The 2008–09 Eredivisie was the 53rd season of

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between

Vitesse Arnhem SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, Eng: Professional Football Foundation Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally known as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, footba ...

and

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

and ended on 10 May 2009. A total of 18 teams take part in the league, consisting of 16 who competed in the previous season and two promoted from the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

. The teams promoted from the

at the end of the previous season were champions

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

, and play-off winners

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

. AZ clinched their second title, their first coming in 1981.

Overview

League table

Results

Top goalscorers

Last updated: 11 May 2009
Source
ESPN Top Scorers
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Play-offs

European competition (best of 3)

Contrary to the play-offs of previous years, only teams placed 6th through 9th compete in a play-off tournament for one spot in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the UEFA Europa League 2009–10.

Semi-finals

Final

Relegation

The 16th and 17th placed teams, along with the teams from

, participate in a play-off for two spots in

2009–10 Eredivisie The 2009–10 Eredivisie was the 54th season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. AZ were the reigning champions. A total of 18 teams is taking part in the league, consisting of 16 who competed in the previous season and two promoted ...

Round 1

Round 2 (best of 3)

Round 3 (best of 3)

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

and

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

will play in Eredivisie 2009–10.

Facts and statistics

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

lost the opening match 2–1 away at Willem II. This was Ajax' first opening round defeat since the 1988–89 season. * Ajax and

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

both lost their opening matches. The last times this happened was in the 1965–66 season. *

topped the league table after two matches. The last time ADO was in first place was on 16 January 1971. *

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

led the Eredivisie after round six. This was the first time in club history that NAC were in first place of the Eredivisie. * A record 6,067,288 spectators passed through the turnstiles, an average of 19,827 per match.

Television rights

The Dutch public broadcaster NOS broadcast the match highlights after beating rival broadcaster RTL for the contract. The new

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

channel Eredivisie Live broadcast the live matches. In Australia the Eredivisie was broadcast live and exclusive by

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Eredivisie Eredivisie seasons

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...