2008–09 Macedonian First Football League

The 2008–09 Macedonian First League was the 17th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. It began on 3 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009. Rabotnichki were the defending champions, having won their third title the previous year. Bashkimi withdrew from the championship due to financial reasons.^[1]

Macedonian First League

Season	2008–09
Dates	3 August 2008 – 31 May 2009
Champions	Makedonija G.P. 1st domestic title
Relegated	Napredok
Champions League	Makedonija G.P.
Europa League	Milano Renova Rabotnichki
Matches played	165
Goals scored	380 (2.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ivica Gligorovski (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Sileks 7–1 Napredok (16 November 2008)
Biggest away win	Sileks 0–3 Metalurg (18 April 2009)
Highest scoring	Sileks 7–1 Napredok (16 November 2008)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Promotion and relegation

At the start of the 2008–09 season Promoted from 2007–08 Second League Horizont Turnovo (winners) Metalurg Skopje (runners-up) Relegated to 2008–09 Second League Shkëndija (11th) Cementarnica 55 (12th) Bashkimi (10th)1

At the end of the 2008–09 season Promoted from 2008–09 Second League Teteks (winners) Sloga Jugomagnat (runners-up) Relegated to 2009–10 Second League Napredok (11th)

1 Bashkimi was withdraw from the First League due to financial reasons.

Participating teams

Skopje

Milano

Napredok

Pelister

Pobeda

Renova

Sileks

Turnovo

Skopje clubs:

Makedonija
Metalurg
Rabotnichki
Vardar

Location of teams in 2008–09 Macedonian First League

Club	Manager	City	Stadium	Capacity
Makedonija G.P.	Ilcho Gjorgioski	Skopje	Stadion Gjorche Petrov	3,000
Metalurg	Gjore Jovanovski	Skopje	Stadion Zhelezarnica	4,000
Milano	Bylbyl Sokoli	Kumanovo	Milano Arena	3,500
Napredok	Dragan Bocheski	Kichevo	Gradski stadion Kichevo	5,000
Pelister	Alekso Mackov	Bitola	Stadion Tumbe Kafe	8,000
Pobeda	Nebojša Petrović	Prilep	Stadion Goce Delchev	15,000
Rabotnichki	Boban Babunski	Skopje	Philip II Arena[a]	18,104
Renova	Nexhat Shabani	Djepchishte	Gradski stadion Tetovo	15,000
Sileks	Marjan Sekulovski	Kratovo	Stadion Sileks	5,000
Horizont Turnovo	Dragan Hristovski	Turnovo	Stadion Kukush	1,500
Vardar	Zhikica Tasevski	Skopje	Philip II Arena[a]	18,104

1. The stadium was called Gradski stadion Skopje until January 2009.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Makedonija G.P. (C)	30	17	10	3	46	15	+31	61	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Milano	30	17	4	9	48	35	+13	55	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
3	Renova	30	14	12	4	41	26	+15	54	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
4	Rabotnichki	30	13	8	9	40	25	+15	47	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
5	Vardar	30	11	12	7	35	23	+12	45
6	Horizont Turnovo	30	9	10	11	25	39	−14	37
7	Sileks	30	9	9	12	38	41	−3	36
8	Pobeda	30	8	8	14	31	47	−16	32
9	Metalurg (O)	30	6	11	13	25	35	−10	29	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
10	Pelister (O)	30	7	7	16	25	42	−17	28
11	Napredok (R)	30	4	9	17	26	52	−26	21	Relegation to the Macedonian Second League
–	Bashkimi[b] (D, R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Banned from the Macedonian Second League

Source: MacedonianFootball.com, RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Draw; 9) Play-off. (Note: Criteria 2, 3 and 8 is only used if not deciding Champion, teams for UEFA competitions or relegation).
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Rabotnichki qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2008–09 Macedonian Football Cup.
2. Bashkimi withdrew their participation prior to the start of the season due to financial problems.

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 20 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 30 games per team.

Home \ Away	MGP	MET	MIL	NAP	PEL	POB	RAB	REN	SIL	TUR	VAR	MGP	MET	MIL	NAP	PEL	POB	RAB	REN	SIL	TUR	VAR
Makedonija	—	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	5–0	2–0	1–1	4–1	4–0	1–0	—	—	—	—	0–0	3–0	—	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0
Metalurg	0–1	—	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	0–1	1–0	—	—	0–1	—	—	—	—
Milano	1–0	2–1	—	5–0	3–0	5–2	1–0	3–1	1–0	3–0	1–3	2–0	—	—	—	4–1	3–1	—	—	3–2	1–2	1–0
Napredok	1–0	1–2	3–1	—	3–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–1	—	—	1–1	0–1	—	—	—	—
Pelister	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	—	0–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	3–1	0–0	—	2–2	—	3–1	—	—	—	1–0	—	2–2	0–0
Pobeda	1–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	—	0–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	—	1–1	—	—	2–1	—	—	2–2	—	2–0	1–1
Rabotnichki	3–3	1–0	4–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	—	1–3	3–0	4–1	2–0	0–1	—	2–0	—	2–0	2–0	—	—	1–2	3–1	—
Renova	0–3[a]	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	—	0–0	1–0	1–1	—	4–0	4–1	3–0	—	—	1–0	—	2–2	—	—
Sileks	1–1	2–2	0–0	7–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	—	4–0	0–0	—	0–3	—	4–2	1–0	2–3	—	—	—	—	—
Horizont Turnovo	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	—	1–0	—	1–1	—	2–0		—	—	1–1	1–0	—	1–1
Vardar	0–1	1–1	2–4	4–2	3–0	3–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	—	—	1–0	—	2–0	—	—	2–0	0–0	0–2	—	—

Source: MacedonianFootball.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The match of Round 8 was awarded to Makedonija Gjorče Petrov after it was interrupted in 45th minute due to Renova's fans attacking Makedonija's midfielder Georges Ambourouet.^[2][3]

Relegation playoff

13 June 2009

16:30 CEST

Metalurg	5–1	Bregalnica Shtip
Đurić 10' Ilijoski 15', 75' Mihajlović 79' Velkoski 89'		Novakov 55'

Stadion Goce Delchev, Prilep

Referee: Goran Spirkoski (Prilep)

---

13 June 2009

16:30 CEST

Pelister	3–0	Shkëndija 79
Glavevski 64', 68' Dimitrovski 85'

Stadion Mladost, Strumica

Referee: Vladimir Kiprijanovski (Skopje)

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ivica Gligorovski	Milano	14
2	Besart Ibraimi	Renova	13
3	Boško Stupić	Sileks	12
4	César de Brito	Makedonija G.P.	11
	Blagoj Levkov	Napredok
6	Boban Janchevski	Vardar	10
7	Dragan Dimitrovski	Pelister	9
8	Blagoja Geshoski	Milano	8
	Gligor Gligorov	Sileks
	Hristijan Kirovski	Rabotnichki
	Washington	Makedonija G.P.

Source: Macedonian Football (in English)

See also

• 2008–09 Macedonian Football Cup
• 2008–09 Macedonian Second Football League