The 2008–09 season was the 107th season of competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Overview

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

made their return to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

after just one season in the second tier. *

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

made their debut in Serie B.

Events

* June 26, 2008 –

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

was appointed as

coach, replacing

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. A skilful and versatile winger, Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and late ...

. * August 31, 2008 -

season began.

National team

played the qualifying campaign for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. Italy also be participated in the

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

in mid-to-late June, 2009. ;Key * H = Home match * A = Away match * N = Neutral site * WCQ = World Cup Qualifier * F = friendly

Honours

Transfer deals

* List of Italian football transfers Summer 2008

Deaths

* July 15, 2008 — Gionata Mingozzi, 23,

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

midfielder, killed in a car crash. * August 2, 2008 — Gianni De Rosa, 51, former

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

striker, and Serie B 1980–81 topscorer, killed in a car crash. * August 3, 2008 — Toni Allemann, 72, former Serie A striker with Mantova between 1961 and 1963, killed by a heart attack. * August 17, 2008 — Franco Sensi, 82,

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

chairman and owner. * August 25, 2008 — Mario Tortul, 77, former attacking wing with 252 appearances and 69 goals in the Italian Serie A in the 1950s, uncle of

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

. * September 27, 2008 — Dino Mio, 85, chairman and owner of

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

club Portosummaga. * November 8, 2008 —

Régis Genaux Régis Hervé Genaux (31 August 1973 – 8 November 2008) was a Belgian professional footballer who played as a right back. During his career he represented three clubs in three countries, mainly Standard Liège and Udinese. He died at the youn ...

, 35, Belgian former footballer,

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

player between 1997 and 2003, killed by a heart attack caused by pulmonary embolism. * February 22, 2009 —

Candido Cannavò Candido Cannavò (; 29 November 1930 – 22 February 2009) was an Italian journalist, well known as the historical editor (1983–2002) of the Italian sport newspaper ''La Gazzetta dello Sport''. Biography Cannavò was born in Cataniadescenda ...

, 78, popular Italian sports and football journalist, editor-in-chief of

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

between 1983 and 2002. * March 20, 2009 — Pietro Arvedi D'Emilei, 79, president of

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

until January 2009, died of injuries sustained in a car crash in his way back from a league game on December 21, 2008. * April 20, 2009 — Franco Rotella, 42, former Serie A player with

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

between 1983 and 1991, killed by leukemia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 in Italian football Seasons in Italian football