2020 Norwegian First Division

The 2020 1. divisjon (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football league season.

1. divisjon

Season	2020
Dates	3 July – 13 December
Champions	Tromsø
Promoted	Tromsø Lillestrøm
Relegated	Kongsvinger Øygarden
Matches played	240
Goals scored	781 (3.25 per match)
Top goalscorer	Henrik Udahl (19 goals)
Biggest home win	KFUM Oslo 6–0 Øygarden (7 December 2020)
Biggest away win	Ull/Kisa 0–7 Tromsø (29 September 2020)
Highest scoring	Stjørdals-Blink 5–4 Sandnes Ulf (14 September 2020) Tromsø 5–4 Åsane (3 October 2020) Raufoss 5–4 KFUM Oslo (13 December 2020)
Longest winning run	8 games Tromsø[citation needed]
Longest unbeaten run	14 games Lillestrøm[citation needed]
Longest winless run	10 games HamKam[citation needed]
Longest losing run	6 games Kongsvinger[citation needed]
← 2019 2021 →

Teams

In the 2019 1. divisjon, Aalesund, Sandefjord and Start were promoted to the 2020 Eliteserien, while Notodden, Skeid and Tromsdalen were relegated to the 2020 2. divisjon.

Lillestrøm, Tromsø and Ranheim were relegated from the 2019 Eliteserien, while Stjørdals-Blink, Grorud and Åsane were promoted from the 2019 2. divisjon.

Åsane

HamKam

Jerv

Kongsvinger

Øygarden

Ranheim

Raufoss

Sandnes Ulf

Sogndal

Stjørdals-Blink

Tromsø

Ull/Kisa

Oslo

Oslo region teams:
Grorud
KFUM Oslo
Lillestrøm
Strømmen

Locations of the teams in the 2020 1. divisjon

Stadia and personnel

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity	Manager
Åsane	Bergen	Myrdal gress	2,180[1]	Morten Røssland
Grorud	Oslo	Grorud Matchbane	1,700[2]	Eirik Kjønø
HamKam	Hamar	Briskeby Arena	7,800	Kjetil Rekdal
Jerv	Grimstad	Levermyr Stadion	3,300	Arne Sandstø
KFUM Oslo	Oslo	KFUM Arena	1,500	Jørgen Isnes
Kongsvinger	Kongsvinger	Gjemselund Stadion	5,824	Espen Nystuen (interim)
Lillestrøm	Lillestrøm	Åråsen Stadion	11,500	Geir Bakke
Øygarden1	Øygarden	Ågotnes Stadion	1,200	Mons Ivar Mjelde
Ranheim	Trondheim	Extra Arena	3,000	Svein Maalen
Raufoss	Raufoss	Nammo Stadion	1,800	Christian Johnsen
Sandnes Ulf	Sandnes	Øster Hus Arena	6,046	Steffen Landro
Sogndal	Sogndal	Fosshaugane Campus	5,622	Eirik Bakke
Stjørdals-Blink	Stjørdalshalsen	M.U.S Stadion	2,000[3]	Roar Vikvang
Strømmen	Strømmen	Strømmen Stadion	2,000	Ole Martin Nesselquist
Tromsø	Tromsø	Alfheim Stadion	6,687	Gaute Helstrup
Ull/Kisa	Jessheim	Jessheim Stadion	4,500	Trond Fredriksen

• ¹ Ahead of the season, Nest-Sotra changed its name to Øygarden.^[4]

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Sandnes Ulf	Bengt Sæternes	Contract expired	31 December 2019	Pre-season	Steffen Landro	13 November 2019[5]	Pre-season
Øygarden	Steffen Landro	Signed by Sandnes Ulf[5]	13 November 2019		Bryant Lazaro[a]	17 February 2020[6]
Kongsvinger	Vítor Gazimba	Mutual consent	11 December 2019[7]		Mika Lehkosuo	18 December 2019[8]
Lillestrøm	Tom Nordlie	Contract expired	11 December 2019[9]		Geir Bakke	1 January 2020[10]
Tromsø	Simo Valakari	Mutual consent	20 April 2020[11]		Gaute Helstrup	20 May 2020[12]
HamKam	Gaute Helstrup	Signed by Tromsø	19 May 2020[13]		Espen Olsen	21 May 2020[14]
HamKam	Espen Olsen	Structural changes	7 August 2020	16th	Geir Frigård (interim)	7 August 2020[15]	16th
HamKam	Geir Frigård (interim)	End of caretaker spell	15 August 2020	16th	Kjetil Rekdal	15 August 2020[16]	16th
Øygarden	Bryant Lazaro	Mutual consent	18 September 2020[17]	14th	Mons Ivar Mjelde	18 September 2020[18]	14th
Kongsvinger	Mika Lehkosuo	Structural changes	30 September 2020[19]	16th	Espen Nystuen (interim)	30 September 2020[20]	16th

1. Lazaro was initially appointed as assistant coach in December 2019, but was appointed as head coach on 17 February 2020.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Tromsø (C, P)	30	19	6	5	60	29	+31	63	Promotion to Eliteserien
2	Lillestrøm (P)	30	16	9	5	49	26	+23	57
3	Sogndal	30	15	6	9	57	36	+21	51	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Ranheim	30	13	8	9	61	41	+20	47
5	Åsane	30	12	9	9	60	48	+12	45
6	Raufoss	30	11	10	9	53	44	+9	42[a]
7	Sandnes Ulf	30	11	8	11	46	55	−9	41
8	KFUM Oslo	30	10	9	11	44	44	0	39
9	HamKam	30	10	9	11	49	52	−3	39
10	Strømmen	30	10	8	12	47	51	−4	35[b]
11	Jerv	30	9	8	13	41	57	−16	35
12	Ull/Kisa	30	10	5	15	45	63	−18	35
13	Grorud	30	9	7	14	45	56	−11	34
14	Stjørdals-Blink (O)	30	8	9	13	52	59	−7	33	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Kongsvinger (R)	30	6	10	14	35	53	−18	28	Relegation to Second Division
16	Øygarden (R)	30	6	9	15	37	67	−30	27

Source: NFF, 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; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Raufoss have been deducted 1 point.^[21]
2. Strømmen have been deducted 3 points.^[21]

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
Tromsø	8	4	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
Lillestrøm	7	3	3	4	8	9	10	10	10	10	7	6	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Sogndal	2	1	4	6	10	7	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Ranheim	5	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Åsane	14	9	12	9	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Raufoss	15	10	13	13	9	11	12	12	12	12	12	13	11	10	9	9	8	8	8	10	8	10	8	7	8	10	8	7	7	6
Sandnes Ulf	3	5	6	3	3	4	5	5	5	5	6	4	4	4	6	6	7	7	6	6	6	8	10	10	7	7	6	6	6	7
KFUM Oslo	6	6	5	5	4	3	9	9	9	9	10	10	9	9	11	12	13	11	11	9	9	9	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8
HamKam	10	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	14	13	12	12	11	12	11	11	9	9	9	9	9
Strømmen	16	16	16	16	16	14	14	14	14	14	15	15	13	14	13	11	12	12	12	14	14	13	11	13	14	14	14	11	10	10
Jerv	12	11	14	10	7	6	6	6	6	6	8	9	10	11	12	10	10	10	10	7	7	6	7	8	9	7	10	10	12	11
Ull/Kisa	1	7	7	11	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	12	14	12	10	13	11	13	14	13	13	12	13	12	13	13	12	12	11	12
Grorud	13	12	9	8	11	10	8	8	8	8	5	7	7	7	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	14	14	14	12	12	13	14	13	13
Stjørdals-Blink	11	13	8	7	5	8	7	7	7	7	9	8	8	8	7	7	6	6	7	8	10	7	9	9	10	11	11	12	14	14
Kongsvinger	4	8	11	14	14	15	13	13	13	13	14	11	12	13	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	15
Øygarden	9	14	10	12	13	13	15	15	15	15	13	14	15	15	14	14	14	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	16

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

Source: nifs.no

Results

Home \ Away	GRO	HAM	JER	KFU	KIL	LIL	RAN	RAU	ULF	SOG	STJ	SIF	TRO	ULL	ÅSA	ØYG
Grorud	—	1–2	0–3	3–0	4–0	0–1	0–2	1–6	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–4	4–3
HamKam	1–1	—	2–3	2–2	2–3	1–1	3–4	0–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–2	3–1	2–1	3–4
Jerv	2–0	3–2	—	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–6	4–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	4–2
KFUM Oslo	3–1	1–1	2–1	—	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	6–0
Kongsvinger	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	—	0–3	1–0	3–3	1–1	0–0	3–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	2–4	1–1
Lillestrøm	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	—	3–1	2–2	4–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–1	3–0
Ranheim	5–3	1–1	5–0	0–1	3–2	1–1	—	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	5–1	1–2	2–3	3–1	6–1
Raufoss	2–2	0–2	1–1	5–4	2–0	2–0	0–0	—	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–2
Sandnes Ulf	3–1	1–2	3–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	—	2–1	4–1	2–2	0–3	2–1	1–1	4–3
Sogndal	2–1	4–2	1–0	3–0	5–2	0–1	4–0	1–0	0–2	—	3–2	3–0	1–1	6–1	2–2	2–0
Stjørdals-Blink	2–3	0–1	2–2	4–1	5–2	1–4	2–3	0–2	5–4	2–2	—	2–1	4–2	1–2	2–2	0–0
Strømmen	2–1	3–0	5–2	2–1	0–0	1–4	1–1	3–2	4–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–4	3–1	0–3	2–2
Tromsø	3–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	5–0	2–2	4–2	1–0	—	2–1	5–4	1–0
Ull/Kisa	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–4	3–0	2–0	2–1	4–0	0–7	—	0–3	6–1
Åsane	1–1	2–2	5–1	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–3	0–1	4–1	1–4	2–1	1–4	0–1	4–2	—	3–1
Øygarden	1–1	1–3	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	4–4	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–4	1–1	2–1	0–2	—

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

Play-offs

Promotion play-offs

Main article: 2020 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 5th placed team played at home against the 6th placed team. The winner of the first round then met the 4th placed team on away ground in the second round. The winner of the second round then met the 3rd placed team on away ground. The winner of the third round advanced to play the 14th placed team in Eliteserien on neutral ground in the Eliteserien play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.

Relegation play-offs

See also: 2020 2. divisjon § Promotion play-offs

The 14th-placed team took part in a two-legged play-off against the winners of the 2. divisjon play-offs to decide who would play in the 2021 1. divisjon.

Stjørdals-Blink	3–0	Asker
Jones 22' (o.g.) Stokke 74' Rødahl 86'	Report

17 December 2020

18:00 CET (UTC+1)

M.U.S Stadion Sandskogan, Stjørdalshalsen

Attendance: 300

Referee: Marius Lien

Asker	1–3	Stjørdals-Blink
Kastrati 12'	Report	Bransdal 43' Bjørnholm-Jatta 58' Rolstad 89'

20 December 2020

12:30 CET (UTC+1)

Føyka Stadion, Asker

Attendance: 200

Referee: Christian Moen

Stjørdals-Blink won 6–1 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[22]
1	Henrik Udahl	Åsane	19
2	Kristoffer Hoven	Sogndal	17
3	Mats Lillebo	Stjørdals-Blink	16
4	Oscar Aga	Grorud	15
5	Magnus Grødem	Sandnes Ulf	14
	Kent Håvard Eriksen	Sandnes Ulf
7	Erik Tønne	Ranheim	13
8	Håkon Lorentzen	Åsane	11
	Kent-Are Antonsen	Tromsø
	Eric Kitolano	Tromsø