2008–09 UEFA Cup


The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The 2009 [UEFA Cup Final|final] was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. It was the last season to use the UEFA Cup format; starting in 2009, the competition was known as the UEFA Europa League. Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk defeat Werder Bremen 2–1 after extra time to win their first European title. Zenit Saint Petersburg the defending champions, were eliminated by Udinese in the Round of 16.

Association team allocation

A total of 157 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. Associations were allocated places according to their 2007 UEFA league coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 2002–03 to 2006–07.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup:
  • Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify
  • Associations 7 and 8 each have four teams qualify
  • Associations 9–15 and 22–51 each have two teams qualify, except Liechtenstein, which has one team qualify
  • Associations 16–21 each have three teams qualify
  • Associations 52 and 53 each have one team qualify
plus

Association ranking


;Notes
  • : Additional fair play berth
  • : Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League

Distribution

Since the winners of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, Zenit Saint Petersburg, qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the playoff round was vacated. As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage:
  • The domestic cup winners of associations 14 was promoted from the second qualifying round to the first round.
  • The first UEFA Cup entrant of associations 19 and 20 were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueTeams transferred from Intertoto Cup
First qualifying round

  • 33 cup winners from associations 21–53
  • 32 runners-up from associations 19–37, 39–50 and 53
  • 6 third-place finishers from associations 16–21
  • 3 entries through UEFA Fair Play
Second qualifying round
  • 6 cup winners from associations 15–20
  • 7 third-place finishers from associations 9–15
  • 3 runners-up from associations 16–18
  • 37 winners from the first qualifying round
  • 11 entries from UEFA Intertoto Cup
    • First round
    • 14 national cup winners from associations 1–14
    • 2 third-place finishers from associations 7–8
    • 5 fourth-place finishers from associations 4–8
    • 7 fifth-place finishers from associations 1–3, 5–8
    • 2 sixth-place finishers from associations 1–2
    • 2 League Cup winners from associations 3–4
  • 32 winners from the second qualifying round
  • 16 losers from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
    • Group stage
    • 40 winners from the First Round
    Knockout phase
  • 8 entries from UEFA Champions League group stage

    • Redistribution rules

    A UEFA Cup place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, or qualifies for the UEFA Cup by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules:
    • When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup place is vacated, and the remaining UEFA Cup qualifiers are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they do not already qualify for the Champions League or the UEFA Cup. Otherwise, this place is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the European competitions.
    • When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the UEFA Cup through league position, their place through the league position is vacated, and the UEFA Cup qualifiers that finish lower in the league are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the UEFA Cup.
    • A place vacated by the League Cup winners is taken by the highest-placed league finishers that have not yet qualified for the UEFA Cup.
    • A Fair Play place is taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table that has not yet qualified for the Champions League or the UEFA Cup.

    Teams

    ;Notes

    Round and draw dates

    The calendar shows the dates of the rounds and draw.

    First round

    The draw, which was conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor, was held on 29 August 2008 at 13:00 CET in Monaco.

    Group stage

    The draw for the group stage of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup was held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on 7 October 2008. The 40 teams in the draw were divided into five pots based on their UEFA coefficients. The eight teams with the highest UEFA coefficient were allocated to Pot 1, the next eight teams to Pot 2, and so on. One team from each pot was drawn for each group, with the restriction that no team could be drawn with one from the same country.
    The top three teams of each group qualified for the next round. Based on paragraph 6.06 in the UEFA regulations for the current season, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
    1. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
    2. higher number of goals scored;
    3. higher number of goals scored away;
    4. higher number of wins;
    5. higher number of away wins;
    6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

    Knockout stage

    In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

    Top goalscorers

    Source: Hammond, Mike, ed. The European Football Yearbook 2009/10. London: Carlton Books..