2018 Eliteserien

The 2018 Eliteserien was the 74th completed season of top-tier football in Norway. This was second season of Eliteserien as rebranding from Tippeligaen.

Eliteserien

Season	2018
Dates	11 March – 24 November
Champions	Rosenborg 26th title
Relegated	Sandefjord Start
Champions League	Rosenborg
Europa League	Molde Brann Haugesund
Matches played	240
Goals scored	672 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Franck Boli (17 goals)
Biggest home win	Molde 5–0 Sandefjord (11 March 2018)
Biggest away win	Start 1–6 Vålerenga (14 April 2018)
Highest scoring	Start 1–6 Vålerenga (14 April 2018)
Longest winning run	Brann (7 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Brann (14 games)
Longest winless run	Sandefjord (15 games)
Longest losing run	Sandefjord (8 games)
Highest attendance	21,201 Rosenborg 1–1 Ranheim (5 May 2018)
Lowest attendance	1,393 Ranheim 1–1 Sandefjord (19 August 2018)
Average attendance	5,865 12.4%
← 2017 2019 →

The season began on 11 March and ended 24 November 2018, not including play-off matches.^[1] Fixtures for the 2018 season were announced on 19 December 2017.^[2] Rosenborg were the defending champions, while Bodø/Glimt, Start and Ranheim entered as the promoted teams from the 2017 1. divisjon.

Rosenborg won their fourth consecutive title, their 26th top-flight title overall, with one match to spare following a 1–0 away win against Start on 11 November 2018.^[3]

Overview

Summary

Brann started the season well and won eight of their nine opening games. They lost their first match 0–4 against Molde in the 15th round. Rosenborg started the season poorly with no win in the first three games, but managed to tighten the gap to Brann. Head coach Kåre Ingebrigtsen was sacked on 19 July^[4] although Rosenborg was placed second in the league, two points behind Brann at the time.

On 11 November, Rosenborg were confirmed as Eliteserien champions following their 1–0 away win against Start in the 29th round. They won their fourth consecutive title and 26th top-flight title overall. Molde won eight of their final nine games and finished in second place, five points behind Rosenborg.

Sandefjord were the first team to be relegated to the 1. divisjon when they drew 1–1 against Sarpsborg 08 in their penultimate game. Before the 30th and final round, five teams were in risk of either relegation or relegation play-offs. Start lost 1–3 away to Haugesund and was relegated as the second team from bottom. Stabæk drew 2–2 against Strømsgodset after a goal by Strømsgodset's Mustafa Abdellaoue in the last minute of the game. That goal made sure Strømsgodset retained their spot in the next season's Eliteserien, while Stabæk were forced to play relegation play-offs.^[5] Stabæk won the play-offs against Aalesund 2–1 on aggregate and retained their spot in Eliteserien.

Teams

Sixteen teams competed in the league – the top thirteen teams from the previous season, and three teams promoted from 1. divisjon. The promoted teams were Bodø/Glimt, Start (both returning to the top flight after a season's absence) and Ranheim (returned to the top flight after an absence of sixty-one years). They replaced Sogndal, Aalesund and Viking ending their top flight spells of two, eleven and twenty-nine years respectively.

Stadia and locations

Bodø/Glimt

Brann

Haugesund

Kristiansund

Lillestrøm

Molde

Odd

Ranheim

Rosenborg

Sandefjord

Sarpsborg 08

Stabæk

Start

Strømsgodset

Tromsø

Vålerenga

Locations of the teams in 2018 Eliteserien

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Ap.	Location	Arena	Turf	Capacity
Bodø/Glimt	23	Bodø	Aspmyra Stadion	Artificial	5,635
Brann	61	Bergen	Brann Stadion	Natural	12,914[a]
Haugesund	12	Haugesund	Haugesund Stadion	Natural	8,754
Kristiansund	2	Kristiansund	Kristiansund Stadion	Artificial	4,277
Lillestrøm	55	Lillestrøm	Åråsen Stadion	Natural	11,500
Molde	42	Molde	Aker Stadion	Artificial	11,249
Odd	37	Skien	Skagerak Arena	Artificial	11,767
Ranheim	8	Trondheim	EXTRA Arena	Artificial	3,000
Rosenborg	55	Trondheim	Lerkendal Stadion	Natural	21,421
Sandefjord	7	Sandefjord	Komplett Arena	Natural	6,582
Sarpsborg 08	7	Sarpsborg	Sarpsborg Stadion	Artificial	8,022
Stabæk	22	Bærum	Nadderud Stadion	Natural	4,938
Start	41	Kristiansand	Sør Arena	Artificial	14,448
Strømsgodset	31	Drammen	Marienlyst Stadion	Artificial	8,935
Tromsø	31	Tromsø	Alfheim Stadion	Artificial	6,687
Vålerenga	58	Oslo	Intility Arena	Artificial	16,555

Notes

1. The capacity of Brann Stadion was reduced from 17,686 to 12,914 due to renovations.

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Bodø/Glimt	Kjetil Knutsen	Martin Bjørnbak	Diadora	Sparebanken Nord-Norge
Brann	Lars Arne Nilsen	Vito Wormgoor	Nike	Sparebanken Vest
Haugesund	Eirik Horneland	Christian Grindheim	Macron	Haugaland Kraft
Kristiansund	Christian Michelsen	Dan Peter Ulvestad	Macron	SpareBank 1 Nordvest
Lillestrøm	Jörgen Lennartsson	Frode Kippe	Puma	DNB
Molde	Ole Gunnar Solskjær	Ruben Gabrielsen	Nike	Sparebanken Møre
Odd	Dag-Eilev Fagermo	Steffen Hagen	Hummel	SpareBank 1 Telemark
Ranheim	Svein Maalen	Mads Reginiussen	Umbro	SpareBank 1 SMN
Rosenborg	Rini Coolen (interim)	Mike Jensen	Adidas	SpareBank 1 SMN
Sandefjord	Martí Cifuentes	Håvard Storbæk	Macron	Jotun
Sarpsborg 08	Geir Bakke	Patrick Mortensen	Select	Borregaard
Stabæk	Henning Berg	Andreas Hanche-Olsen	Macron	SpareBank 1 Østlandet
Start	Kjetil Rekdal	Simon Larsen	Macron	Sparebanken Sør
Strømsgodset	Bjørn Petter Ingebretsen	Jakob Glesnes	Puma	DNB
Tromsø	Simo Valakari	Simen Wangberg	Select	Sparebanken Nord-Norge
Vålerenga	Ronny Deila	Daniel Fredheim Holm	Umbro	DNB

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Start	Mick Priest (interim)	End of caretaker spell	1 December 2017[6]	Pre-season	Mark Dempsey	1 December 2017[7]	Pre-season
Sandefjord	Lars Bohinen	Signed by Aalesund	20 December 2017[8]		Magnus Powell	16 January 2018[9]
Sandefjord	Magnus Powell	Sacked	25 April 2018[10]	12th	Geir Ludvig Fevang (interim)	27 April 2018	12th
Start	Mark Dempsey	Sacked	18 May 2018[11]	16th	Johannes Hardarson (interim)	19 May 2018	16th
Sandefjord	Geir Ludvig Fevang (interim)	End of caretaker spell	31 May 2018[12]	16th	Martí Cifuentes	31 May 2018	16th
Start	Johannes Hardarson (interim)	End of caretaker spell	1 June 2018[13]	15th	Kjetil Rekdal	1 June 2018	15th
Strømsgodset	Tor Ole Skullerud	Resigned	6 June 2018[14]	12th	Bjørn Petter Ingebretsen	7 June 2018[15]	12th
Lillestrøm	Arne Erlandsen	Sacked	26 June 2018[16]	13th	Arild Sundgot (interim)	26 June 2018	13th
Stabæk	Antoni Ordinas	Sacked	27 June 2018[17]	14th	Jan Peder Jalland (interim) Gaute Larsen (interim)	28 June 2018[18]	14th
Stabæk	Jan Peder Jalland (interim) Gaute Larsen (interim)	End of caretaker spell	4 July 2018[17]	14th	Henning Berg	4 July 2018[19]	14th
Lillestrøm	Arild Sundgot (interim)	End of caretaker spell	13 July 2018	13th	Jörgen Lennartsson	13 July 2018[20]	13th
Rosenborg	Kåre Ingebrigtsen	Sacked	19 July 2018[4]	2nd	Rini Coolen (interim)	19 July 2018[21]	2nd

Transfers

Winter

Main article: List of Norwegian football transfers winter 2017–18

Summer

Main article: List of Norwegian football transfers summer 2018

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rosenborg (C)	30	19	7	4	51	24	+27	64	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round[a]
2	Molde	30	18	5	7	63	36	+27	59	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Brann	30	17	7	6	45	31	+14	58
4	Haugesund	30	16	5	9	45	33	+12	53
5	Kristiansund	30	13	7	10	46	41	+5	46
6	Vålerenga	30	11	9	10	39	44	−5	42
7	Ranheim	30	12	6	12	43	50	−7	42
8	Sarpsborg 08	30	11	8	11	46	39	+7	41
9	Odd	30	11	7	12	39	38	+1	40
10	Tromsø	30	11	3	16	41	48	−7	36
11	Bodø/Glimt	30	6	14	10	32	35	−3	32
12	Lillestrøm	30	7	11	12	34	44	−10	32
13	Strømsgodset	30	7	10	13	46	48	−2	31
14	Stabæk (O)	30	6	11	13	37	50	−13	29	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Start (R)	30	8	5	17	30	54	−24	29	Relegation to First Division
16	Sandefjord (R)	30	4	11	15	35	57	−22	23

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 (only if between two teams); 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Play-off (only used to decide champions or relegation).^[22]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the 2018 Norwegian Cup (Rosenborg) qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the second-placed team, while the spot awarded to the second-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

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	12	11	12	8	6	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Molde	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	6	6	8	7	8	6	4	3	4	4	4	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2
Brann	4	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3
Haugesund	5	7	4	4	9	6	4	4	3	4	5	5	4	4	6	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Kristiansund	11	11	8	11	10	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	9	8	9	10	9	10	8	7	7	5	5	5
Vålerenga	6	3	6	7	3	7	7	7	5	5	6	6	6	8	8	9	9	9	7	7	6	6	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	6
Ranheim	14	9	5	6	4	3	5	5	4	3	3	3	2	3	3	4	6	6	6	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	7
Sarpsborg 08	6	5	2	3	7	9	9	9	7	7	4	4	5	7	7	6	5	5	5	6	7	7	8	9	10	9	9	9	9	8
Odd	10	15	15	11	14	10	8	6	8	8	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	8	6	7	6	6	6	7	7	9
Tromsø	15	8	9	5	8	5	6	8	9	9	7	8	7	5	5	7	7	7	8	10	8	9	10	8	9	10	10	10	10	10
Bodø/Glimt	3	6	11	16	16	14	13	14	13	13	14	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	11	11	11
Lillestrøm	13	13	16	13	12	13	15	12	11	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	13	13	15	15	13	13	13	14	14	13	12
Strømsgodset	8	13	13	9	5	8	10	11	12	12	13	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	14	11	12	12	13
Stabæk	8	10	14	15	12	15	12	13	14	14	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	14	14	13	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	14
Start	2	4	7	10	14	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	15	14	11	13	13	14	15
Sandefjord	16	16	10	14	11	12	14	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

	Leader / 2019–20 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round
	2019–20 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round
	Relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2019 1. divisjon

Source: nifs.no

Relegation play-offs

Main article: 2018 Eliteserien promotion/relegation play-offs

The 14th-placed team, Stabæk takes part in a two-legged play-off against Aalesund, the winners of the 1. divisjon promotion play-offs, to decide who will play in the 2019 Eliteserien.

Stabæk	1–0	Aalesund
Børkeeiet 27'	Report

5 December 2018

18:00 CET (UTC+1)

Nadderud Stadion, Bærum

Attendance: 3,831

Referee: Svein Oddvar Moen

Aalesund	1–1	Stabæk
O. Lie 30'	Report	Guèye 71' (o.g.)

9 December 2018

18:00 CET (UTC+1)

Color Line Stadion, Ålesund

Attendance: 6,333

Referee: Tore Hansen

Stabæk won 2–1 on aggregate and retained their position in Eliteserien.

Results

Home \ Away	BOD	BRA	HAU	KRI	LIL	MOL	ODD	RAN	ROS	SND	SRP	SBK	STA	STM	TRO	VÅL
Bodø/Glimt	—	2–2	0–3	3–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–1
Brann	2–0	—	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–4	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	2–0	3–0	4–1	3–1	3–0	0–0
Haugesund	1–0	1–3	—	3–2	2–2	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–2	4–2	1–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
Kristiansund	1–1	3–1	2–1	—	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	0–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	5–1	0–1
Lillestrøm	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	—	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–2	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1
Molde	1–2	5–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	—	0–1	2–3	1–0	5–0	2–2	3–0	3–1	2–0	2–1	5–1
Odd	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	3–1	1–1	—	2–0	1–1	5–0	3–1	0–3	3–0	2–2	1–0	3–2
Ranheim	0–0	0–2	4–2	2–1	3–2	3–1	3–1	—	1–3	1–1	2–1	4–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–2
Rosenborg	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–2	3–0	4–0	3–1	1–1	—	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	4–3	2–1	3–0
Sandefjord	1–1	0–1	0–2	3–3	1–3	1–3	1–1	1–2	0–1	—	0–1	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–0	0–1
Sarpsborg 08	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–2	4–1	1–0	1–1	—	4–2	4–0	0–1	2–3	3–0
Stabæk	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–2	3–1	2–1	3–2	0–1	3–3	1–3	—	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1
Start	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	3–0	1–3	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–4	1–0	2–1	—	1–1	4–1	1–6
Strømsgodset	4–0	1–1	0–1	2–3	2–2	1–2	3–0	3–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	2–2	1–1	—	2–4	2–0
Tromsø	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	2–4	2–1	4–0	2–1	4–1	0–2	0–0	1–2	3–1	—	3–0
Vålerenga	2–2	2–0	2–2	0–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–1	2–3	2–2	0–0	1–0	3–2	1–4	3–0	—

Source: Football Association of Norway (in Norwegian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[23]	Games	Average
1	Franck Boli	Stabæk	17	29	0,59
2	Marcus Pedersen	Strømsgodset	14	23	0,61
3	Erling Haaland	Molde	12	25	0,48
	Patrick Mortensen	Sarpsborg 08	12	28	0,43
	Thomas Lehne Olsen	Lillestrøm	12	29	0,41
6	Sam Johnson	Vålerenga	11	24	0,46
	Daouda Bamba	Kristiansund/Brann	11	29	0,38
8	Bård Finne	Vålerenga	10	25	0,40
	Kristian Fardal Opseth	Bodø/Glimt	10	30	0,30
10	Mads Reginiussen	Ranheim	9	26	0,35
	Steffen Lie Skålevik	Brann	9	28	0,32
	Bendik Bye	Kristiansund	9	30	0,30
	David Akintola	Haugesund	9	30	0,30

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Eliteserien hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Marcus Pedersen	Strømsgodset	Odd	3–0 (H)	15 April 2018
Erling Haaland4	Molde	Brann	4–0 (A)	1 July 2018
Bendik Bye	Kristiansund	Strømsgodset	3–2 (A)	9 July 2018

Notes

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

Clean sheets

André Hansen of Rosenborg kept 12 clean sheets over the season, more than any other goalkeeper.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	André Hansen	Rosenborg	12
2	Samuel Şahin-Radlinger	Brann	11
3	Adam Larsen Kwarasey	Vålerenga	10
4	Per Kristian Bråtveit	Haugesund	9
5	Andreas Linde	Molde	8
	Sondre Rossbach	Odd
7	Jonas Deumeland	Start	5
	Aslak Falch	Sarpsborg 08
	Gudmund Kongshavn	Tromsø
	Sean McDermott	Kristiansund

Discipline

Player

Flamur Kastrati received the most yellow cards this season with 10.

• Most yellow cards: 10^[24]
  • Flamur Kastrati (Sandefjord/Kristiansund)
• Most red cards: 1^[24]
  • Aliou Coly (Kristiansund)
  • Simon Larsen (Start)
  • Mathias Normann (Molde)
  • Jacob Rasmussen (Rosenborg)
  • Ivan Näsberg (Vålerenga)
  • Lars-Jørgen Salvesen (Start)
  • Emil Pálsson (Sandefjord)
  • Tokmac Nguen (Strømsgodset)
  • Abdisalam Ibrahim (Vålerenga)
  • Frode Kippe (Lillestrøm)
  • Marius Amundsen (Lillestrøm)
  • Ivar Furu (Ranheim)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 57^[25][26]
  • Start

• Most red cards: 2^[27]
  • Lillestrøm
  • Start
  • Vålerenga

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Rosenborg	246,355	21,201	13,668	16,424	−6.6%†
2	Brann	156,466	12,914	8,173	10,431	−12.0%†
3	Vålerenga	137,700	14,740	6,063	9,180	−5.4%†
4	Molde	106,661	9,444	6,218	7,111	−8.7%†
5	Strømsgodset	89,088	7,587	5,199	5,939	−5.3%†
6	Lillestrøm	83,393	10,409	3,842	5,560	−1.2%†
7	Odd	80,746	6,761	4,466	5,383	−24.2%†
8	Sarpsborg 08	75,074	6,149	4,365	5,005	+6.5%†
9	Start	71,573	10,419	3,068	4,772	+16.6%†
10	Haugesund	64,749	7,523	3,430	4,317	−3.1%†
11	Kristiansund	60,629	4,277	3,753	4,042	+5.7%†
12	Stabæk	54,833	4,561	3,035	3,656	−7.7%†
13	Tromsø	54,828	5,214	2,908	3,655	+1.6%†
14	Bodø/Glimt	48,282	4,731	2,615	3,219	+24.6%†
15	Sandefjord	47,042	5,319	2,461	3,136	−21.8%†
16	Ranheim	30,274	2,919	1,393	2,018	+191.6%†
	League total	1,407,693	21,201	1,393	5,865	−12.4%†

Updated to games played on 24 November 2018
Source: nifs.no

Awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Year	André Hansen[28]	Rosenborg
Breakthrough of the Year	Erling Haaland[29]	Molde
Manager of the Year	Svein Maalen[30]	Ranheim
Goal of the Year	Jon-Helge Tveita[31]	Sarpsborg 08