2018 Norwegian First Division

The 2018 1. divisjon (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football league season.

1. divisjon

Season	2018
Dates	2 April – 11 November
Champions	Viking
Promoted	Viking Mjøndalen
Relegated	Åsane Florø Levanger
Matches played	240
Goals scored	728 (3.03 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tommy Høiland (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Kongsvinger 6–0 Sandnes Ulf (7 August 2018)
Biggest away win	Strømmen 1–6 Viking (1 July 2018) Åsane 0–5 Strømmen (4 November 2018)
Highest scoring	Ull/Kisa 4–5 Viking (29 April 2018) Kongsvinger 7–2 Åsane (7 October 2018)
Longest winning run	6 games Aalesund[citation needed]
Longest unbeaten run	13 games Mjøndalen[citation needed]
Longest winless run	20 games Levanger[citation needed]
Longest losing run	6 games Levanger[citation needed]
Highest attendance	15,900 Viking 3–1 Kongsvinger (11 November 2018)
Lowest attendance	100 Tromsdalen 3–1 Nest-Sotra (27 May 2018)
Average attendance	1,697 19.3%
← 2017 2019 →

The season began on 2 April 2018 and ended on 11 November 2018 (not including playoff matches).^[1]

Team changes from 2017

In the 2017 1. divisjon, Bodø/Glimt, Start and Ranheim were promoted to the 2018 Eliteserien, while Fredrikstad, Elverum and Arendal were relegated to the 2018 2. divisjon.

Sogndal, Aalesund and Viking were relegated from the 2017 Eliteserien, while HamKam, Nest-Sotra and Notodden were promoted from the 2017 2. divisjon.

Teams

Aalesund

Åsane

Florø

HamKam

Jerv

Kongsvinger

Levanger

Mjøndalen

Nest-Sotra

Notodden

Sandnes Ulf

Sogndal

Strømmen

Tromsdalen

Ull/Kisa

Viking

Locations of the teams in the 2018 1. divisjon

Stadia and personnel

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity	Manager
Aalesund	Ålesund	Color Line Stadion	10,778	Lars Bohinen
Florø	Florø	Florø Stadion	2,700	Terje Rognsø
HamKam	Hamar	Briskeby Arena	7,800	Kevin Knappen
Jerv	Grimstad	Levermyr Stadion	3,300	Arne Sandstø
Kongsvinger	Kongsvinger	Gjemselund Stadion	5,824	Mark Dempsey
Levanger	Levanger	TOBB Arena	2,100	Roger Naustan
Mjøndalen	Mjøndalen	Isachsen Stadion	4,200	Vegard Hansen
Nest-Sotra	Sotra	Ågotnes Stadion	1,200	Steffen Landro
Notodden	Notodden	Idrettsparken	4,000	Kenneth Dokken
Sandnes Ulf	Sandnes	Sandnes Stadion	4,969	Bengt Sæternes
Sogndal	Sogndalsfjøra	Fosshaugane Campus	5,622	Eirik Bakke
Strømmen	Strømmen	Strømmen Stadion	1,850	Espen Olsen
Tromsdalen	Tromsdalen	TUIL Arena	1,695	Gaute Helstrup
Ull/Kisa	Jessheim	Jessheim Stadion	3,500	Vegard Skogheim
Viking	Stavanger	Viking Stadion	15,900	Bjarne Berntsen
Åsane	Åsane	Myrdal Gress	2,180	Mons Ivar Mjelde

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Aalesund	Trond Fredriksen	Sacked	12 December 2017[2]	Pre-season	Lars Bohinen	20 December 2017[3]	Pre-season
Viking	Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim (interim)	End of caretaker spell	18 December 2017		Bjarne Berntsen	18 December 2017[4]
Levanger	Magnus Powell	Contract expired	31 December 2017		Roger Naustan	1 January 2018[5]
Kongsvinger	Hans-Erik Eriksen	Sacked	30 April 2018[6]	15th	Mark Dempsey	11 June 2018	10th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Viking (C, P)	30	20	1	9	68	44	+24	61	Promotion to Eliteserien
2	Mjøndalen (P)	30	17	9	4	49	24	+25	60
3	Aalesund	30	18	5	7	58	31	+27	59	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Sogndal	30	15	6	9	47	31	+16	51
5	Ull/Kisa	30	11	10	9	59	49	+10	43
6	Nest-Sotra	30	12	7	11	43	41	+2	43
7	Tromsdalen	30	12	7	11	43	47	−4	43
8	Kongsvinger	30	12	6	12	59	49	+10	42
9	HamKam	30	12	6	12	46	44	+2	42
10	Sandnes Ulf	30	11	9	10	43	47	−4	42
11	Strømmen	30	12	2	16	49	53	−4	38
12	Notodden	30	10	6	14	36	40	−4	36
13	Jerv	30	8	11	11	31	41	−10	35
14	Åsane (R)	30	9	6	15	38	57	−19	33	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Florø (R)	30	8	3	19	27	59	−32	27	Relegation to Second Division
16	Levanger (R)	30	3	6	21	32	71	−39	15

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

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
Viking	2	8	4	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	3	3	2	4	3	2	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	1	1
Mjøndalen	5	3	5	8	7	8	6	8	8	5	4	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	2	3	2	3	2	2	1	2	1	1	2	2
Aalesund	12	4	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	3	3	3
Sogndal	11	11	11	7	5	4	5	7	7	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	3	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Ull/Kisa	6	10	6	5	6	6	4	3	4	7	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	6	7	7	7	5	5	5	5	6	5	6	5	5
Nest-Sotra	15	15	16	16	15	11	12	9	11	13	11	13	12	10	11	11	12	9	9	8	8	9	8	8	11	9	10	8	7	6
Tromsdalen	4	6	8	10	10	12	8	11	12	11	13	12	9	6	7	6	7	7	5	6	6	7	7	7	6	5	6	7	8	7
Kongsvinger	16	16	12	13	16	15	16	15	15	14	12	10	7	9	10	7	6	5	6	5	5	6	6	6	8	8	8	5	6	8
HamKam	9	14	13	12	13	10	10	14	10	10	7	9	11	12	12	13	13	13	10	11	10	8	10	11	9	11	9	10	9	9
Sandnes Ulf	3	1	1	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	6	7	8	8	6	8	8	8	11	10	9	11	9	9	7	7	7	9	10	10
Strømmen	13	7	10	6	9	9	13	13	14	15	15	15	16	14	14	14	15	15	14	15	14	14	14	14	13	12	12	12	11	11
Notodden	10	2	3	2	4	5	7	6	6	9	10	8	10	11	9	9	10	11	8	9	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	13	12
Jerv	14	13	15	14	14	14	11	10	9	6	8	5	6	7	8	10	11	12	12	12	11	10	12	10	10	10	11	11	12	13
Åsane	1	9	7	9	8	7	9	5	5	8	9	11	13	13	13	12	9	10	13	13	12	12	11	12	12	13	13	13	14	14
Florø	8	5	9	11	12	13	15	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	16	16	14	14	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Levanger	7	12	14	15	11	16	14	12	13	12	14	14	14	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

	Promotion to Eliteserien
	Promotion play-offs
	Relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2. divisjon

Source: nifs.no

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	FLO	HAM	JER	KON	LEV	MJØ	NES	NOT	SAN	SOG	STR	TRO	ULL	VIK	ÅSA
Aalesund	—	4–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	4–0	2–1	0–1	3–0	4–0	0–0	2–2	4–0	3–2	1–3	1–0
Florø	1–4	—	0–1	3–2	1–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–4	1–3	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	1–2
HamKam	1–3	3–0	—	2–0	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–1	1–3	0–0	1–3	3–2	0–0	3–1	2–3	2–1
Jerv	0–3	1–0	2–3	—	1–2	0–0	0–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–2	1–1
Kongsvinger	1–3	5–1	2–1	2–0	—	2–1	0–1	2–2	2–0	6–0	1–3	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–2	7–2
Levanger	1–2	0–1	4–3	2–3	1–1	—	0–4	0–1	0–3	3–4	1–2	1–4	1–2	2–3	0–0	1–2
Mjøndalen	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	4–0	—	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–4	1–1
Nest-Sotra	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–2	4–1	1–2	—	1–0	2–3	0–1	0–2	2–0	0–3	5–0	1–0
Notodden	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–3	5–3	1–2	0–0
Sandnes Ulf	1–2	4–0	1–3	0–0	0–3	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	—	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–0	3–0
Sogndal	2–0	2–3	1–0	0–0	4–1	5–1	3–4	1–0	0–1	2–2	—	5–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–4
Strømmen	0–1	2–0	3–2	2–3	2–6	3–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	—	1–3	3–2	1–6	3–0
Tromsdalen	2–2	1–0	0–2	1–0	3–3	1–2	0–2	3–1	4–2	2–2	0–3	3–2	—	3–0	0–2	1–0
Ull/Kisa	3–0	1–1	1–1	4–1	1–1	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–0	2–1	4–2	—	4–5	1–1
Viking	0–2	2–1	2–0	4–1	3–1	3–0	0–2	2–3	3–1	5–2	2–0	2–0	2–4	1–0	—	4–0
Åsane	2–3	3–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	3–3	0–2	3–1	1–0	0–2	1–2	0–5	3–1	1–5	1–2	—

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

Play-offs

Promotion play-offs

Main article: 2018 Eliteserien promotion/relegation play-offs

The 3rd to 6th placed teams took part in the promotion play-offs; these were single leg knockout matches. In the first round, the 3rd placed team played at home against the 6th placed team, and the 4th placed team played at home against the 5th placed team. The two winners then played against each other in the second round, where the team with the highest table position played at home. The winner of the second round, Aalesund, advanced to play the 14th placed team in Eliteserien over two legs in the Eliteserien play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.

First round

Aalesund	1–0	Nest-Sotra
Guèye 52'	Summary

25 November 2018

16:00 CET (UTC+1)

Color Line Stadion, Ålesund

Attendance: 3,102

Referee: Tommy Skjerven

Sogndal	1–0	Ull/Kisa
Haugen 90'	Summary

25 November 2018

16:00 CET (UTC+1)

Fosshaugane Campus, Sogndal

Attendance: 1,902

Referee: Trygve Kjensli

Second round

Aalesund	3–1	Sogndal
Friðjónsson 48' (pen.) Guèye 55', 90'	Summary	Fredriksen 50'

29 November 2018

18:00 CET (UTC+1)

Color Line Stadion, Ålesund

Attendance: 3,458

Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes

Relegation play-offs

See also: 2018 2. divisjon § Promotion play-offs

The 14th placed team, Åsane, took part in a two-legged play-off against KFUM Oslo, the winners of the 2. divisjon play-offs, to decide who would play in the 2019 1. divisjon. KFUM Oslo won 4-3 on aggregate and were therefore promoted, while Åsane got relegated.

KFUM Oslo	1–2	Åsane
Larsen 54'	Summary	Huseklepp 74' Ogungbaro 85'

17 November 2018

13:00 CET (UTC+1)

KFUM Arena, Oslo

Referee: Marius Lien

Åsane	1–3	KFUM Oslo
Bruun-Hanssen 17'	Summary	Larsen 58' Mawa 73' Sortevik 81'

25 November 2018

13:00 CET (UTC+1)

Myrdal Gress, Bergen

Attendance: 925

Referee: Mohammad Usman Aslam

KFUM Oslo won 4–3 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[7]
1	Tommy Høiland	Viking	21
2	Hólmbert Friðjónsson	Aalesund	19
3	Sindre Mauritz-Hansen	Strømmen	17
4	Sigurd Haugen	Sogndal	15
	Shuaibu Ibrahim	Kongsvinger
6	Kristoffer Normann Hansen	Ull/Kisa	13
	Alexander Dang	Nest-Sotra
8	Torbjørn Agdestein	Aalesund	12
	Johnny Furdal	Nest-Sotra / Viking
10	Ole Andreas Nesset	Ull/Kisa	11
	Adem Güven	Kongsvinger
	Vegard Lysvoll	Tromsdalen

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Viking	118,499	15,900	6,009	7,900	+7.0%1
2	Aalesund	72,177	5,524	4,362	4,812	−20.6%1
3	Sogndal	31,338	3,113	1,587	2,089	−35.6%1
4	Mjøndalen	27,627	3,630	1,352	1,842	+8.3%†
5	HamKam	25,358	4,683	952	1,691	+27.1%2
6	Sandnes Ulf	25,012	4,364	1,300	1,667	+6.2%†
7	Kongsvinger	22,981	2,912	1,024	1,532	+9.4%†
8	Jerv	18,755	1,705	985	1,250	−14.8%†
9	Florø	14,751	1,586	610	983	−20.5%†
10	Ull/Kisa	11,077	1,332	465	738	+3.5%†
11	Notodden	9,997	1,373	472	666	+2.3%2
12	Levanger	8,848	1,042	220	590	−24.2%†
13	Åsane	7,557	1,031	290	504	−6.1%†
14	Strømmen	6,144	739	190	410	−6.4%†
15	Tromsdalen	5,803	1,160	100	387	+2.9%†
16	Nest-Sotra	4,722	840	169	315	+22.1%2
	League total	407,513	15,900	100	1,697	+19.3%†

Source: nifs.no
Notes:
1: Team played last season in Eliteserien.
2: Team played last season in 2. divisjon.

Awards

Award	Winner	Club
Manager of the season	Steffen Landro[8]	Nest-Sotra
Player of the season	Johnny Furdal[9]	Nest-Sotra / Viking
Young player of the season	Kristian Thorstvedt[9]	Viking
OBOS Player of the season	Hólmbert Friðjónsson[10]	Aalesund