Toppserien

Toppserien
Country  Norway
Confederation UEFA
Founded 1984
Divisions 1
Number of teams 12
Level on pyramid 1
Relegation to 1. divisjon
Domestic cup(s) Norwegian Cup
International cup(s) UEFA Champions League
Current champions Lillestrøm SK (3rd title)
(2015)
Most championships Trondheims-Ørn (7 titles)
TV partners NRK
Website fotball.no
2016 Toppserien

Toppserien is the Norwegian professional league for women's association football clubs. It is the top level league and was founded in 1984.

History

Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1979. Regional leagues were in operation until the formation of the First Division 1984, when the league was divided into three regions, Group Eastern-Norway (Østlandet), Group Western-Norway (Vestlandet), and Group Mid-Norway (Trøndelag). No teams from Northern-Norway (Nord-Norge) played, however. The winners of the three groups met each other for a play-off. Regional leagues for women had been played before 1984, and a championship play-off had been done between the winners of Mid-Norway and Eastern-Norway in 1983 (Trondheims-Ørn beat Setskog 2-1), but this championship was considered unofficial by the Football Association of Norway. In 1986, a group for Northern-Norway was added, and in 1987, the groups and play-off matches were dropped, and one single league with teams from all over the country was played.

The league was known as the First Division (Norwegian: 1. divisjon) from 1984 to 1995, the Elite League (Norwegian: Eliteserien) from 1996 to 1999, and the Top League (Toppserien) from 2000.

Traditionally, Trondheims-Ørn and Asker have been the two power-houses of Toppserien, with 7 and 6 championship wins respectively. Trondheims-Ørn has finished in the top three 15 out of 21 times, while Asker has been among the top three 16 out of 21 times. In 1998, Asker managed the almost unthinkable, winning every single one of their 18 league games that season (Asker didn't win the double that season, however, as the club was knocked out of the semi-finals of the cup by Trondheims-Ørn). However Asker FK, the women's team within Asker Fotball, became bankrupt at the end of 2008 and most of the players were transferred to a new team within the nearby Stabæk IF, named Stabæk FK (FK = Fotball Kvinner (Football Ladies)). The new team will play in the Toppserien from the 2009 season.

The league

The league currently consists of 12 teams, which play each other 2 times (home and away), for a total of 22 matches. The season lasts from April to October. Teams are ranked by:[1]

2013 teams

Grimstad
Ytre Arna
Kleppe
Bergen
Trondheim
Harstad
Sofiemyr
Oslo
Kjeller
Locations of teams in the 2011 Toppserien
Team Home city Home ground In Toppserien since First appearance Seasons
Amazon Grimstad Grimstad JJ Ugland Stadion 2006 2006 8
Arna-Bjørnar Ytre Arna (Bergen) Arna Idrettspark 2006 1997 16
Avaldsnes Avaldsnes Avaldsnes Idrettssenter 2013 2013 1
Klepp Kleppe (Stavanger) Klepp Stadion 1987 1987 27
Kolbotn Kolbotn (Oslo) Sofiemyr 1995 1995 19
LSK Kvinner Lillestrøm (Oslo) LSK-Hallen 1987 1987 27
Medkila Harstad Harstad Stadion 2013 2004 3
Røa Oslo Røabanen 2001 2001 13
Sandviken Bergen Stemmemyren 2011 1987 21
Stabæk Bærum (Oslo) Nadderud Stadion 2009 2009 5
Trondheims-Ørn Trondheim DnB Nor Arena 1987 1987 27
Vålerenga Oslo Vallhall Arena 2012 2012 2

List of champions

Below is a list of the gold, silver and bronze medalists in the Toppserien since its beginning in 1984. (The Norwegian Women's Cup has been played since 1978, and is regarded as the Championship of Norway). From 1984 to 1995 the name of the league was 1. divisjon ("First Division"), and between 1996 and 199 the name was Eliteserien ("The Elite League", a generic name) before getting its current name, Toppserien in 2000.

From 1984 to 1985, the league was divided into three sections, and after the inclusion of teams from Northern Norway there was four sections in 1986, with the championship decided through a play-off. Since then it has been a roundrobin decided through a league table.

See below for a list of medalists by club name.

Winner by year

The following medals have been awarded:

Year Champions Runners-up Third place Name of league
1984 Sprint-Jeløy Trondheims-Ørn Nymark 1. divisjon
1985 Nymark Asker Trondheims-Ørn 1. divisjon
1986 Sprint-Jeløy Troll Klepp
Grand
1. divisjon
1987 Klepp Sprint-Jeløy Asker 1. divisjon
1988 Asker Klepp Trondheims-Ørn 1. divisjon
1989 Asker Sprint-Jeløy Klepp 1. divisjon
1990 Sprint-Jeløy Asker Klepp 1. divisjon
1991 Asker Sprint-Jeløy Sandviken 1. divisjon
1992 Asker Setskog/Høland Sprint-Jeløy 1. divisjon
1993 Sprint-Jeløy Trondheims-Ørn Asker 1. divisjon
1994 Trondheims-Ørn Asker Sprint-Jeløy 1. divisjon
1995 Trondheims-Ørn Setskog/Høland Sandviken 1. divisjon
1996 Trondheims-Ørn Sandviken Asker Eliteserien
1997 Trondheims-Ørn Asker Klepp Eliteserien
1998 Asker Trondheims-Ørn Athene Moss Eliteserien
1999 Asker Trondheims-Ørn Klepp Eliteserien
2000 Trondheims-Ørn Asker Kolbotn Toppserien
2001 Trondheims-Ørn Kolbotn Arna-Bjørnar Toppserien
2002 Kolbotn Asker Trondheims-Ørn Toppserien
2003 Trondheims-Ørn Kolbotn Asker Toppserien
2004 Røa Trondheims-Ørn Fløya Toppserien
2005 Kolbotn Team Strømmen Fløya Toppserien
2006 Kolbotn Trondheims-Ørn Røa Toppserien
2007 Røa Kolbotn Asker Toppserien
2008 Røa Team Strømmen Asker Toppserien
2009 Røa Stabæk Kolbotn Toppserien
2010 Stabæk Røa Kolbotn Toppserien
2011 Røa Stabæk Kolbotn Toppserien
2012 Lillestrøm SK Stabæk Arna-Bjørnar Toppserien
2013 Stabæk Lillestrøm SK Arna-Bjørnar Toppserien
2014 Lillestrøm SK Stabæk Arna-Bjørnar Toppserien
2015 Lillestrøm SK Avaldsnes Røa Toppserien

Winners by club

The following clubs have won the top division in Norwegian football since 1984.

As of after the 2014 season
Club Winner Runner-up Third
Trondheims-Ørn 7 6 3
Asker1 6 6 6
Røa 5 1 1
Sprint/Jeløy2 4 3 3
Kolbotn 3 3 4
Lillestrøm3 3 5 0
Stabæk1 2 4 0
Klepp 1 1 5
Nymark 1 0 1
Sandviken 0 1 2
Troll 0 1 0
Arna-Bjørnar 0 0 4
Fløya 0 0 2
Grand Bodø 0 0 1

1 = In 2008 Stabæk was handed the license to play in the top league, and also took over the best players from Asker, because of financial problems in the latter. But the rest of Asker remains, and they still have their top female team - in league three. Therefore, Stabæk is not to be considered the successor of Asker.
2 = Athene Moss was Sprint/Jeløy successor, so one bronze as Athene Moss in 1998 is included.
3 = Lillestrøm is the successor of Setskog/Høland and Team Strømmen.

See also

References

  1. "2011 regulations" (PDF). fotball.no. pp. 96–97. Retrieved 9 October 2011.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.