2016 Norwegian First Division

The 2016 1. divisjon (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football league season. The league was contested by 16 teams, and the top two teams were promoted to Tippeligaen, while the teams placed from third to sixth place played a promotion-playoff against the 14th-placed team in Tippeligaen to win promotion. The bottom four teams were relegated to the 2. divisjon.^[1]

1. divisjon

Season	2016
Dates	3 April – 30 October
Champions	Kristiansund
Promoted	Kristiansund Sandefjord
Relegated	Bryne Hødd KFUM Oslo Raufoss
Matches played	300
Goals scored	696 (2.32 per match)
Top goalscorer	Pontus Engblom (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Ullensaker/Kisa 8–3 Hødd
Biggest away win	Fredrikstad 1–7 Ranheim
Highest scoring	Ullensaker/Kisa 8–3 Hødd
Longest winning run	10 games Sandefjord
Longest winless run	10 games Raufoss
Average attendance	1,495 25.2%
← 2015 2017 →

The first round of the season was played on 3 April 2016 and the season concluded with the last round on 30 October 2016. The playoff-tournament was played between 6 and 21 November 2016.^[2]

Team changes from 2015

In the 2015 1. divisjon, Sogndal, and Brann won promotion to Tippeligaen, while Follo, Nest-Sotra, Bærum and Hønefoss were relegated to the 2016 2. divisjon.

Mjøndalen,^[3] and Sandefjord,^[3] were relegated from the 2015 Tippeligaen, while KFUM Oslo, Raufoss, Ull/Kisa and Kongsvinger were promoted from the 2015 2. divisjon.

Teams

Bryne

Fredrikstad

Hødd

Jerv

KFUM

Kongsvinger

Kristiansund

Levanger

Mjøndalen

Ranheim

Raufoss

Sandefjord

Sandnes Ulf

Strømmen

Ull/Kisa

Åsane

Locations of the teams in the 2016 1. divisjon

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity	Manager
Bryne	Bryne	Bryne Stadion	10,000	Alf Ingve Berntsen
Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad Stadion	12,565	Jan Halvor Halvorsen
Hødd	Ulsteinvik	Høddvoll Stadion	3,825	Hans-Erik Eriksen
Jerv	Grimstad	J.J. Ugland Stadion – Levermyr	1,750	Arne Sandstø
KFUM	Oslo	KFUM Arena	1,500	Ståle Andersen
Kongsvinger	Kongsvinger	Gjemselund Stadion	6,700	Luis Berkemeier Pimenta
Kristiansund	Kristiansund	Kristiansund Stadion	3,000	Christian Michelsen
Levanger	Levanger	Moan Fritidspark	6,000	Magnus Powell
Mjøndalen	Mjøndalen	Isachsen Stadion	4,350	Vegard Hansen
Ranheim	Trondheim	DNB Arena	2,000	Svein Maalen
Raufoss	Raufoss	Nammo Stadion	2,500	Espen Haug
Sandefjord	Sandefjord	Komplett.no Arena	6,000	Lars Bohinen
Sandnes Ulf	Sandnes	Sandnes Idrettspark	4,969	Bengt Sæternes
Strømmen	Strømmen	Strømmen Stadion	1,800	Espen Olsen
Ull/Kisa	Jessheim	UKI Arena	3,000	Vegard Skogheim
Åsane	Åsane	Åsane Idrettspark	3,000	Kjetil Knutsen

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Fredrikstad	Arne Erlandsen	Contract expired	11 November 2015[4]	Pre-season	Jan Halvor Halvorsen	23 November 2015[5]	Pre-season
Ranheim	Ola By Rise	Contract expired	30 November 2015[6]	Pre-season	Svein Maalen	1 December 2015[6]	Pre-season
Ull/Kisa	Jonas Olsson	Contract expired	3 December 2015[7]	Pre-season	Vegard Skogheim	1 January 2016[8]	Pre-season
Jerv	Steinar Pedersen	Start's new coach	23 December 2015[9]	Pre-season	Arne Sandstø	15 January 2016[10]	Pre-season
Hødd	Sindre Eid	Resigned	31 December 2015[11]	Pre-season	Hans-Erik Eriksen	1 January 2016[12]	Pre-season
Levanger	Andreas Holmberg	Contract expired	31 December 2015[13]	Pre-season	Magnus Powell	1 January 2016[13]	Pre-season
Bryne	Gaute Larsen	Resigned	14 May 2016[14]	12th	Alf Ingve Berntsen	14 May 2016[14]	12th
Fredrikstad	Jan Halvor Halvorsen	Resigned	09 Aug 2016[15]	14th	Mons Ivar Mjelde	09 Aug 2016[16]	14th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Kristiansund (C, P)	30	19	5	6	47	30	+17	62	Promotion to Eliteserien
2	Sandefjord (P)	30	18	5	7	54	35	+19	59
3	Jerv	30	15	8	7	47	34	+13	53	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Sandnes Ulf	30	15	6	9	55	28	+27	51
5	Kongsvinger	30	14	7	9	56	42	+14	49
6	Mjøndalen	30	13	10	7	49	38	+11	49
7	Strømmen	30	13	8	9	46	45	+1	47
8	Levanger	30	13	6	11	52	46	+6	45
9	Ranheim	30	11	6	13	45	48	−3	39
10	Åsane	30	10	8	12	36	37	−1	38
11	Fredrikstad	30	8	9	13	34	48	−14	33
12	Ull/Kisa	30	8	8	14	47	50	−3	32
13	Bryne (R)	30	7	9	14	33	48	−15	30	Relegation to Second Division
14	Hødd (R)	30	8	6	16	31	57	−26	30
15	KFUM Oslo (R)	30	6	8	16	31	48	−17	26
16	Raufoss (R)	30	6	3	21	33	62	−29	21

Source: nifs.no (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 (only if between two teams); 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off (only used to decide champions or relegation).
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BRY	FFK	HØD	JER	KFU	KIL	KBK	LEV	MIF	RAN	RAU	SAN	ULF	STR	UKI	ÅSF
Bryne	—	3–1	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	4–3	3–0	1–1	2–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–1
Fredrikstad	2–1	—	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	0–1	1–7	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	5–1	3–2
Hødd	1–1	2–2	—	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–3	2–0	0–3	1–0	3–0
Jerv	1–3	1–0	5–1	—	1–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	2–2	1–0	2–0
KFUM Oslo	3–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	—	1–2	0–0	5–0	0–1	3–2	0–3	1–2	1–3	1–3	0–0	0–2
Kongsvinger	2–0	1–2	2–1	5–0	2–0	—	1–3	1–2	3–1	1–0	3–2	1–0	1–2	2–2	2–3	2–0
Kristiansund	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	1–2	—	1–0	0–2	3–1	2–1	3–2	2–3	2–0	1–0	2–1
Levanger	4–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	0–3	2–2	1–3	—	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	0–2	2–2	3–1	1–0
Mjøndalen	3–0	4–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	3–1	2–2	—	6–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–0
Ranheim	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–4	2–0	0–3	0–1	3–1	2–2	—	1–0	3–0	0–2	4–1	2–2	1–1
Raufoss	5–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	2–4	1–2	0–6	1–0	1–2	—	0–2	1–2	4–5	2–1	1–2
Sandefjord	1–0	2–1	3–0	3–2	3–0	1–3	0–0	1–2	2–0	3–1	3–1	—	2–2	4–1	1–0	2–0
Sandnes Ulf	1–1	3–1	5–0	0–1	6–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	5–0	2–0	3–0	5–0	—	1–0	4–0	0–2
Strømmen	2–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–3	2–1	0–0	2–1	4–0	0–3	3–1	—	2–1	0–0
Ull/Kisa	3–0	1–2	8–3	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–3	1–3	5–1	2–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	—	1–0
Åsane	2–2	3–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	1–4	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	4–2	—

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

Promotion play-offs

Main article: 2016 Eliteserien promotion/relegation play-offs

The third to sixth-placed teams took part in the promotion play-offs; these were single leg knockout matches, two semi-finals and a final. The winners, Jerv, advanced to play Stabæk over two legs in the Tippeligaen play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.

Semi-finals

Sandnes Ulf	0–2	Kongsvinger
	Report	Güven 9', 90+3'

5 November 2016 (2016-11-05)

18:00 CET (UTC+1)

Sandnes Idrettspark, Sandnes

Attendance: 1,262

Referee: Rohit Saggi

Jerv	2–1	Mjøndalen
Haugstad 9' Brochmann 60'	Report	Sylling Olsen 57'

19 November 2016 (2016-11-19)^[A]

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Levermyr Stadion, Grimstad

Attendance: 1,100

Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes

1. ^
   The match began originally on 5 November 2016, but was suspended in the 45th minute at 1–0 to Jerv, due to heavy rain; remaining minutes were played on 19 November 2016.

Final

Jerv	2–1	Kongsvinger
Andersen 32' Brochmann 38'	Report	Maikel 16'

26 November 2016 (2016-11-26)

12:00 CET (UTC+1)

Levermyr Stadion, Grimstad

Attendance: 1,370

Referee: Trygve Kjensli

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals	Games	Average
1	Pontus Engblom	Sandnes Ulf	26	30	0,87
2	Daouda Bamba	Kristiansund	20	28	0,71
3	Robert Stene	Ranheim	18	30	0,60
4	Geir André Herrem	Åsane	14	22	0,64
	Adem Güven	Kongsvinger	14	25	0,56
	Kjell Rune Sellin	Sandefjord	14	30	0,47
	Benjamin Stokke	Levanger	14	30	0,47
8	Kent Håvard Eriksen	Sandnes Ulf	13	25	0,52
9	Sanel Kapidžić	Fredrikstad	12	28	0,43
	Robin Shroot	Hødd	12	30	0,40
11	Mats Moldskred	Kongsvinger	11	25	0,44
	Nicolay Solberg	Ull/Kisa	11	28	0,39