| Competition: | Bundesliga |
| Season: | 2008–09 |
| Dates: | 15 August 2008 – 23 May 2009 |
| Winners: | VfL Wolfsburg 1st Bundesliga title 1st German title |
| Relegated: | Energie Cottbus (via play-off) Karlsruher SC Arminia Bielefeld |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | VfL Wolfsburg Bayern Munich VfB Stuttgart |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Hertha BSC Hamburger SV Werder Bremen (via domestic cup) |
| League Topscorer: | Grafite (28) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Dortmund 6–0 Bielefeld (16 May 2009)[1] |
| Biggest Away Win: | Frankfurt 0–5 Bremen (13 May 2009)[2] Hannover 0–5 Wolfsburg (16 May 2009)[3] |
| Highest Scoring: | Bremen 5–4 Hoffenheim (27 September 2008)[4] (9 goals) |
| Matches: | 306 |
| Total Goals: | 894 |
| Average Attendance: | 42,565 |
| Prevseason: | 2007–08 |
| Nextseason: | 2009–10 |
The 2008–09 Bundesliga was the 46th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 15 August 2008 with a 2–2 draw between defending champions Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV and ended with the last matches on 23 May 2009.[5] VfL Wolfsburg secured their first national title in the last match after a 5–1 win at home against Werder Bremen.
Starting with the 2008–09 season, two-legged relegation playoffs between the third last team of the Bundesliga and the third team of the 2. Bundesliga at the end of the regular season were re-introduced.
Due to the restructuring of European competitions, the third-placed team qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, entering in a separate qualifying round for non-champions. The fourth-placed team and the winner of the 2008–09 DFB-Pokal qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League play-off round; the fifth-placed team qualified for the third qualifying round. The sixth-placed team did not qualify for any European competitions because the UEFA Intertoto Cup will not be continued after its final edition in 2008.
1. FC Nürnberg, Hansa Rostock and MSV Duisburg finished the 2007–08 season in 16th through 18th place, respectively, and therefore were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. They were replaced by the top three teams of 2007–08 2. Bundesliga: Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1899 Hoffenheim and 1. FC Köln, respectively.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayer Leverkusen |  Michael Skibbe | Sacked | 30 June 2008 | Bruno Labbadia | 1 July 2008 | Pre-season | |
| Bayern Munich | Ottmar Hitzfeld | End of contract | 30 June 2008[6] | Jürgen Klinsmann | 1 July 2008[7] | Pre-season | |
| Borussia Dortmund | Thomas Doll | Resigned | 30 June 2008 | Jürgen Klopp | 1 July 2008 | Pre-season | |
| Hamburger SV |  Huub Stevens | End of contract | 30 June 2008[8] | Martin Jol | 1 July 2008[9] | Pre-season | |
| Schalke 04 | Mike Büskens &<br> Youri Mulder | Stepped down to assistant position | 30 June 2008[10] | Fred Rutten | 1 July 2008 | Pre-season | |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | Jos Luhukay | Sacked | 5 October 2008[11] | Hans Meyer | 18 October 2008[12] | 18th | |
| VfB Stuttgart | Armin Veh | Sacked | 23 November 2008[13] | Markus Babbel | 23 November 2008 | 11th | |
| Schalke 04 | Fred Rutten | Sacked | 26 March 2009[14] | Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck | 1 April 2009[15] | 8th | |
| Bayern Munich | Jürgen Klinsmann | Sacked | 27 April 2009[16] | Jupp Heynckes | 27 April 2009 | 3rd | |
| Arminia Bielefeld | Michael Frontzeck | Sacked | 17 May 2009[17] | Jörg Berger | 19 May 2009[18] | 16th |
Energie Cottbus, as the 16th-placed team, faced third-placed 2. Bundesliga team 1. FC Nürnberg for a two-legged playoff. Nürnberg won both matches on an aggregated score of 5–0 and thus secured promotion to the 2009–10 Bundesliga, while Cottbus were relegated to the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga.
After Energie were relegated, no teams from the former East Germany played in the Bundesliga until RB Leipzig earned promotion to the Bundesliga for 2016–17.
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Source: kicker.de
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VfL Wolfsburg | 28 | ||
| 2 | VfL Wolfsburg | 26 | ||
| 3 | VfB Stuttgart | 24 | ||
| 4 | Bayer Leverkusen | 21 | ||
| 5 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 18 | ||
| 6 | Werder Bremen | 17 | ||
| 7 | 1. FC Köln | 16 | ||
| 8 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 14 | ||
| Bayern Munich | 14 | |||
| 10 | Schalke 04 | 13 | ||
| Arminia Bielefeld | 13 | |||
| Month | Player | Team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| August[19] |  Artur Wichniarek | Arminia Bielefeld | |
| September[20] | Mesut Özil | Werder Bremen | |
| October[21] |  Vedad Ibišević | 1899 Hoffenheim | |
| November[22] |  Franck Ribéry | Bayern Munich | |
| December[23] | Sami Khedira | VfB Stuttgart | |
| February[24] | Mario Gómez | VfB Stuttgart | |
| March[25] |  Grafite | VfL Wolfsburg | |
| April[26] | Mario Gómez | VfB Stuttgart | |
| May[27] | Mario Gómez | VfB Stuttgart |
