2008–09 Montenegrin First League
# 2008–09 Montenegrin First League

The 2008–09 Montenegrin First League was the third season of the top-tier football in Montenegro. The season began on 9 August 2008 and ended on 30 May 2009. The defending champions are Budućnost Podgorica.

## Teams

Mladost Podgorica were directly relegated to the Montenegrin Second League after finishing 12th in last year's standings. Their place was taken by Second League champions Jezero Plav.

10th placed Bokelj Kotor and 11th placed Sutjeska Nikšić had to compete in two-legged relegation play-offs. Bokelj were relegated by losing 1–0 on aggregate against the 3rd placed team from Second League, Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje. On the other hand, Sutjeska saved their place in Montenegrin top league by beating cross-town rivals Čelik Nikšić, who had finished in 2nd place in the Second League, also with 1–0 on aggregate.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Coach |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Budućnost | Podgorica | Stadion Pod Goricom | 17,000 | Miodrag Ješić |
| Dečić | Tuzi | Stadion Tuško Polje | 1,000 | Božidar Vuković |
| Grbalj | Radanovići | Stadion Donja Sutvara | 1,500 | Nenad Maslovar |
| Jedinstvo | Bijelo Polje | Gradski Stadion | 5,000 | Aleksandar Jovanovski |
| Kom | Podgorica | Stadion Zlatica | 3,500 | Saša Petrović |
| Lovćen | Cetinje | Stadion Obilića Poljana | 2,000 | Milorad Malovrazić |
| Mogren | Budva | Stadion Lugovi | 4,000 | Dejan Vukićević |
| Petrovac | Petrovac | Pod Malim Brdom Stadium | 530 | Aleksandar Miljenović |
| Rudar | Pljevlja | Stadion Gradski | 10,000 | Miodrag Radanović |
| Sutjeska | Nikšić | Stadion kraj Bistrice | 10,800 | Nikola Rakojević |
| Zeta | Golubovci | Stadion Trešnjica | 6,000 | Milan Đuretić |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mogren (C) | 33 | 23 | 5 | 5 | 62 | 24 | +38 | 74 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Budućnost | 33 | 21 | 7 | 5 | 72 | 34 | +38 | 70 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Sutjeska | 33 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 45 | 23 | +22 | 63 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Grbalj | 33 | 15 | 5 | 13 | 47 | 34 | +13 | 50 | |
| 5 | Rudar | 33 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 39 | 37 | +2 | 41 | |
| 6 | Petrovac | 33 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 42 | 56 | −14 | 41 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 7 | Lovćen | 33 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 23 | 25 | −2 | 40 | |
| 8 | Kom | 33 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 33 | 43 | −10 | 37 | |
| 9 | Zeta | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 36 | 41 | −5 | 36 | |
| 10 | Jezero (R) | 33 | 9 | 6 | 18 | 30 | 62 | −32 | 33 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 11 | Dečić (O) | 33 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 23 | 45 | −22 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 12 | Jedinstvo (R) | 33 | 7 | 8 | 18 | 28 | 56 | −28 | 29 | Relegation to the Second League |

* ↑ Petrovac qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League as winners of 2008–09 Montenegrin Cup.
* ↑ Zeta were docked a total of 10 points over two separate incidents during the season. First, they were docked 9 points because of their decision to field reserve players in their match against Mogren. Furthermore, they were docked one more point due to an incident in their match against Sutjeska. The referee refused to enter the pitch before the start of the match due to alleged verbal threats by Radojica Božović, Zeta's chairman, about Zeta must having to win in that match. Božović was also punished with a lifetime ban on performing any functions within competitions overseen by the Football Association of Montenegro (FSCG).

## 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 22 matches. The pairings of the third round will then be set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

### First and second round

| Home \ Away | BUD | DEČ | GRB | JED | JEZ | KOM | LOV | MOG | PET | RUD | SUT | ZET |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Budućnost | | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 |
| Dečić | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Grbalj | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Jedinstvo | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Jezero | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–6 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Kom | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Lovćen | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Mogren | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 4–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Petrovac | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Rudar | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Sutjeska | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | | 1–2 |
| Zeta | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |

### Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination (number marks position after 22 games):

Rounds :

| 23rd | 24th | 25th | 26th | 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th | 31st | 32nd | 33rd |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 – 12 2 – 11 3 – 10 4 – 9 5 – 8 6 – 7 | 1 – 2 8 – 6 9 – 5 10 – 4 11 – 3 12 – 7 | 2 – 12 3 – 1 4 – 11 5 – 10 6 – 9 7 – 8 | 1 – 4 2 – 3 9 – 7 10 – 6 11 – 5 12 – 8 | 3 – 12 4 – 2 5 – 1 6 – 11 7 – 10 8 – 9 | 1 – 6 2 – 5 3 – 4 10 – 8 11 – 7 12 – 9 | 4 – 12 5 – 3 6 – 2 7 – 1 8 – 11 9 – 10 | 1 – 8 2 – 7 3 – 6 4 – 5 11 – 9 12 – 10 | 5 – 12 6 – 4 7 – 3 8 – 2 9 – 1 10 – 11 | 1 – 10 2 – 9 3 – 8 4 – 7 5 – 6 12 – 11 | 6 – 12 7 – 5 8 – 4 9 – 3 10 – 2 11 – 1 |
| Home \ Away | BUD | DEČ | GRB | JED | JEZ | KOM | LOV | MOG | PET | RUD | SUT | ZET |
| Budućnost | | 2–0 | | 6–0 | | | | | 6–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Dečić | | | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | | 2–1 | 2–0 | | |
| Grbalj | 1–2 | 2–2 | | 4–0 | | | | | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 4–1 |
| Jedinstvo | | | | | | | | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Jezero | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 4–2 | | 4–2 | 1–0 | | | | | |
| Kom | 1–2 | | 4–3 | 1–0 | | | 2–1 | | 0–1 | | | |
| Lovćen | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | | | | 1–1 | 2–0 | | |
| Mogren | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | | | | |
| Petrovac | | | | | 3–1 | | | 0–3 | | 2–0 | 0–3 | 3–2 |
| Rudar | | | | | 6–0 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | | | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Sutjeska | | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 4–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | | | |
| Zeta | | 0–0 | | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | | 0–3 | |

* ↑ The match of Round 29 was registered as 0–3 for Sutjeska. Actually, the match was not played because the main referee Jovan Kaluđerović was being threatened by Radojica Božović, Zeta's chairman, about Zeta must having to win in that match. Due to that the referee did not want to enter the field and start the game.

## Relegation play-offs

The 10th placed team (against the 3rd placed team of the Second League) and the 11th placed team (against the 2nd placed team of the Second League) will both compete in two-legged relegation play-offs after the end of the season.

### Summary

| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Mladost | 1–2 | Dečić | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Mornar | 2–1 | Jezero | 2–1 | 0–0 |

### Matches

Dečić won 3–0 on aggregate.

Mornar won 2–1 on aggregate.

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Fatos Bećiraj | Budućnost | 18 |
| 2 | Predrag Ranđelović | Rudar | 17 |
| 2 | Ivan Vuković | Budućnost | 17 |
| 4 | Admir Adrović | Sutjeska | 16 |
| 4 | Vladimir Gluščević | Mogren | 16 |
| 6 | Igor Burzanović | Budućnost | 10 |
| 6 | Balša Božović | Mogren | 10 |
| 6 | Mehmet Divanović | Petrovac | 10 |

Source:

