rustavi	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	4–0	2–1		0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Sioni	2–1	1–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–2	0–1		0–0	2–2	0–1
Spartaki Tskhinvali	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–4	1–1	4–0	1–1	0–3		0–1	1–2
WIT Georgia	4–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0		2–1
Zestafoni	1–0	1–0	3–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	4–1	1–2

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.

Third round

Home \ Away^[1]	BOR	DIN	GAG	LOC	MES	MGL	OLI	SIO	SPA	WIT	ZES
Borjomi			1–2	1–1				1–2		0–3	1–3
Dinamo Tbilisi	12–0				2–0		2–1		2–2	1–1
Gagra		0–1			2–0	2–2	0–1	1–2	1–1
Locomotive Tbilisi		0–0	0–1		0–0	1–1	1–3	1–1
Meskheti	6–0						0–1		1–0	0–3
Mglebi	5–0	1–0			4–1		1–2	2–0	2–1
Olimpi Rustavi	6–1							0–1	1–0	1–3	1–0
Sioni		1–1			2–0					3–4	0–0
Spartaki Tskhinvali	2–0			1–3				2–1		0–0	1–0
WIT Georgia			0–0	3–1		4–0					2–1
Zestafoni		0–4	6–0	1–3	3–0	3–1