2015 Tippeligaen

The 2015 Tippeligaen was the 71st completed season of top-tier football in Norway. The competition began on 6 April 2015, one week later than in the previous season. A short summer-break in June was scheduled between the rounds played on 12 July and 26 July, and the decisive match was played on 8 November 2015.^[1] Molde were the defending champions. Sandefjord, Tromsø and Mjøndalen joined as the promoted clubs from the 2014 1. divisjon. They replaced Brann, Sogndal and Sandnes Ulf who were relegated to the 2015 1. divisjon.

Tippeligaen

Season	2015
Dates	6 April – 8 November
Champions	Rosenborg 23rd title
Relegated	Mjøndalen Sandefjord
Champions League	Rosenborg
Europa League	Strømsgodset Stabæk Odd
Matches played	240
Goals scored	774 (3.23 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alexander Søderlund (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Molde 6–1 Sandefjord (30 May 2015) Bodø/Glimt 6–1 Stabæk (8 November 2015)
Biggest away win	Haugesund 0–6 Rosenborg (12 April 2015) Tromsø 0–6 Strømsgodset (2 August 2015)
Highest scoring	Tromsø 4–5 Vålerenga (12 May 2015) Mjøndalen 3–6 Odd (2 August 2015)
Longest winning run	6 games Bodø/Glimt (9 August 2015)
Longest unbeaten run	11 games Strømsgodset (8 November 2015)
Longest winless run	15 games Sandefjord (2 August 2015)
Longest losing run	8 games Sandefjord (6 June 2015)
Highest attendance	21,401 Rosenborg 1–1 Molde (27 June 2015)
Lowest attendance	1,949 Mjøndalen 4–3 Tromsø (9 May 2015)
Average attendance	6,711 3.6%
← 2014 2016 →

Teams

The league was contested by 16 teams: the 13 best teams of the 2014 season; the two teams who won direct promotion from the 2014 1. divisjon, Sandefjord and Tromsø; and Mjøndalen, who won the promotion/relegation play-off finals against Brann.

Stadia and locations

Aalesund

Bodø/Glimt

Haugesund

Lillestrøm

Mjøndalen

Molde

Odd

Rosenborg

Sarpsborg 08

Sandefjord

Stabæk

Start

Strømsgodset

Tromsø

Viking

Vålerenga

Locations of the teams in 2015 Tippeligaen

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Ap.	Location	Arena	Turf	Capacity
Aalesund	14	Ålesund	Color Line Stadion	Artificial	10,778
Bodø/Glimt	21	Bodø	Aspmyra Stadion	Artificial	7,354
Haugesund	9	Haugesund	Haugesund Stadion	Natural	8,754
Lillestrøm	52	Lillestrøm	Åråsen Stadion	Natural	12,250
Molde	39	Molde	Aker Stadion	Artificial	11,800
Mjøndalen	19	Mjøndalen	Isachsen Stadion	Artificial	4,350
Odd	34	Skien	Skagerak Arena	Artificial	12,500
Rosenborg	52	Trondheim	Lerkendal Stadion	Natural	21,166
Sandefjord	5	Sandefjord	Komplett.no Arena	Natural	6,000
Sarpsborg 08	4	Sarpsborg	Sarpsborg Stadion	Artificial	4,700
Stabæk	19	Bærum	Nadderud Stadion	Natural	7,000
Start	39	Kristiansand	Sør Arena	Artificial	14,563
Strømsgodset	28	Drammen	Marienlyst Stadion	Artificial	8,935
Tromsø	28	Tromsø	Alfheim Stadion	Artificial	6,859
Vålerenga	55	Oslo	Ullevaal Stadion	Natural	28,000
Viking	66	Stavanger	Viking Stadion	Natural	16,600

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Aalesund	Trond Fredriksen (interim)	Umbro	Sparebanken Møre
Bodø/Glimt	Jan Halvor Halvorsen	Diadora	Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge
Haugesund	Jostein Grindhaug	Macron	Sparebanken Vest
Lillestrøm	Rúnar Kristinsson	Legea	DNB
Molde	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	Nike	Sparebanken Møre
Mjøndalen	Vegard Hansen	Umbro	Sparebanken Øst
Odd	Dag-Eilev Fagermo	New Balance	Skagerak Energi
Rosenborg	Kåre Ingebrigtsen	Adidas	SpareBank 1 SMN
Sandefjord	Lars Bohinen	Macron	Jotun
Sarpsborg 08	Geir Bakke	Select	Borregaard
Stabæk	Bob Bradley	Adidas	Sparebank 1 Oslo Akershus
Start	Bård Borgersen (interim)	Umbro	Sparebanken Sør
Strømsgodset	Bjørn Petter Ingebretsen	Diadora	DNB
Tromsø	Bård Flovik (interim)	Select	Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge
Vålerenga	Kjetil Rekdal	Adidas	DNB
Viking	Kjell Jonevret	Diadora	Lyse

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Aalesund	Jan Jönsson	Mutual agreement	30 November 2014[2]	Pre-season	Harald Aabrekk	1 January 2015[3]	Pre-season
Lillestrøm	Magnus Haglund	Mutual agreement	30 November 2014[4]	Pre-season	Rúnar Kristinsson	1 January 2015[5]	Pre-season
Sarpsborg 08	Brian Deane	Mutual agreement	30 November 2014[6]	Pre-season	Geir Bakke	1 January 2015[7]	Pre-season
Aalesund	Harald Aabrekk	Sacked	28 April 2015[8]	16th	Trond Fredriksen (interim)	28 April 2015	16th
Strømsgodset	David Nielsen	Mutual agreement	26 May 2015[9]	9th	Bjørn Petter Ingebretsen	26 May 2015[9]	9th
Molde	Tor Ole Skullerud	Sacked	6 August 2015[10]	7th	Erling Moe (interim)	7 August 2015[11]	7th
Molde	Erling Moe	Caretaker period ended	21 October 2015[12]	7th	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	21 October 2015[12]	7th
Tromsø	Steinar Nilsen	Sacked	18 August 2015[13]	15th	Bård Flovik (interim)	18 August 2015[14]	15th
Start	Mons Ivar Mjelde	Mutual agreement	7 September 2015[15]	13th	Bård Borgersen (interim)	7 September 2015[15]	13th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rosenborg (C)	30	21	6	3	73	27	+46	69	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round[a]
2	Strømsgodset	30	17	6	7	67	44	+23	57	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
3	Stabæk	30	17	5	8	54	43	+11	56	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
4	Odd	30	15	10	5	61	41	+20	55
5	Viking	30	17	2	11	53	39	+14	53
6	Molde	30	15	7	8	62	31	+31	52
7	Vålerenga	30	14	7	9	49	41	+8	49
8	Lillestrøm[b]	30	12	9	9	45	43	+2	44
9	Bodø/Glimt	30	12	4	14	53	56	−3	40
10	Aalesund	30	11	5	14	42	57	−15	38
11	Sarpsborg 08	30	8	10	12	37	49	−12	34
12	Haugesund	30	8	7	15	33	52	−19	31
13	Tromsø	30	7	8	15	36	50	−14	29
14	Start (O)	30	5	7	18	35	64	−29	22	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Mjøndalen (R)	30	4	9	17	38	69	−31	21	Relegation to First Division
16	Sandefjord (R)	30	4	4	22	36	68	−32	16

Source: Football Association of Norway (in Norwegian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored (between two teams).^[17]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Rosenborg qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2015 Norwegian Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.
2. Lillestrøm started the season with a one point deduction due to poor financial reporting.^[16]

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Rosenborg	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Strømsgodset	14	11	12	10	12	13	9	11	9	9	8	8	7	7	6	5	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	3	3	3	2	2	2
Stabæk	7	12	9	5	5	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3
Odd	9	2	1	2	4	5	5	3	5	6	5	5	6	6	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Viking	12	9	10	12	9	7	7	7	4	4	6	6	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	5	5
Molde	8	7	4	4	2	4	3	5	6	5	4	4	5	5	4	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6
Vålerenga	3	3	3	3	3	3	6	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	2	3	3	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7
Lillestrøm	16	10	11	13	10	11	13	10	8	8	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	9	9	9	9	8	9	8	8	8	8
Bodø/Glimt	13	16	16	15	16	16	16	16	15	16	15	15	15	15	13	12	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	8	9	9	10	9
Aalesund	15	13	15	16	15	10	8	9	11	12	10	10	10	11	10	10	12	10	9	9	10	10	10	11	11	10	10	10	9	10
Sarpsborg 08	5	6	8	9	6	6	4	6	7	7	9	9	9	9	11	11	11	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	11
Haugesund	6	14	14	14	13	9	12	13	13	11	13	13	13	13	14	13	13	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	12
Tromsø	11	15	13	11	14	15	15	15	16	15	14	14	14	14	15	14	14	14	14	15	15	15	14	15	14	14	13	13	13	13
Start	10	4	6	8	11	8	11	12	12	13	12	12	12	10	9	9	10	12	13	13	13	13	15	13	13	13	14	14	14	14
Mjøndalen	4	5	7	7	8	14	10	8	10	10	11	11	11	12	12	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	15
Sandefjord	2	8	5	6	7	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

	Leader
	2016–17 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
	Relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2016–17 1. divisjon

Source: nifs.no

Relegation play-offs

Main article: 2015 Eliteserien promotion/relegation play-offs

Final

The 14th-placed team, Start, took part in a two-legged play-off against Jerv, the winners of the 2015 1. divisjon promotion play-offs, to decide who would play in the 2016 Tippeligaen.

21 November 2015 (2015-11-21)

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Jerv	1–1	Start
Omoijuanfo 86'	Report	Stokkelien 19'

Levermyr Stadion, Grimstad

Attendance: 2,010

Referee: Trygve Kjensli

25 November 2015 (2015-11-25)

19:00 CET (UTC+1)

Start	3–1	Jerv
Hollingen 42' Børufsen 49' DeJohn 83'	Report	Antwi 45'

Sør Arena, Kristiansand

Attendance: 12,245

Referee: Tom Harald Hagen

Start won 4–2 on aggregate and retained their place in the 2016 Tippeligaen; Jerv remained in the 1. divisjon.

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	BOD	HAU	LSK	MIF	MFK	ODD	RBK	SF	S08	STB	IKS	SIF	TIL	VIF	VIK
Aalesund	—	2–0	2–1	1–1	4–2	1–2	1–3	0–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–2	2–0	0–4
Bodø/Glimt	1–0	—	1–2	0–3	5–1	1–3	2–4	1–0	2–1	3–1	6–1	5–1	3–5	1–0	1–1	0–3
Haugesund	3–1	2–4	—	3–3	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–6	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	4–0	0–1	0–1	0–2
Lillestrøm	3–1	3–0	2–0	—	3–0	2–1	1–1	0–5	3–2	3–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	2–1
Mjøndalen	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–4	—	0–3	3–6	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–4	1–1	2–4	4–3	0–1	1–0
Molde	5–1	1–2	0–1	2–2	3–1	—	1–2	1–0	6–1	0–0	3–3	4–0	3–1	4–0	0–0	4–1
Odd	1–1	2–1	0–0	5–0	2–2	2–2	—	1–2	4–3	1–1	2–0	3–3	2–0	3–2	1–2	1–0
Rosenborg	5–0	1–1	4–3	3–0	1–0	1–1	3–0	—	5–1	3–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0
Sandefjord	1–3	3–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–4	0–1	1–2	—	1–0	2–4	4–1	1–2	1–1	0–3	1–2
Sarpsborg 08	3–1	2–2	3–0	1–3	2–2	1–4	2–0	0–2	2–1	—	0–1	3–1	1–6	1–0	1–1	0–2
Stabæk	1–4	3–2	1–1	3–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–3	4–0	0–0	—	3–2	3–2	2–1	2–0	1–0
Start	3–1	1–1	1–3	0–0	1–1	0–3	0–4	0–4	2–1	1–2	4–1	—	0–1	3–1	2–3	0–3
Strømsgodset	3–1	3–1	5–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–3	3–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	—	2–1	2–2	4–1
Tromsø	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–6	—	4–5	3–1
Vålerenga	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	4–2	0–1	2–2	1–2	2–0	3–1	0–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	—	2–4
Viking	4–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–4	2–0	3–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–1	3–4	—

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rosenborgs's Alexander Søderlund became the top scorer in Tippeligaen after scoring 22 goals.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals	Games	Average
1	Alexander Søderlund	Rosenborg	22	27	0,81
2	Adama Diomande	Stabæk	17	21	0,81
3	Olivier Occéan	Odd	15	27	0,56
4	Ola Kamara	Molde	14	29	0,48
5	Pål André Helland	Rosenborg	13	21	0,62
	Alexander Sørloth	Bodø/Glimt	13	26	0,50
	Trond Olsen	Bodø/Glimt	13	29	0,45
	Leke James	Aalesund	13	29	0,45
9	Mohamed Elyounoussi	Molde	12	28	0,43
10	Marcus Pedersen	Strømsgodset	11	10	1,10
	Veton Berisha	Viking	11	14	0,79
	Fred Friday	Lillestrøm	11	26	0,42
	Iver Fossum	Strømsgodset	11	30	0,37

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Fred Friday	Lillestrøm	Mjøndalen	4–1 (A)	3 April 2015
Tommy Høiland	Molde	Start	4–0 (H)	10 May 2015
Adama Diomande	Stabæk	Sandefjord	4–0 (H)	13 May 2015
Mohamed Elyounoussi	Molde	Sandefjord	6–1 (H)	30 May 2015
Ola Kamara	Molde	Sarpsborg 08	4–1 (A)	3 July 2015
Christian Gytkjær	Haugesund	Lillestrøm	3–3 (H)	4 July 2015
Christian Gytkjær	Haugesund	Aalesund	3–1 (H)	9 August 2015
Alexander Sørloth4	Bodø/Glimt	Start	5–1 (H)	9 August 2015
Marcus Pedersen	Strømsgodset	Mjøndalen	4–2 (A)	30 August 2015
Alexander Sørloth	Bodø/Glimt	Stabæk	6–1 (H)	8 November 2015
Fredrik Nordkvelle	Odd	Lillestrøm	5–0 (H)	8 November 2015

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 8^[18]
  • Michael Christensen (Start)
• Most red cards: 1^[18]
  • 25 players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 52^[19][20]
  • Sandefjord

• Most red cards: 3^[21]
  • Lillestrøm
  • Molde

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Rosenborg	270,589	21,401	13,779	18,039	+29.6%†
2	Viking	154,080	14,463	7,086	10,272	+2.6%†
3	Vålerenga	151,486	20,958	6,908	10,099	+3.5%†
4	Molde	134,275	11,113	8,141	8,952	−3.1%†
5	Odd	118,674	9,073	6,769	7,912	+10.5%†
6	Strømsgodset	105,450	8,468	6,180	7,030	+4.8%†
7	Aalesund	100,435	8,287	5,655	6,696	−11.9%†
8	Start	92,326	9,239	4,683	6,155	+3.2%†
9	Lillestrøm	82,913	9,071	3,881	5,528	−6.3%†
10	Haugesund	80,790	6,634	4,533	5,386	−3.5%†
11	Sandefjord	61,882	6,174	3,269	4,125	+53.5%1
12	Stabæk	58,204	4,938	3,293	3,880	+1.2%†
13	Sarpsborg 08	58,060	5,137	3,151	3,871	−1.9%†
14	Tromsø	54,534	5,862	3,080	3,636	+30.9%1
15	Bodø/Glimt	47,762	6,114	2,286	3,184	−5.9%†
16	Mjøndalen	39,131	4,150	1,949	2,609	+125.9%1
	League total	1,610,591	21,401	1,949	6,711	−3.6%†

Updated to games played on 26 October 2015
Source: nifs.no, fotball.no
Notes:
1: Team played last season in 1. divisjon

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Year	Ole Selnæs	Rosenborg
Goalkeeper of the Year	Ørjan Nyland	Molde
Defender of the Year	Jonas Svensson	Rosenborg
Midfielder of the Year	Ole Selnæs	Rosenborg
Striker of the Year	Alexander Søderlund	Rosenborg
Manager of the Year	Bob Bradley	Stabæk
Young Player of the Year	Iver Fossum	Strømsgodset