Football in Norway

Football is the most popular sport in Norway in terms of active membership (by television viewership football comes third, behind winter sports biathlon and cross-country skiing). The Football Association of Norway was founded in 1902 and the first international match was played in 1908. There are 1,822 registered football clubs and about 25,000 teams. There are 393,801 (104,597 of them are girls/women) registered football players,[1] which means that 8.5% of the population play organized football.[2][3]

Football (soccer) in Norway
Ullevål Stadium, Norway's national arena
CountryNorway
Governing bodyFootball Association of Norway
National team(s)Norway national football team
First played1883 (1883)
National competitions
Club competitions
International competitions

History

The first football team in Norway was probably started by a buekorps in Bergen, Nygaards Bataljon, in 1883.[4] In 1885 the first Norwegian club however, Idrætsforeningen Odd, was founded in Skien. The footballing interest was very low, and was put on ice after a few months. However, the club Odd Grenland started up with football again in 1894, and are now Norway's oldest football club. The Football Association of Norway (the NFF), was founded in 1902, and quickly established a cup competition. After the NFF joined FIFA in 1908, Norway had its first ever international match, away against Sweden in Gothenburg; despite Norway taking the lead after a mere 45 seconds, Sweden went on to win 11-3. In 1911 Norway hosted its first international in Oslo, again against Sweden; this time Norway lost 4-0. In 1912 the Norway national team attended the Olympic Games, and were knocked out after losing to Denmark and Austria 7-0 and 1-0 respectively. The NFF hosted the FIFA congress in Oslo in 1914, where a national league was established with six teams competed for the title Drafn, Frigg, Kvik/Halden, Larvik Turn, Mercantile and Odd. Drafn from Drammen went on to be the first league winners. At the 1936 Summer Olympics, the Norway national men's team won their only medal (bronze). In the relatively successful tournament Norway beat Turkey and hosts Germany 4-0 and 2-0 respectively, losing to Italy in the semi-final, then beating Poland 3-2 in the third-place play-off to take the bronze medal. The team is known in Norway as "Bronselaget" meaning the Bronze team. The Norwegian football team won 2-1 to Brazil in 1998. Norway is also the only national team in history to have an undefeated record vs Brazil, Playing 4 matches and winning 2 and drawing the other 2.[5]

League system
Main article: Norwegian football league system

The current national league system administered by the Norges Fotballforbund is organised as, from 2017 season, 1-1-2-6, where Eliteserien is the highest Norwegian level and OBOS-ligaen the second highest, followed by two third level (PostNord-ligaen) and six fourth level (Norsk Tipping-ligaen).

Division Promotion Relegation Promotion/relegation playoff
Eliteserien N/A 15th, 16th 14th Relegation
OBOS-ligaen Winner, runner-up 15th, 16th 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Promotion, 14th Relegation
PostNord-ligaen Winners in two groups 12th, 13th, 14th in two groups 2nd in two groups Promotion
Norsk Tipping-ligaen Winners in six groups 12th, 13th, 14th in six groups
Level League(s)/Division(s)
1 Eliteserien
16 clubs
2 OBOS-ligaen
16 clubs
3 PostNord-ligaen
Group 1
14 clubs		 PostNord-ligaen
Group 2
14 clubs
4 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 1
14 clubs		 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 2
14 clubs		 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 3
14 clubs		 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 4
14 clubs		 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 5
14 clubs		 Norsk Tipping-ligaen
Group 6
14 clubs
5–9 4. divisjon through 8. divisjon are regional divisions administered by the various regional football associations.

Cup system
Main article: Norwegian football cup

Seasons

The national cup (Norwegian Championship) has been contested since 1902 and is the oldest football tournament in the country.

Norwegian football began to have regular seasons from 1937, when Norgesserien started with the inaugural 1937–38 season. Before that, tournaments and leagues were played irregularly. In 1963, Norwegian football changed from autumn-spring to spring-autumn seasons. The league football was suspended during the World War II.

1900s: 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s: 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s: 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39
1940s: 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s: 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s: 2020 2021 2022 2023

European competitions
Main article: Norwegian football clubs in European competitions

UEFA Champions League

The following teams have qualified for elimination rounds in the UEFA Champions League.

Rosenborg played in the Champions League on 10 further occasions.

National team

Men
Main article: Norway national football team

Women
Main article: Norway women's national football team

+20,000-capacity football stadiums in Norway
#StadiumCapacityCityClubDivision
1Ullevaal Stadion28,000[6]OsloNorway national football team 
2Lerkendal Stadion21,405[7]TrondheimRosenborgEliteserien

See also

Bibliography
  • Sletten, Torstein (1972), Buekorpsene i Bergen: i tekst og bilder gjennom hundre år, ED.B. GIERTSENS FORLAG, ISBN 82-90073-00-3

References
  1. "Norwegian football | Norway soccer team, league, clubs, players, history". www.football-bible.com. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  2. "Football Fever in Norway - Norwegians Worldwide". Nww.no. 2012-05-10. Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  3. "The next generation by Michael Yokhin". Espn Fc. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  4. Sletten, 1972, p.58.
  5. "Norway national football team: Record v Brazil".
  6. Ullevaal Stadion Archived 2010-12-02 at the Wayback Machine Ullevaal-Stadion.no
  7. Lerkendal Stadion Archived 2011-04-29 at the Wayback Machine RBK.no
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