2008–09 Syrian Premier League
# 2008–09 Syrian Premier League

The 2008–09 Syrian Premier League is the 38th season of the Syrian Premier League, Syria's premier football league. The season began on 10 October 2008 and finished on 12 June 2009.

Afrin and Al-Horriya were relegated from the previous season. Al-Wathba and Omyyah moved up from the Syrian League 1st Division.

At the end of the campaign, defending champions Al-Karamah were level on 52 points with Al-Ittihad and therefore were required to have a one off playoff match to determine the league champions.

Al-Futowa and Hutteen were relegated and would be replaced by Afrin and Al-Jazeera for the 2009–10 Syrian Premier League campaign.

Syrian international Mohamed Al Zeno finished the campaign as leading goalscorer with 17 goals.

## Continental Cups

### AFC Cup

Al-Karamah and Al-Majd entered the AFC Cup 2009 tournament. A tournament for second ranked Asian nations.

During the domestic Syrian league season, only the group phases of this prestigious tournament is played until the knockout rounds which will take place in the next Syrian season.

Al-Majd comfortably qualified with one game to spare to reach the knockout rounds whilst Al-Karamah had somewhat of a shaky start and after 5 games find themselves in 3rd position.

### Arab Champions League

Al-Ittihad and Al-Taliya entered the Arab Champions League but Al-Taliya found the going tough, being thumped by Raja Casablanca of Morocco in the first round.

Al-Ittihad went one round better but got beat by Wydad Casablanca, also of Morocco.

## Premier League teams (2008–2009)

| Club | City | Stadium | 2007–2008 season | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Karamah | Homs | Khaled bin Walid Stadium | Syrian Premier League Champions | AFC Cup 2009 representative |
| Al-Majd | Damascus | Abbasiyyin Stadium | 2nd in Syrian Premier League | AFC Cup 2009 representative |
| Al-Ittihad | Aleppo | Aleppo International Stadium | 3rd in Syrian Premier League | 2008–09 Arab Champions League representative |
| Al-Taliya | Hamah | Al Baladi Stadium Hama | 4th in Syrian Premier League | 2008–09 Arab Champions League representative |
| Al-Jaish | Damascus | Abbasiyyin Stadium | 5th in Syrian Premier League |
| Al-Futowa | Deir ez-Zor | Al Baladi Stadium Deir ez-Zor | 6th in Syrian Premier League |
| Teshrin | Latakia | Al Basil Stadium | 7th in Syrian Premier League |
| Hutteen | Latakia | Al Basil Stadium | 8th in Syrian Premier League |
| Al-Wahda | Damascus | Abbasiyyin Stadium | 9th in Syrian Premier League |
| Jableh | Jableh | Al-Baath Stadium | 10th in Syrian Premier League |
| Al-Shorta | Damascus | Abbasiyyin Stadium | 11th in Syrian Premier League |
| Al-Nawair | Hamah | Al Baladi Stadium Hama | 12th in Syrian Premier League |
| Al-Wathba | Homs | Khaled bin Walid Stadium | 1st Division / North Champions |
| Omayya | Idlib | Al Baladi Stadium Idlib | 1st Division / South Champions |

## Final league standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Al-Ittihad | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 48 | 24 | +24 | 52 | 2010 AFC Cup |
| 2 | Al-Karamah | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 34 | 22 | +12 | 52 | 2010 AFC Champions League play-off (as 2009 AFC Cup Finalist) |
| 3 | Al-Jaish | 26 | 14 | 9 | 3 | 36 | 15 | +21 | 51 | 2010 AFC Cup |
| 4 | Al-Nawair | 26 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 38 | |
| 5 | Al-Wathba | 26 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 36 | 32 | +4 | 37 | |
| 6 | Al-Majd | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 40 | 39 | +1 | 37 | |
| 7 | Omayya | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 35 | |
| 8 | Teshrin | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 27 | 30 | −3 | 30 | |
| 9 | Al-Taliya | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 30 | |
| 10 | Al-Wahda | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 30 | |
| 11 | Jableh | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 28 | 34 | −6 | 29 | |
| 12 | Al-Shorta | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 36 | −16 | 28 | |
| 13 | Al-Futowa | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 31 | 42 | −11 | 26 | Relegate to Syrian League 1st Division |
| 14 | Hutteen | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 29 | 46 | −17 | 24 | Relegate to Syrian League 1st Division |

### Playoffs

5th and 6th placed teams Al-Wathba and Al-Majd had a one match playoff at the end of the season due to both clubs finishing the regular season on 37 points. Al-Wathba won the tie 3–2 to claim 5th position in the final standings.

## Championship match

Al-Ittihad: :

| GK | 1 | Mahmoud Karkar |
| - | - | - |
| DF | 5 | Omar Hemidi |
| DF | 6 | Majd Homsi | 60' | 62' |
| DF | 30 | Abdulkader Dakka |
| DF | 32 | Bakri Tarrab |
| MF | 14 | Wael Ayan | 65' |
| MF | 17 | Mahmoud Al Amenah |
| MF | 19 | Yehya Al Rashed | | 81' |
| MF | 99 | Adel Abdullah |
| FW | 12 | Otto |
| FW | 18 | Anas Sari (c) | | 53' |
| Substitutes: ||||
| FW | 10 | Abdul Fattah Al Agha | | 53' |
| DF | 21 | Yousef Sheikh Al-Eshreh | | 62' |
| MF | 4 | Khaled Al Zaher | | 81' |
| Manager: ||||
| Hussain Afash ||||

Al-Karamah: :

| GK | 1 | Mosab Balhous | 90+7' |
| - | - | - | - |
| DF | 4 | Hassan Abbas (c) |
| DF | 13 | Belal Abduldaim |
| DF | 14 | Anas Al Khouja |
| MF | 25 | Feras Esmaeel | | 55' |
| MF | 16 | Tamer Haj Mohamad | 26' |
| MF | 21 | Aatef Jenyat | | 55' |
| MF | 15 | Alaa Al Shbli | 44' |
| MF | 11 | Fahd Aodi |
| FW | 9 | Mohamad Hamwi |
| FW | 26 | Hani Al Taiar |
| Substitutes: ||||
| MF | 10 | Iyad Mando | 90+5' | 55' |
| MF | 3 | Yasser Shahen | | 55' |
| Manager: ||||
| Mohammad Kwid ||||

### Winner

* Syrian Premier League 2008–09 winners
* Al-Karamah 8th Title 4th in a row

## Top goalscorers

### 17 goals

* Mohamed Al Zeno (Al-Majd)

### 14 goals

* Abdul Fattah Al Agha (Al-Ittihad)

### 12 goals

* Ibrahim Al Hasan (Jableh)
* Omar Al Soma (Al-Futowa)

### 11 goals

* Maher Al Sayed (Al-Wahda)
* Ali Ghalium (Al-Wathba)
* Samer Yazji (Omayya)
* Obode Efe (Teshrin)

### 10 goals

* Majed Al Haj (Al-Jaish)
* Anas Sari (Al-Ittihad)
* Oday Al-Jafal (Al-Futowa)
* Amar Zakour (Omayya)

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date Outgoing | Reason of departure | Replaced by | Date of Replacement |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Wahda Damascus | Emad Shouman | August 26, 2008 | Change of manager for new season | Nizar Mahrous | August 26, 2008 |
| Al-Wahda Damascus | Nizar Mahrous | February 4, 2009 | Left to go to Al-Faisaly | Assaf Khalefah | |
