2008–09 VfL Wolfsburg season
# 2008–09 VfL Wolfsburg season

VfL Wolfsburg won their first ever Bundesliga title during this season. Manager Felix Magath formed an attacking lineup, which included strikers Edin Džeko and Grafite, the pair scoring 54 goals between them, much due to the help of attacking midfielder Zvjezdan Misimović's 20 assists.

## Players

### First-team squad

    Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | SUI | Diego Benaglio |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Cristian Zaccardo |
| 3 | DF | BRA | Rodrigo Alvim |
| 4 | DF | GER | Marcel Schäfer |
| 5 | DF | POR | Ricardo Costa |
| 6 | DF | CZE | Jan Šimůnek |
| 7 | MF | BRA | Josué (captain) |
| 8 | FW | JPN | Yoshito Ōkubo |
| 9 | FW | BIH | Edin Džeko |
| 10 | MF | BIH | Zvjezdan Misimović |
| 11 | FW | BRA | Caiuby |
| 12 | GK | GER | André Lenz |
| 13 | MF | JPN | Makoto Hasebe |
| 15 | MF | GER | Daniel Adlung |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | GER | Alexander Madlung |
| 19 | DF | SVK | Peter Pekarík |
| 20 | DF | GER | Sascha Riether |
| 21 | GK | GER | Patrick Platins |
| 22 | DF | GER | Kevin Wolze |
| 23 | FW | BRA | Grafite |
| 24 | MF | IRN | Ashkan Dejagah |
| 25 | MF | GER | Christian Gentner |
| 27 | MF | GER | Alexander Esswein |
| 32 | MF | GER | Sebastian Schindzielorz |
| 33 | DF | GER | Daniel Reiche |
| 35 | GK | SUI | Marwin Hitz |
| 37 | DF | KAZ | Sergei Karimov |
| 43 | DF | ITA | Andrea Barzagli |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| - | - | - | - |
| 8 | MF | GER | Daniel Baier (on loan to Augsburg) |
| 14 | MF | PAR | Jonathan Santana (on loan to San Lorenzo) |
| 16 | FW | TUR | Mahir Sağlık (on loan to Karlsruhe) |
| 18 | MF | POL | Jacek Krzynówek (to Hannover 96) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | MF | ROU | Vlad Munteanu (on loan to Arminia Bielefeld) |
| 31 | MF | GER | Alexander Laas (on loan to Arminia Bielefeld) |
| 31 | DF | GER | Bernd Korzynietz (on loan from Arminia Bielefeld) |

## Competitions

### Bundesliga

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | VfL Wolfsburg (C) | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 80 | 41 | +39 | 69 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Bayern Munich | 34 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 71 | 42 | +29 | 67 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 3 | VfB Stuttgart | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 43 | +20 | 64 | Qualification to Champions League play-off round |
| 4 | Hertha BSC | 34 | 19 | 6 | 9 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 63 | Qualification to Europa League play-off round |
| 5 | Hamburger SV | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 47 | +2 | 61 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |

### UEFA Cup

**Group stage**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | WOL | ACM | BRA | POR | HVN |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wolfsburg | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage | — | — | — | 3–2 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Milan | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | — | — |
| 3 | Braga | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage | 2–3 | — | — | 3–0 | — |
| 4 | Portsmouth | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 4 | | — | 2–2 | — | — | 3–0 |
| 5 | Heerenveen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 0 | | — | 1–3 | 1–2 | — | — |

## Statistics

### Top scorers

**Bundesliga**

* Grafite (28)
* Edin Džeko (26)
* Zvjezdan Misimović (7)

**DFB-Pokal**

* Edin Džeko (6)
* Grafite (4)
