2023 Norwegian First Division

The 2023 Norwegian First Division (referred to as OBOS-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) is a Norwegian second-tier football league season.

Norwegian First Division

Season	2023
Dates	10 April – 12 November
Champions	Fredrikstad
Promoted	Fredrikstad KFUM Oslo Kristiansund
Relegated	Hødd Jerv Skeid
Matches played	240
Goals scored	667 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Benjamin Stokke (16 goals)
Highest attendance	7,479 Fredrikstad - Moss (16 May 2023)
Lowest attendance	415 Åsane - Skeid (9 July 2023)
Average attendance	1,851
← 2022 2024 →

The season started on 10 April 2023 and ended on 12 November 2023, not including play-off matches.^[1]

Teams

Bryne

Fredrikstad

Hødd

Jerv

Kongsvinger

Kristiansund

Mjøndalen

Moss

Ranheim

Raufoss

Sandnes Ulf

Sogndal

Start

Åsane

Oslo

Oslo teams:
KFUM
Skeid

Locations of the teams in the 2023 Norwegian First Division

In the 2022 Norwegian First Division, Brann and Stabæk were promoted to the 2023 Eliteserien, while Grorud and Stjørdals-Blink were relegated to the 2023 Norwegian Second Division.

Jerv and Kristiansund were relegated from the 2022 Eliteserien, while Moss and Hødd were promoted from the 2022 Norwegian Second Division.

Stadiums and locations

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity
Bryne	Bryne	Bryne Stadion	4,000
Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad Stadion	12,500
Hødd	Ulsteinvik	Nye Høddvoll	4,081
Jerv	Grimstad	Levermyr Stadion	3,300
KFUM Oslo	Oslo	KFUM-Arena	2,000
Kongsvinger	Kongsvinger	Gjemselund Stadion	5,824
Kristiansund	Kristiansund	Kristiansund Stadion	4,444
Mjøndalen	Mjøndalen	Consto Arena	4,200
Moss	Moss	Melløs Stadion	4,000
Ranheim	Trondheim	EXTRA Arena	3,000
Raufoss	Raufoss	NAMMO Stadion	1,800
Sandnes Ulf	Sandnes	Øster Hus Arena	6,043
Skeid	Oslo	Nordre Åsen Kunstgressbane	2,500
Sogndal	Sogndal	Fosshaugane Campus	5,622
Start	Kristiansand	Sparebanken Sør Arena	14,448
Åsane	Bergen	Åsane Arena	3,300

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Fredrikstad (C, P)	30	18	10	2	50	23	+27	64	Promotion to Eliteserien
2	KFUM Oslo (P)	30	17	7	6	51	31	+20	58
3	Kongsvinger	30	16	4	10	53	39	+14	52	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Kristiansund (O, P)	30	14	8	8	56	38	+18	50
5	Start	30	12	10	8	49	36	+13	46
6	Bryne	30	13	5	12	40	36	+4	44
7	Sogndal	30	12	7	11	45	45	0	43
8	Ranheim	30	12	4	14	36	53	−17	40
9	Raufoss	30	10	8	12	35	36	−1	38
10	Moss	30	10	8	12	37	40	−3	38
11	Sandnes Ulf	30	10	7	13	42	45	−3	37
12	Åsane	30	9	10	11	41	44	−3	37
13	Mjøndalen	30	10	7	13	39	42	−3	37
14	Hødd (R)	30	8	9	13	29	38	−9	33	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Jerv (R)	30	8	7	15	40	59	−19	31	Relegation to Second Division
16	Skeid (R)	30	3	5	22	24	62	−38	14

Source: Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian)
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 goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (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
Fredrikstad	4	3	3	4	3	4	5	3	4	1	4	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
KFUM Oslo	6	15	16	15	16	16	12	14	11	9	7	6	3	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Kongsvinger	12	8	10	14	11	8	10	7	5	3	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Kristiansund	14	16	11	7	4	2	3	2	1	2	5	3	4	3	4	5	5	4	4	5	3	4	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4
Start	8	2	5	8	7	5	4	5	6	4	6	8	6	7	6	6	6	5	6	4	5	5	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5
Bryne	2	9	9	10	8	12	9	9	12	13	14	14	14	11	13	12	12	11	12	12	10	8	9	9	7	8	8	8	7	6
Sogndal	6	3	2	3	6	3	1	1	2	5	2	4	5	4	3	3	4	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7
Ranheim	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	3	6	3	5	7	8	9	10	10	9	8	7	8	7	7	8	11	7	7	7	8	8
Raufoss	14	6	7	5	5	9	8	10	13	14	13	13	13	14	12	11	11	10	9	8	9	10	8	7	10	10	9	10	9	9
Moss	8	11	12	11	9	7	7	6	7	7	8	9	10	9	7	7	8	8	7	10	11	11	11	11	9	11	11	12	12	10
Sandnes Ulf	1	7	8	9	12	13	13	13	10	8	11	12	12	12	11	13	13	12	11	9	7	9	10	10	8	9	10	11	10	11
Åsane	8	12	12	13	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	12
Mjøndalen	8	13	14	16	15	14	15	12	9	12	10	10	9	10	10	9	9	13	13	13	13	15	13	14	13	13	12	9	11	13
Hødd	4	3	6	2	2	6	6	8	8	11	12	11	11	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14
Jerv	12	9	4	6	10	11	11	11	14	10	9	7	8	6	8	8	7	7	10	11	12	12	14	13	14	14	14	14	15	15
Skeid	16	14	15	12	13	10	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

	Promotion to 2024 Eliteserien
	Promotion play-offs
	Relegation play-offs
	Relegation to 2024 2. divisjon

Source: nifs.no

Results

Home \ Away	BRY	FRE	HØD	JER	KFU	KON	KRI	MJØ	MOS	RAN	RAU	ULF	SKE	SOG	STA	ÅSA
Bryne	—	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	4–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–2
Fredrikstad	2–1	—	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	4–1	1–2	1–1	4–0	3–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–1
Hødd	0–1	1–1	—	2–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1	1–1
Jerv	1–3	1–1	2–1	—	4–3	0–2	1–1	2–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–2	3–2	1–3	0–1	0–0
KFUM Oslo	1–0	2–1	0–1	6–2	—	2–0	2–0	1–0	4–2	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–1
Kongsvinger	1–3	1–2	0–3	2–1	1–1	—	1–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	1–3	4–0	5–0	1–0	2–1	3–1
Kristiansund	3–1	0–1	4–0	3–1	0–2	2–0	—	0–0	4–1	3–2	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	4–1
Mjøndalen	3–1	0–1	3–0	2–2	2–2	2–3	1–3	—	1–2	1–2	3–0	1–3	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–0
Moss	2–1	2–2	3–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–3	4–1	—	0–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–2	0–0	1–0
Ranheim	2–1	1–2	0–0	4–2	4–2	1–4	0–2	2–3	2–1	—	1–3	0–5	0–4	2–0	0–0	3–2
Raufoss	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–3	4–0	1–2	3–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	—	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–1	0–0
Sandnes Ulf	2–0	2–3	1–3	2–3	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	0–0	—	4–1	1–2	1–0	3–3
Skeid	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–4	1–2	0–5	0–2	2–2	0–1	1–2	3–0	—	2–4	1–4	1–3
Sogndal	2–2	0–1	1–0	5–1	0–3	3–3	2–4	1–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	—	2–1	1–1
Start	2–0	2–2	4–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	4–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	1–3	3–3	3–0	2–0	—	1–0
Åsane	2–1	0–4	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–2	2–2	3–2	2–1	3–0	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–3	2–2	—

Source: Norwegian Football Federation (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 face the 14th-placed team in the Eliteserien over two legs in the Eliteserien play-offs for a spot in the top-flight next season.^[2]

	First round					Second round					Third round
											3	Kongsvinger	2
						4	Kristiansund	1 (4)			4	Kristiansund	4
	5	Start	0			6	Bryne	1 (2)
	6	Bryne (w/o)	3

First round

Start	0–3 (w/o)[3]	Bryne
	Report

25 November 2023

19:00 CET

Sør Arena, Kristiansand

Referee: Marius Hansen Grøtta

Second round

Kristiansund	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Bryne
Rakneberg 48'	Report	Moreira 78'
Penalties
Willumsson Isaksen Broholm Ulvestad	4–2	Dybevik Baldvinsson Moreira Saunes

29 November 2023

19:00 CET

Kristiansund Stadion, Kristiansund

Attendance: 3,571

Referee: Marius Lien

Third round

Kongsvinger	2–4	Kristiansund
Hellan 48' Andersen 85'	Report	Sivertsen 7' Stokke 54' Broholm 72', 84'

3 December 2023

14:00 CET

Gjemselund Stadion, Kongsvinger

Attendance: 1,216

Referee: Mohammad Usman Aslam

Relegation play-offs

The 14th-placed team will take part in a two-legged play-off against the winners of the Second Division play-offs, to decide who will play in the First Division next season.^[2]

	Semifinal							Final
								Hødd		0	1	1
	Lyn		1	2	3			Lyn		3	2	5
	Tromsdalen		2	0	2

Lyn	3–0	Hødd
Olsen 17' Kristiansen 46' Breistøl 60'	Report

27 November 2023

18:00 CET

Nadderud Stadion, Bærum

Attendance: 2,500

Referee: Eivind Bodding

Hødd	1–2	Lyn
Skeide 38'	Report	Breistøl 9' Elvevold 88'

2 December 2023

15:00 CET

Color Line Stadion, Ålesund

Attendance: 628

Referee: Steinar Hauge

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 12 November 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[4]
1	Benjamin Stokke	Kristiansund	16
2	Samuel Pedro	Jerv	14
3	Tommy Høiland	Sandnes Ulf	12
4	Jóannes Bjartalíð	Fredrikstad	11
	Joacim Holtan	Kongsvinger
	Adem Güven	Kongsvinger
7	Kristian Lien	Mjøndalen	10
	Cláudio Braga	Moss
	Johannes Nuñez	KFUM Oslo
	Mame Mor Ndiaye	Åsane

League attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Fredrikstad	72,745	7,479	3,063	4,850	+26.3%†
2	Start	67,243	7,276	3,273	4,483	+5.5%†
3	Kristiansund	48,691	3,788	2,964	3,246	−14.4%1
4	Sandnes Ulf	28,755	4,037	943	1,917	−3.9%†
5	Kongsvinger	27,890	3,482	1,423	1,859	+37.6%†
6	Sogndal	26,729	4,089	1,456	1,782	+4.6%†
7	Moss	25,805	2,775	1,401	1,720	+106.7%2
8	Jerv	24,023	2,625	1,228	1,602	−35.6%1
9	Mjøndalen	18,738	2,765	967	1,249	+3.1%†
10	Ranheim	18,006	1,692	813	1,200	+6.5%†
11	Hødd	17,908	1,730	948	1,194	+11.4%2
12	Bryne	17,852	1,835	930	1,190	+17.9%†
13	KFUM Oslo	16,340	2,449	684	1,089	+12.0%†
14	Raufoss	12,593	1,305	450	840	−4.5%†
15	Skeid	10,964	147	432	731	−12.7%†
16	Åsane	10,022	1,688	415	668	−27.5%†
	League total	444,304	7,479	147	1,851	−12.7%†

Updated to games played on 14 November 2023
Source:
Notes:
1: Team played last season in Eliteserien.
2: Team played last season in 2. divisjon.