2008–09 Football League Championship

Football League Championship 2008-09
Season information
Winners	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Promoted	Birmingham City Burnley
Relegated	Norwich City Southampton Charlton Athletic
Season statistics
Top goalscorer	Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (25)
← 2007-08	2009-10 →

The Football League 2008–09 (called Coca-Cola Football League for sponsorship reasons), was the seventeenth season under its current league division format. It began in August 2008 and concluded on the 25th of May 2009, with the promotion play-off finals. The winners of the Championship in 2009 are Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Promotion and relegation

Start of season

Teams promoted to Premier League 2008-09

• West Bromwich Albion (Champions)
• Stoke City (Runners-up)
• Hull City (Playoff winners)

Teams promoted from League One 2007-08

• Swansea City (Champions)
• Nottingham Forest (Runners-up)
• Doncaster Rovers (Playoff winners)

End of season

Teams relegated from Premier League 2008-09

• Newcastle United
• Middlesbrough
• West Bromwich Albion

Teams relegated to League One 2009-10

• Norwich City
• Southampton
• Charlton Athletic

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Comments
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers (C) (P)	46	27	9	10	80	52	+28	90	Promotion to Premier League
2	Birmingham City (P)	46	23	14	9	54	37	+17	83
3	Sheffield United	46	22	14	10	64	39	+25	80	Qualification to League Championship playoffs
4	Reading	46	21	14	11	72	40	+32	77
5	Burnley (P)	46	21	13	12	72	60	+12	76
6	Preston North End	46	21	11	14	66	54	+12	74
7	Cardiff City	46	19	17	10	65	53	+12	74
8	Swansea City	46	16	20	10	63	50	+13	68
9	Ipswich Town	46	17	15	14	62	53	+9	66
10	Bristol City	46	15	16	15	54	54	0	61
11	Queens Park Rangers	46	15	16	15	42	44	-2	61
12	Sheffield Wednesday	46	16	13	17	51	58	-7	61
13	Watford	46	16	10	20	68	72	-4	58
14	Doncaster Rovers	46	17	7	22	43	54	-11	58
15	Crystal Palace	46	15	12	19	52	55	-3	56*
16	Blackpool	46	13	17	16	47	58	-11	56
17	Coventry City	46	13	15	18	49	60	-11	54
18	Derby County	46	14	12	20	55	67	-12	54
19	Nottingham Forest	46	13	14	19	50	65	-15	53
20	Barnsley	46	13	13	20	46	59	-13	52
21	Plymouth Argyle	46	13	12	21	44	57	-13	51
22	Norwich City (R)	46	12	10	24	57	70	-13	46	Relegated to League One
23	Southampton (R)	46	10	15	21	46	69	-23	45
24	Charlton Athletic (R)	46	8	15	23	52	74	-22	39

Source: Unknown
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.
^* Crystal Palace deducted one point for fielding an ineligible player.
P = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points;
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (Q) = Qualified to respective tournament; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

Football League Championship 2008-09 Winners
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1st Championship title 3th second tier English title

Play-offs

		Semi-finals				Final
	6	Preston North End	1 0 (1)
	3	Sheffield United	1 1 (2)
							Sheffield United	0
							Burnley	1
	5	Burnley	2 1 (3)
	4	Reading	0 0 (0)

Top goalscorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Rickie Lambert	29	Bristol Rovers
Simon Cox		Swindon Town
Matty Fryatt	27	Leicester City
Jermaine Beckford		Leeds United
Gary Hooper	24	Scunthorpe United
Craig Mackail-Smith	23	Peterborough United
Lee Hughes	18	Oldham Athletic
Aaron McLean		Peterborough United
Joel Porter		Hartlepool United
Paul Hayes	17	Scunthorpe United