2008 Tippeligaen

The 2008 Tippeligaen was the 64th completed season of top division football in Norway. The season began on 29 March and ended 2 November.^[3] Brann were the defending champions, having won their third Tippeligaen championship in 2007. The teams promoted from the 1. divisjon at the end of the previous season were champions Molde, automatic qualifiers HamKam, and play-off winners Bodø/Glimt.

Tippeligaen

Season	2008
Dates	29 March – 2 November
Champions	Stabæk 1st title
Relegated	HamKam
Champions League	Stabæk
Europa League	Vålerenga Fredrikstad Tromsø Rosenborg
Matches played	182
Goals scored	505 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Daniel Nannskog (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Stabæk 6–0 Strømsgodset (14 September 2009)
Biggest away win	Aalesund 0–4 Lyn (4 May 2008)
Highest scoring	Tromsø 4–4 Molde (18 October 2008) Stabæk 6–2 Vålerenga (26 October 2008)
Longest winning run	6 games[1] Stabæk
Longest unbeaten run	10 games[1] Stabæk
Longest winless run	9 games[1] HamKam Vålerenga
Longest losing run	5 games[1] Strømsgodset
Highest attendance	24,302[2] Vålerenga 1–1 Rosenborg (20 April 2008)
Lowest attendance	2,165[2] Lyn 2–1 Strømsgodset (20 July 2008)
Average attendance	9,812 6.7%
← 2007 2009 →

Overview

Summary

Stabæk secured their first ever league championship by defeating Vålerenga 6–2 in the penultimate round. From the 2009 season onwards, the number of teams in the Tippeligaen was expanded from fourteen to sixteen.^[4] To accommodate this expansion, only one team faced automatic relegation to the 1. divisjon, as opposed to the regular two, while the three best teams in the 1. divisjon were awarded automatic promotion. As in previous years, there was a two-legged playoff at the end of the season, this time between the thirteenth-placed team in the Tippeligaen and the fourth best team in the 1. divisjon.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Aalesund

Bodø/Glimt

Brann

Fredrikstad

HamKam

Lillestrøm

Molde

Rosenborg

Strømsgodset

Tromsø

Viking

Oslo

Oslo region teams:
Lyn
Stabæk
Vålerenga

Locations of the teams in 2008 Tippeligaen

Fourteen teams competed in the league – the top eleven teams from the previous season, and three teams promoted from 1. divisjon.

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Ap.	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity
Aalesund	7	Ålesund	Color Line Stadion	Artificial	10,778
Bodø/Glimt	18	Bodø	Aspmyra Stadion	Artificial	8,800
Brann	52	Bergen	Brann Stadion	Natural	17,967
Fredrikstad	39	Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad Stadion	Natural	12,800
HamKam	22	Hamar	Briskeby	Natural	7,500
Lillestrøm	45	Lillestrøm	Åråsen Stadion	Natural	12,200
Lyn	35	Oslo	Ullevaal Stadion	Natural	25,572
Molde	32	Molde	Aker Stadion	Artificial	11,167
Rosenborg	45	Trondheim	Lerkendal Stadion	Natural	21,166
Stabæk	13	Bærum	Nadderud Stadion	Natural	6,950
Strømsgodset	21	Drammen	Marienlyst Stadion	Artificial	8,500
Tromsø	22	Tromsø	Alfheim Stadion	Artificial	8,300
Vålerenga	48	Oslo	Ullevaal Stadion	Natural	25,572
Viking	59	Stavanger	Viking Stadion	Natural	16,600

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Lillestrøm	Tom Nordlie	Resigned	29 May 2008[5]	Frode Grodås Erland Johnsen Erlend Slokvik Jan Åge Fjørtoft (caretakers)	29 May 2008[6]	13th
Aalesund	Sören Åkeby	Sacked	31 August 2008[7]	Kjetil Rekdal	4 September 2008[8]	13th
Lyn	Henning Berg	Mutual consent[9]	9 September 2008[10]	Kent Bergersen	9 September 2008[11]	5th
Lillestrøm	Frode Grodås Erland Johnsen Erlend Slokvik Jan Åge Fjørtoft	Released	1 January 2009[12]	Henning Berg	1 January 2009[13]	off-season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Stabæk (C)	26	16	6	4	58	24	+34	54	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Fredrikstad	26	14	6	6	38	28	+10	48	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
3	Tromsø	26	12	8	6	36	23	+13	44	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
4	Bodø/Glimt	26	12	6	8	37	38	−1	42
5	Rosenborg	26	11	6	9	40	34	+6	39	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
6	Viking	26	11	6	9	38	32	+6	39
7	Lyn	26	11	5	10	38	34	+4	38
8	Brann	26	8	9	9	36	36	0	33
9	Molde	26	7	10	9	39	43	−4	31
10	Vålerenga	26	8	6	12	31	37	−6	30	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[b]
11	Strømsgodset	26	8	5	13	33	44	−11	29
12	Lillestrøm	26	7	7	12	30	40	−10	28
13	Aalesund (O)	26	7	4	15	29	42	−13	25	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
14	HamKam (R)	26	5	6	15	22	50	−28	21	Relegation to First Division

Source: fotball.no
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Rosenborg, ranked second after already qualified Stabæk in the 2008 Fair Play competition^[14] will be granted access to the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round after Norway ranked first in the UEFA Fair Play ranking.^[15]
2. Vålerenga qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round as 2008 Norwegian Cup winners.

Relegation play-offs

By finishing 13th, Aalesund competed in a two-legged relegation play-off against Sogndal, who finished 4th in the 2008 1. divisjon, for the right to play in the 2009 Tippeligaen. Sogndal played at home first, decided in a draw held by the NFF.^[16] Aalesund won 7–2 on aggregate, thereby securing a new season in the Tippeligaen. Sogndal remained in the 1. divisjon.

8 November 2008

19:00 CET (UTC+1)

Sogndal	1–4	Aalesund
Bolseth 50'	Report	Arnefjord 22' Aarøy 53' Nadolski 61' (o.g.) Diego Silva 90+4'

Fosshaugane Campus, Sogndal

Attendance: 3,553

Referee: Roy Helge Olsen, Fløy

---

12 November 2008

19:00 CET (UTC+1)

Aalesund	3–1	Sogndal
Aarøy 14', 31', 43'	Report	Håvard Flo 43'

Color Line Stadion, Ålesund

Attendance: 8,646

Referee: Terje Hauge, Olsvik

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	BOD	SKB	FFK	HK	LSK	LYN	MFK	RBK	STB	SIF	TIL	VIF	VIK
Aalesund	—	1–0	4–2	0–0	5–0	3–0	0–4	1–1	1–2	1–2	3–1	1–3	0–0	1–2
Bodø/Glimt	2–1	—	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	2–0	1–2	3–2
Brann	1–2	4–1	—	4–2	4–1	2–1	2–0	3–4	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1
Fredrikstad	5–0	2–0	1–0	—	2–1	4–0	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–3	2–1	2–0	2–1	1–0
HamKam	2–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	—	1–2	3–2	0–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	3–2
Lillestrøm	3–0	3–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	—	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–1	3–1	1–1	0–3	2–0
Lyn	3–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	—	1–3	1–2	0–2	3–2	3–3	2–0	1–1
Molde	0–0	1–2	3–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–1	—	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	5–1	2–3
Rosenborg	3–1	1–3	1–1	1–2	4–0	4–0	2–1	3–1	—	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–0
Stabæk	2–1	4–1	3–0	5–1	3–0	4–2	1–1	4–0	1–0	—	6–0	2–4	6–2	0–0
Strømsgodset	0–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	4–0	3–2	0–0	—	1–3	1–3	3–2
Tromsø	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	4–4	4–0	1–0	2–0	—	2–0	0–1
Vålerenga	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	3–0	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–0	—	0–1
Viking	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	3–3	0–1	4–1	1–0	2–1	2–3	—

Source: NIFS (in Norwegian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Sources: fotball.no^{[permanent dead link]} (in Norwegian), TV 2 Sporten (in Norwegian)

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Daniel Nannskog	Stabæk	16
2	Johan Andersson	Stabæk	12
	José Mota	Molde
4	Thorstein Helstad	Brann	11
	Olivier Occean	Lillestrøm
6	Garðar Jóhannsson	Fredrikstad	10
	Morten Moldskred	Tromsø
	Steffen Iversen	Rosenborg
	Veigar Páll Gunnarsson	Stabæk
	Espen Hoff	Lyn
	Trond Olsen	Bodø/Glimt

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 7^[17]
  • David Nielsen (Strømsgodset)
  • Vidar Riseth (Lillestrøm)
• Most red cards: 2^[18]
  • Abgar Barsom (Fredrikstad)
  • Jan Michaelsen (HamKam)
  • Kristján Örn Sigurðsson (Brann)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 48^[19]
  • Strømsgodset

• Most red cards: 5^[19]
  • HamKam

Attendances

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Turf	Total	Games	Average	% of Capacity
Lyn	Ullevaal Stadion	25,572	Natural	86,359	13	6,643	25.97
Vålerenga	Ullevaal Stadion	25,572	Natural	165,106	13	12,700	49.66
Rosenborg	Lerkendal stadion	21,850	Natural	246,443	13	18,957	86.76
Brann	Brann stadion	17,967	Natural	220,407	13	16,954	94.36
Viking	Viking Stadion	16,600	Natural	199,927	13	15,379	92.64
Fredrikstad	Nye Fredrikstad stadion	12,800	Natural	149,798	13	11,523	90.02
Lillestrøm	Åråsen stadion	11,637	Natural	114,242	13	8,788	75.51
Molde	Aker Stadion	11,167	Natural	106,645	13	8,203	73.45
Aalesund	Color Line Stadion	10,778	Artificial	134,725	13	10,363	96.14
Strømsgodset	Marienlyst stadion	8,500	Artificial	76,890	13	5,915	69.58
Tromsø	Alfheim stadion	8,159	Artificial	71,261	13	5,482	67.18
Bodø/Glimt	Aspmyra stadion	7,659	Artificial	71,533	13	5,503	71.85
HamKam	Briskeby gressbane	7,500[20]	Natural	66,647	13	5,127	68.36
Stabæk	Nadderud stadion	6,550	Natural	75,203[21]	13	5,785	88.32

Total	Games	Average
1,785,186	182	9,809

Source: VG Nett^{[permanent dead link]} (in Norwegian)