The Rugby-Bundesliga 2008-09 was the 38th edition of this competition and the 89th edition of the German rugby union championship. Nine teams play a home-and-away season with a finals round between the top four teams at the end. The bottom two teams determine which club is relegated in an end-of-season decider. The season started on 30 August 2008 and finished with the championship final on 23 May 2009, interrupted by a winter break from early December to late February.

Quick Facts Countries, Champions ...

2008–09 Rugby-Bundesliga
Countries	Germany
Champions	SC Frankfurt 1880 (6th title)
Relegated	DRC Hannover
Top point scorer	Thorsten Wiedemann (212)
Top try scorer	Alexander Pipa (22)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

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The competition was won by the SC Frankfurt 1880 the previous season.

Berliner RC

RK 03 Berlin

DRC Hannover

RG Heidelberg
Heidelberger RK
TSV Handschuhsheim
SC Neuenheim

RK Heusenstamm

SC 1880 Frankfurt

Location of teams in the Rugby-Bundesliga 2008-09

The 2008-09 modus was somewhat different from the previous season. The competition had been expanded from eight to nine teams. The final, which used to be determined by the top-two teams of the regular season was now played by the two winners of the semi-finals which pair the first placed team against the fourth and the second against the third.

At the bottom end of the table, a relegation match between the two last-placed teams was also a new introduction. All up, the number of season games in the Rugby-Bundesliga increased to 76 from 57.

This change of modus was decided upon on 19 July 2008 at the annual general meeting of the German rugby association, the DRV. It was decided to expand the league to ten teams for 2009-10, meaning only one club was to be relegated in 2009, and two promoted. It was also then decided to introduce the extended play-off format.^[1]

The defending champion was SC 1880 Frankfurt, who beat RG Heidelberg in the 2007-08 final, while the RK 03 Berlin was newly promoted to the league.

With Kerstin Ljungdahl^[2] and Dana Teagarden,^[3] two female head referees have been officiating in the Rugby-Bundesliga in 2008-09.

• Relegated: DRC Hannover
• Promoted: ASV Köln Rugby and DSV 78 Hannover

In 2008-09, 16 teams took part in the national cup competition, those being the eight clubs who played in the Bundesliga in 2007-08 plus the top-four of each of the two 2nd Bundesligas that season.

Source:"DRV-Pokal 2008-09". Rugby-web.de. Retrieved 2009-04-15.

• ¹ Game not played, awarded to DRC Hannover.
• ² Game awarded to Frankfurt after Hannover cancelled the game, stating that they were unable to compete at the scheduled date and no other date being available.^[16]