2018–19 Damehåndboldligaen

The 2018–19 Damehåndboldligaen (known as HTH GO Ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was the 83rd season of Damehåndboldligaen, Denmark's premier handball league. For the first time ever, the league features 14 teams, expanded from the usual 12 teams, it had been before.^[1]

Damehåndboldligaen

Season	2018–19
Champion	Team Esbjerg
Relegated	Ringkøbing Håndbold
Champions League	Team Esbjerg
EHF Cup	Odense Håndbold Herning-Ikast Håndbold Nykøbing Falster HK København Håndbold
Matches played	182
Goals scored	9,118 (50.1 per match)
Top goalscorer	Estavana Polman (219 goals)
Biggest home win	21 goals: NFH 34–13 EHA (2 Sep) ESB 35–14 AJA (26 Oct)
Biggest away win	13 goals: SKA 22–35 ESB (15 Sep) EHA 22–35 ESB (16 Jan) TTH 23–36 ESB (13 Feb)
Highest scoring	70 goals: NFH 30–40 KBH (6 Mar)
← 2017-18 2019-20 → All statistics correct as of 24 May 2019.

Team Esbjerg the championship after beating Herning-Ikast Håndbold in the final.^[2] Odense Håndbold won the regular season. Ringkøbing Håndbold were relegated, as they fininished last in the regular season.

Team information

København

NFH

TTH

Odense

Esbjerg

Ringkøbing

Aarhus

Silkeborg

Skanderborg

Aalborg

Ikast

Randers

Viborg

Ajax

Locations of the 2018–19 Damehåndboldligaen

Team.	Town	Arena	Capacity
Aarhus United	Aarhus	Ceres Arena Stadionhal	1.200
Ajax København	København	Bavnehøj-Hallen	1.000
EH Aalborg	Aalborg	Nørresundby Idrætscenter	800
Herning-Ikast Håndbold	Ikast	IBF Arena	2.850
København Håndbold	København	Frederiksberghallen	1.468
Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub	Nykøbing Falster Næstved	POWER ARENA Næstved Arena	1.300 2,500
Odense Håndbold	Odense	Odense Idrætshal	2.256
Randers HK	Randers	Arena Randers Ulvehøjhallen	3.000 000
Ringkøbing Håndbold	Ringkøbing	Rofi-Centret	1.100
Silkeborg-Voel KFUM	Silkeborg	Jysk Arena Voel-Hallen	3.000 000
Skanderborg Håndbold	Skanderborg	Skanderborg Fælled	1.700
Team Esbjerg	Esbjerg	Blue Water Dokken	2.549
Team Tvis Holstebro	Holstebro	Gråkjær Arena	3.250
Viborg HK	Viborg	Vibocold Arena Viborg	3.000

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Odense Håndbold	26	23	1	2	724	585	+139	47	Championship play-offs + advance to Champions League
2	Team Esbjerg	26	22	0	4	779	603	+176	44	Championship play-offs
3	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	26	19	2	5	684	581	+103	40
4	København Håndbold	26	20	0	6	781	647	+134	40
5	Nykøbing Falster Håndbold	26	18	1	7	721	630	+91	37
6	Aarhus United	26	14	3	9	619	612	+7	31
7	Viborg HK	26	12	2	12	674	675	−1	26
8	TTH Holstebro	26	9	3	14	653	696	−43	21
9	Silkeborg-Voel KFUM	26	9	3	14	646	668	−22	21
10	Skanderborg Håndbold	26	7	2	17	603	688	−85	16
11	Ajax København	26	6	2	18	539	639	−100	14
12	Randers HK	26	7	0	19	590	681	−91	14
13	EH Aalborg	26	3	1	22	596	716	−120	7
14	Ringkøbing Håndbold	26	2	2	22	509	697	−188	6	Relegation play-off

Updated to match(es) played on 13 March 2019. Source:
Rules for classification: 1.) Points in head-to-head matches amongst tied teams; 2.) Goal difference in head-to-head matches amongst tied teams; 3.) Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; 4.) Points in all matches; 5.) Goal difference in all matches.^[3]

Results

Home \ Away	AAR	AJA	EHA	HIH	KBH	NFH	OHC	RHK	RIN	SIL	SKA	ESB	TTH	VHK
Aarhus United		22–22	28–22	18–16	20–28	24–24	25–26	27–25	30–17	25–24	19–14	23–26	25–20	26–24
Ajax København	22–23		22–32	23–26	19–24	20–26	20–26	17–18	17–15	15–15	23–20	22–27	24–23	21–28
EH Aalborg	18–21	20–24		17–22	29–37	21–28	23–31	26–24	23–23	21–24	23–24	22–35	19–23	24–31
Herning-Ikast Håndbold	32–21	29–18	32–21		30–29	24–22	16–18	29–13	28–21	24–21	27–24	23–26	27–26	34–21
København Håndbold	21–27	33–20	32–27	26–29		31–27	24–26	35–18	35–24	29–22	34–21	30–23	37–26	25–32
Nykøbing Falster Håndbold	32–21	30–23	34–13	30–25	30–40		19–25	32–19	29–12	24–23	31–24	21–31	33–32	32–26
Odense Håndbold	24–27	27–17	34–27	31–23	24–19	25–24		34–20	35–22	36–20	33–20	24–23	25–25	28–21
Randers HK	22–23	18–22	22–21	24–26	21–26	23–31	20–28		27–18	31–24	31–28	20–24	23–25	26–21
Ringkøbing Håndbold	21–21	26–24	17–25	18–23	22–25	17–24	18–26	21–18		20–24	23–29	24–29	20–27	19–29
Silkeborg-Voel	25–24	29–23	39–27	22–25	25–33	26–27	22–29	27–26	27–15		31–26	26–28	25–29	28–31
Skanderborg Håndbold	21–19	19–26	22–21	25–25	24–32	24–27	27–28	25–24	28–22	23–27		22–35	27–25	20–24
Team Esbjerg	25–28	35–14	34–25	25–23	28–37	42–27	29–18	33–22	30–12	29–22	29–25		36–22	32–22
TTH Holstebro	26–28	25–22	25–23	23–37	22–26	17–25	27–34	32–26	34–20	22–22	23–23	23–36		24–30
Viborg HK	25–24	23–19	29–28	20–20	31–33	22–32	27–29	26–29	30–22	26–26	26–18	26–29	23–27

Source: ^[4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship playoffs

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		OHC	KBH	NFH	TTH
1	Odense Håndbold	6	4	0	2	160	146	+14	10	Advance to semi-finals		—	19–27	26–21	29–19
2	København Håndbold	6	4	0	2	173	166	+7	9			32–40	—	29–34	31–25
3	Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub	6	4	0	2	152	142	+10	8			24–19	26–28	—	27–25
4	TTH Holstebro	6	0	0	6	129	160	−31	0			23–27	22–26	15–20	—

Updated to match(es) played on 22 April 2019. Source: Stillinger
Rules for classification: Placement in the regular season between tied teams.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ESB	AAR	VHK	HIH
1	Team Esbjerg	6	5	0	1	167	146	+21	12	Advance to semi-finals		—	37–30	29–25	28–24
2	Aarhus United	6	2	1	3	146	164	−18	5			21–26	—	24–24	23–20
3	Viborg HK	6	1	1	4	145	159	−14	3			27–26	26–29	—	21–28
4	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	6	3	0	3	145	134	+11	7			19–21	31–19	23–22	—

Updated to match(es) played on 22 April 2019. Source: Stillinger
Rules for classification: Placement in the regular season between tied teams.

Semi-finals

Date		Home team in the 1st match	Home team in the 2nd match	Results
1st match	2nd match			1st match	2nd match
27 April	1 May	Team Esbjerg	København Håndbold	30–25	23–29
27 April	1 May	Odense Håndbold	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	26–28	23–17

! Best of three matches. In the case of a tie after the second match, a third match is played. Highest ranking team in the regular season has the home advantage in the first and possible third match.

3rd place

Date			Home team in the 1st match & 3rd match	Home team in the 2nd match	Results
1st match	2nd match	3rd match			1st match	2nd match	3rd match
14 May	17 May	24 May	København Håndbold	Odense Håndbold	22–16	35-27	24-27

! Best of three matches. In the case of a tie after the second match, a third match is played. Highest ranking team in the regular season has the home advantage in the first and possible third match.

Final

Date		Home team in the 1st match	Home team in the 2nd match	Results
1st match	2nd match			1st match	3rd match
18 May	21 May	Team Esbjerg	Herning-Ikast Håndbold	28–20	20-19

! Best of three matches. In the case of a tie after the second match, a third match is played. Highest ranking team in the regular season has the home advantage in the first and possible third match.

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 1 May 2019^[5]

Regular season Rank Player Club Goals 1 Laura Damgaard EH Aalborg 158 2 Estavana Polman Team Esbjerg 156 3 Helene Gigstad Fauske Herning-Ikast Håndbold 149 4 Sofie Bæk Andersen Silkeborg-Voel KFUM 142 5 Lærke Nolsøe Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub 116 6 Ida Lagerbon Ringkøbing Håndbold 112 7 Celine Lundbye Kristiansen Aarhus United 110 8 Vilde Ingstad Team Esbjerg 108 9 Julie Jensen EH Aalborg 107 Inger Smits TTH Holstebro 107

Overall Rank Player Club Goals 1 Estavana Polman Team Esbjerg 208 2 Helene Gigstad Fauske Herning-Ikast Håndbold 194 3 Laura Damgaard Lund EH Aalborg 180 4 Sofie Bæk Andersen Silkeborg-Voel KFUM 159 5 Celine Lundbye Kristiansen Aarhus United 142 6 Lærke Nolsøe Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub 141 7 Vilde Ingstad Team Esbjerg 135 8 Inger Smits TTH Holstebro 133 9 Marit Røsberg Jacobsen Team Esbjerg 132 10 Susann Müller Silkeborg-Voel KFUM 129

Monthly awards Month Player of the Month Player Club September Vilde Ingstad Team Esbjerg October Estavana Polman Team Esbjerg November Kelly Dulfer København Håndbold January Helene Gigstad Fauske Herning-Ikast Håndbold February Kelly Dulfer København Håndbold March Estavana Polman Team Esbjerg April Susann Müller Silkeborg-Voel KFUM

All-Star Team The all-star team and awards were announced on 20 May 2019.[6] Englert Nolsøe Ingstad Jacobsen Polman Fauske Burgaard