2021 Norwegian First Division

The 2021 Norwegian First Division (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) is a Norwegian second-tier football league season.

Norwegian First Division

Season	2021
Dates	15 May – 27 November
Champions	HamKam
Promoted	HamKam Aalesund Jerv
Relegated	Ull/Kisa Strømmen
Matches played	240
Goals scored	765 (3.19 per match)
Top goalscorer	Oscar Aga (24 goals)
Biggest home win	6–2 (1 match) 5–1 (4 matches) 4–0 (3 matches)
Biggest away win	Åsane 1–6 Aalesund (18 September 2021)
Highest scoring	Sandnes Ulf 5–4 Ranheim (15 September 2021)
Longest winning run	5 matches Aalesund HamKam Jerv[citation needed]
Longest unbeaten run	23 matches Aalesund[citation needed]
Longest winless run	17 matches Strømmen[citation needed]
Longest losing run	7 matches Ull/Kisa[citation needed]
← 2020 2022 → All statistics correct as of 27 November 2021.

The league started on 15 May 2021, and ended on 27 November 2021.^[1]

HamKam earned promotion to Eliteserien on 6 November 2021, after a 1–0 win against Stjørdals-Blink.^[2] Aalesund secured their promotion in the penultimate round.

Teams

Aalesund

Bryne

Fredrikstad

HamKam

Jerv

Ranheim

Raufoss

Sandnes Ulf

Sogndal

Start

Stjørdals-Blink

Ull/Kisa

Åsane

Oslo

Oslo region teams:
Grorud
KFUM Oslo
Strømmen

Locations of the teams in the 2021 1. divisjon

In the 2020 1. divisjon, Tromsø and Lillestrøm were promoted to the 2021 Eliteserien, while Kongsvinger and Øygarden were relegated to the 2021 2. divisjon.

Start and Aalesund were relegated from the 2020 Eliteserien, while Fredrikstad and Bryne were promoted from the 2020 2. divisjon.

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity[3]	Manager
Aalesund	Ålesund	Color Line Stadion	10,778	Lars Arne Nilsen
Bryne	Bryne	Bryne Stadion	4,000	Jan Halvor Halvorsen
Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad Stadion	12,500	Bjørn Johansen
Grorud	Oslo	Grorud Arctic Match	1,700	Johan Gjønnes Nilsen
HamKam	Hamar	Briskeby Arena	7,800	Kjetil Rekdal
Jerv	Grimstad	Levermyr Stadion	3,300	Arne Sandstø
KFUM Oslo	Oslo	KFUM Arena	2,000	Jørgen Isnes
Ranheim	Trondheim	Extra Arena	3,000	Hugo Pereira
Raufoss	Raufoss	Nammo Stadion	1,800	Christian Johnsen
Sandnes Ulf	Sandnes	Øster Hus Arena	6,043	Bjarne Berntsen
Sogndal	Sogndal	Fosshaugane Campus	5,622	Eirik Bakke
Start	Kristiansand	Sør Arena	14,448	Sindre Tjelmeland
Stjørdals-Blink	Stjørdalshalsen	M.U.S Stadion	2,000	Tom Dent
Strømmen	Strømmen	Strømmen Stadion	2,000	Ole Martin Nesselquist
Ull/Kisa	Jessheim	Jessheim Stadion	4,500	Steffen Landro
Åsane	Bergen	Åsane Arena	3,300	Morten Røssland

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Stjørdals-Blink	Roar Vikvang	Appointed head of Rosenborg's academy	31 December 2020[4]	Pre-season	Tom Dent	1 January 2021[5]	Pre-season
Ull/Kisa	Trond Fredriksen	Mutual consent	11 January 2021[6]		Sindre Tjelmeland	12 January 2021[7]
Grorud	Eirik Kjønø	Signed by Stabæk as assistant	4 February 2021[8]		Aksel Bergo	1 March 2021[9]
Start	Jóhannes Harðarson	Sacked	14 June 2021[10]	7th	Sindre Tjelmeland	19 June 2021[11]	12th
Ull/Kisa	Sindre Tjelmeland	Signed by Start	19 June 2021[11]	11th	Arild Sundgot	1 July 2021[12]	11th
Ranheim	Svein Maalen	Mutual consent	22 June 2021[13]	15th	Hugo Pereira	7 July 2021[14]	15th
Sandnes Ulf	Steffen Landro	Mutual consent	14 July 2021[15]	16th	Bjarne Berntsen	12 August 2021[16]	14th
Grorud	Aksel Bergo	Mutual consent	27 August 2021[17]	16th	Johan Gjønnes Nilsen (interim)	27 August 2021[17]	16th
Ull/Kisa	Arild Sundgot	Sacked	3 October 2021[18]	14th	Steffen Landro	5 October 2021[19]	14th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	HamKam (C, P)	30	21	6	3	62	21	+41	69	Promotion to Eliteserien
2	Aalesund (P)	30	16	10	4	68	43	+25	58
3	Jerv (O, P)	30	15	9	6	49	46	+3	54	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Fredrikstad	30	15	7	8	60	42	+18	52
5	KFUM Oslo	30	12	8	10	46	45	+1	44
6	Sogndal	30	11	9	10	40	35	+5	42
7	Åsane	30	11	7	12	44	53	−9	40
8	Sandnes Ulf	30	10	9	11	43	49	−6	39
9	Start	30	10	8	12	59	59	0	38
10	Bryne	30	11	4	15	44	48	−4	37
11	Raufoss	30	10	5	15	51	54	−3	34[a]
12	Ranheim	30	9	7	14	56	62	−6	34
13	Grorud	30	10	4	16	45	59	−14	34
14	Stjørdals-Blink (O)	30	8	7	15	32	50	−18	31	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Ull/Kisa (R)	30	7	8	15	34	50	−16	29	Relegation to Second Division
16	Strømmen (R)	30	4	12	14	32	49	−17	24

Source: Soccerway, NIFS
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.^[20]

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	BRY	FRE	GRO	HAM	JER	KFU	RAN	RAU	ULF	SOG	STA	STJ	STR	ULL	ÅSA
Aalesund	—	2–1	2–2	6–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	4–2	2–2	3–0	3–2	5–1	3–2	4–2	2–0
Bryne	2–3	—	0–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	5–2	3–1	0–1	0–1	4–2	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–1
Fredrikstad	2–2	3–1	—	2–2	0–1	4–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	5–1	3–1	2–0	2–3
Grorud	1–2	4–2	1–2	—	1–2	2–3	2–2	3–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–4	1–2	1–0	0–2	3–2
HamKam	2–3	3–0	1–0	2–2	—	3–1	3–0	3–0	2–1	3–1	2–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	3–0	1–2
Jerv	2–2	2–1	3–2	0–0	0–2	—	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–1	3–3	3–1
KFUM Oslo	2–4	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–2	4–1	—	2–1	3–2	1–1	3–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	4–0	3–1
Ranheim	3–3	2–4	1–1	1–0	0–4	3–4	1–3	—	4–2	4–0	0–4	1–1	1–0	5–2	5–1	2–2
Raufoss	4–2	4–1	0–1	2–4	2–1	3–0	5–1	0–4	—	1–0	1–2	1–3	5–2	4–2	0–2	1–1
Sandnes Ulf	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	0–2	1–1	5–4	1–1	—	0–2	1–2	2–1	3–2	2–1	3–2
Sogndal	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–2	1–2	2–1	2–2	—	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1
Start	2–0	2–3	2–6	3–0	1–4	2–4	2–3	3–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	—	4–1	3–2	1–3	1–1
Stjørdals-Blink	1–0	2–1	3–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	—	1–1	0–0	0–1
Strømmen	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–3	0–0	2–3	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–1	1–2	—	2–1	1–0
Ull/Kisa	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–1	1–3	4–1	0–0	—	0–1
Åsane	1–6	2–1	2–3	3–1	0–4	0–1	3–0	1–3	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–3	—

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

The teams from third to sixth place will take part in the promotion play-offs; these are single leg knockout matches. In the first round, the fifth-placed team will play at home against the sixth-placed team. The winner of the first round will meet the fourth-placed team on away ground in the second round. The winner of the second round will meet the third-placed team on away ground. The winner of the third round will advance to play the 14th-placed team in the Eliteserien on neutral ground in the Eliteserien play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.^[21]

	First round					Second round					Third round
											3	Jerv (p)	1 (5)
						4	Fredrikstad	3 (4)			5	KFUM Oslo	1 (3)
	5	KFUM Oslo	1			5	KFUM Oslo (p)	3 (5)
	6	Sogndal	0

First round

KFUM Oslo	1–0	Sogndal
Njie 51'	Report

1 December 2021

18:00 CET

Intility Arena, Oslo

Attendance: 864

Referee: Christian Moen

Second round

Fredrikstad	3–3 (a.e.t.)	KFUM Oslo
Johansen 64', 88' Maikel 112'	Report	Sanyang 27' Njie 36', 120+3'
Penalties
Øby Solberg Hadzic Maikel Nielsen	4–5	Tavakoli Alm Mahnin Njie Nuñez

6 December 2021

18:00 CET

Fredrikstad Stadion, Fredrikstad

Attendance: 2,153

Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes

Third round

Jerv	1–1 (a.e.t.)	KFUM Oslo
Norheim 81'	Report	Nuñez 50'
Penalties
Campos Wichmann Arrocha Norheim Novak	5–3	Tavakoli Alm Mahnin Njie

12 December 2021

15:00 CET

Levermyr Stadion, Grimstad

Attendance: 1,486

Referee: Sivert Amland

Relegation play-offs

The 14th-placed team, Stjørdals-Blink, took part in a two-legged play-off against the winners of the Second Division play-offs, Hødd, to decide who would play in the First Division next season.^[22]

Hødd	3–2	Stjørdals-Blink
Skeide 38' Wrele 43' Saunes 63'	Report	Bjørnholm-Jatta 7' Lillebo 76'

1 December 2021

19:00 CET

Høddvoll, Ulsteinvik

Attendance: 803

Referee: Daniel Higraff

Stjørdals-Blink	3–0	Hødd
Bjørnholm-Jatta 4' Lillebo 10', 75'	Report

4 December 2021

16:00 CET

M.U.S Stadion, Stjørdalshalsen

Attendance: 618

Referee: Steinar Hauge

Stjørdals-Blink won 5–3 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[23]
1	Oscar Aga	Grorud	24
2	Sigurd Hauso Haugen	Aalesund	21
3	Elias Hoff Melkersen	Ranheim	17
4	Eman Markovic	Start	16
5	Jonas Enkerud	HamKam	14
6	Kristian Eriksen	HamKam	13
	Erlend Hustad	Sandnes Ulf
	Taofeek Ismaheel	Fredrikstad
9	Joacim Holtan	Bryne	11
	Alagie Sanyang	KFUM Oslo
	Nicolay Solberg	Fredrikstad