Soccer in Norway

Despite a population that is crazy about winter sports, it is the football association in Norway that has the largest number of active athletes of all professional sports associations.

The reason why the Nordic World Ski Championships seem more important than the soccer World Cup to the Norwegian population may be due to the lack of international success of the soccer players. This statement only applies to the gentlemen. The women's national team is among the most successful in the world. Twice European champions , one world champion and one gold medal at the Olympic Games is the result. The men's national team has no titles or finals at major tournaments. The best result so far is a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and a place in the round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup in France .

No international titles were won at club level. The women’s best results so far were Trondheims-Ørn and Kolbotn , who made it to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women's Cup in 2002 and 2004, respectively . In the men's category, Rosenborg Trondheim reached the quarter-finals in the 1996/97 seasons and, as group winners, made it to the intermediate round of the UEFA Champions League in 1999/2000 . Lyn Oslo and Brann Bergen reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1969 and 1997 respectively .

Association

The Norges Fotballforbund (NFF), in German Norwegian Football Association, was founded in 1902. With 1861 clubs and around 375,000 members (2015) it is Norway's largest sports association. In 2015, its 1,861 clubs and 29,972 teams registered for the league. The proportion of women among the members is 30%. There are 18 regional district associations as a substructure.

The NFF is a member of the Norwegian Sports Federation . He joined FIFA in 1908 and UEFA in 1954 .

season

Unlike in Germany and most European countries, the Norwegian football season extends from early spring to late autumn. In the top division, games usually start in mid-March. The season will end in mid-November with the cup final and the relegation games.

League system

In the Norwegian league system, the top two divisions are professional leagues. The third highest division is also the highest amateur division. The professional leagues are single-track. Teams that play there need, in addition to sporting qualifications, a professional license issued by the association. The two highest amateur leagues, the third and fourth levels of the league pyramid, are multi-track national leagues. Supraregional is to be understood as meaning that the teams in a league come from several different district associations. However, the leagues cannot be assigned to geographical regions. The teams in a division are redistributed to the parallel leagues every year. This is based on criteria that aim to distribute travel costs as evenly as possible. From the fifth highest division, the 18 district associations organize the championship independently. The breadth of the individual divisions and also the number of divisions are different in the respective circles.

Structural change of the league since the 2017 season

The Norwegian league system was rebuilt with the 2016 season. 2016 was a year of transition with special promotion and relegation modalities. The league pyramid has been pointed since the 2017 season. The two highest divisions, which are single-track anyway, also remain unchanged in terms of team strength. However, since 2017 only two instead of four teams from the second highest league have been relegated directly. The third from last has to go into relegation.

Radical changes were made in the next two divisions. On the third level the number of leagues has been reduced from 4 to 2 and on the fourth level there are only 6 instead of the previous 12 leagues. 24 of the 26 leagues remain at the fifth level. The original plan to reduce the fifth division to 18 leagues did not win a majority at the football association's annual general meeting after resistance from the small clubs.

League pyramid 2016

level	Division
1	Tippeligaen (Eliteserien - 0. Divisjon) 16 clubs 1st place: Seriemester (league champions) + UEFA Champions League qualification 2nd–3thplace: UEFA Europa League qualification 4th place: In the case of the cup winners among the top 3 in the league: participation in UEFA Europa League qualification 14th place: Relegation 15th–16th place: relegated
2	OBOS-Ligaen (1st Divisjon) 16 clubs 1st to 2nd place: promoted 3rd to 6th place: qualifier for relegation game 13th to 16th place: relegated
3	PostNord- Ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 1 14 clubs 1st place: promoted places 8-14: relegated teams			PostNord- Ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 2 14 clubs 1st place: promoted places 8-14: relegated teams			PostNord- Ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 3 14 clubs 1st place: promoted places 8-14: relegated teams			PostNord- Ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 4 14 clubs 1st place: promoted places 8-14: relegated teams
4th	3. divisjon avd. 1 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 2 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 3 14 clubs 5th place: could relegate places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 4 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 5 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 6 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 7 14 clubs 5th place: could relegate places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 8 14 clubs 5th place: could relegate places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 9 14 clubs 5th place: could be relegated Places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 10 14 clubs 5th place: could relegate places 6-14: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 11 12 clubs 5th to 12th place: relegated	3. divisjon avd. 12 12 clubs 5th to 12th place: relegated
5	4. Divisjon - 26 leagues with 10-14 teams. The leagues are looked after by the regional associations.

League pyramid 2017

level	Division
1	Eliteserien (0. Divisjon) 16 clubs 1st place: Seriemester (league champions) + UEFA Champions League qualification 2nd–3thplace: UEFA Europa League qualification 4th place: In the case of the cup winners among the top 3 in the league: Participation in the UEFA Europa League Qualification Place 14: Relegation Place 15–16: Relegated
2	OBOS-Ligaen (1st division) 16 clubs 1st–2th place: promoted 3rd–6th place: 14th placerelegation:15th–16th place: relegated place
3	PostNord-ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 1 14 clubs 1st place: promoted 2nd place: relegation 12-14th place: relegated						PostNord-ligaen (2nd Divisjon) avdeling 2 14 clubs 1st place: promoted 2nd place: relegation 12-14th place: relegated
4th	Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 1 14 clubs 1st place: promoted team 11-14: relegated club		Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 2 14 clubs 1st place: Newcomers 11-14th place: Relegated		Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 3 14 clubs 1st place: Newcomers 11-14th place: Relegated		Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 4 14 clubs 1st place: Newcomers 11-14th place: Relegated		Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 5 14 clubs 1st place: Newcomers 11-14th place: Relegated		Norsk Tipping Ligaen (3rd divisjon) avd. 6 14 clubs 1st place: Newcomers 11-14th place: Relegated
5	4. Divisjon - 24 leagues with 12-14 teams. The leagues are looked after by the regional associations. 1st place: Newcomers

Honors

At the end of the season, the league and association award awards in various categories, called Kniksens hederspris and Gullballen .

literature

• Arnfinn Fagerli (1956-); Christian Lunde Nilsen (1999-): Norsk fotball-leksikon ( Norwegian ). Orion, Oslo 1999, ISBN 8245803987 .
• Ingvald Bertelsen (editor); Tom Harald Berglund; Iver Odden: Oppslagsbok om norsk fotball ( Norwegian ). Wagner & Flust, Oslo 2000, ISBN 8292228004 , p. 58.

Web links

• Official website of the Norwegian Football Association

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Football Fever in Norway - Norwegians Worldwide ( English ) Nww.no. May 10, 2012. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 15, 2013. 
2. ↑ The next generation by Michael Yokhin ( English ) Espn Fc. June 13, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
3. ^ Annual report of the Norwegian Football Association 2015. Key numbers on page 4 (Norwegian) and page 154 (English)
4. ↑ Link to the 18 district associations of the Norwegian Football Association