2010 Tippeligaen

The 2010 Tippeligaen was the 66th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 14 March and ended on 7 November. Rosenborg was the defending champions, having secured their twenty-first league championship in 2009.^[3] Haugesund, Hønefoss and Kongsvinger entered as the three promoted teams from the 2009 1. divisjon. They replaced Fredrikstad, Bodø/Glimt and Lyn who were relegated to the 2010 1. divisjon.

Tippeligaen

Season	2010
Dates	14 March – 7 November
Champions	Rosenborg 22nd title
Relegated	Hønefoss Kongsvinger Sandefjord
Champions League	Rosenborg
Europa League	Vålerenga Tromsø Aalesund Strømsgodset
Matches played	240
Goals scored	731 (3.05 per match)
Top goalscorer	Baye Djiby Fall (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Vålerenga 8–1 Start (2 August 2010)
Biggest away win	Strømsgodset 0–4 Odd Grenland (5 May 2010) Hønefoss 0–4 Stabæk (22 August 2010)
Highest scoring	Vålerenga 8–1 Start (2 August 2010) Strømsgodset 5–4 Lillestrøm (7 November 2010)
Longest winning run	5 games[1] Rosenborg Vålerenga
Longest unbeaten run	30 games[1] Rosenborg
Longest winless run	27 games[1] Sandefjord
Longest losing run	7 games[1] Sandefjord
Highest attendance	21,474 Rosenborg 3–0 Hønefoss (16 May 2010)[2]
Lowest attendance	1,142 Sandefjord 0–1 Lillestrøm (3 October 2010)[2]
Average attendance	8,108 9.6%
← 2009 2011 →

Season summary

On 6 June, Lillestrøm scored three goals in four minutes and 24 seconds, two of them in injury time, to go from 3–0 down to 3–3 away at Molde.^[4] Sandefjord lost 5–0 away to Odd Grenland on 26 September. This was their 23rd consecutive top flight match without winning, breaking a record of 22 set by Os in 1975.^[5] The streak would continue for four matches, ending at 27 before Sandefjord won in their 28th attempt on the last day of the season, beating Hønefoss 6–1 at home. On 31 October, Rosenborg played Kongsvinger to a 0–0 draw away, making 2010 the second consecutive season without away losses for Rosenborg.^[6]

Kongsvinger and Sandefjord were relegated at the end of the 2010 Tippeligaen season after finishing in the bottom two places of the league table. Sandefjord ended a two-year tenure at the highest football level of Norway, while Kongsvinger returned to the 1. divisjon after just one season. They were replaced by 2010 1. divisjon champions Sogndal and runners-up Sarpsborg 08. Sogndal returned to the Tippeligaen after a six-year hiatus, while Sarpsborg 08 made its debut at the Norwegian top-level league.

Hønefoss as 14th-placed Tippeligaen team had to compete in a relegation/promotion playoff with the 1. divisjon teams ranked third through fifth (Fredrikstad, Løv-Ham and Ranheim) for one spot in the 2011 Tippeligaen. This spot was taken by Fredrikstad, who defeated Hønefoss 8–1 on aggregate in the playoff finals and returned to Norway's top flight after just one season. In turn, Hønefoss had to return to the 1. divisjon, also after just one season.

Teams

Haugesund and Hønefoss were promoted directly from the 1. divisjon at the end of the 2009 season. Kongsvinger defeated Sarpsborg by 5–4 on aggregate in the final matches of the play-off round between the 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-placed team in the 1. divisjon and the 14th-placed team in the Tippeligaen, giving them the sixteenth and final spot.

Team summaries

Rosenborg

Tromsø

Brann

Stabæk

Viking

Lillestrøm

Vålerenga

Haugesund

Strømsgodset

Aalesund

Kongsvinger

Molde

Odd Grenland

Start

Sandefjord

Hønefoss

Locations of the teams in 2010 Tippeligaen

Team	Ap.	Location	Stadium	Turf	Capacity	Manager
Aalesund	9	Ålesund	Color Line Stadion	Artificial	10,778	Kjetil Rekdal
Brann	54	Bergen	Brann Stadion	Natural	17,317	Rune Skarsfjord
Haugesund	4	Haugesund	Haugesund stadion	Natural	8,800	Jostein Grindhaug
Hønefoss	1	Hønefoss	AKA Arena	Artificial	4,256	Reidar Vågnes
Kongsvinger	18	Kongsvinger	Gjemselund stadion	Artificial	5,000	Tony Gustavsson
Lillestrøm	47	Lillestrøm	Åråsen stadion	Natural	11,637	Henning Berg
Molde	34	Molde	Aker Stadion	Natural	11,800	Uwe Rösler
Odd Grenland	29	Skien	Skagerak Arena	Artificial	13,500	Dag-Eilev Fagermo
Rosenborg	47	Trondheim	Lerkendal stadion	Natural	21,166	Nils Arne Eggen
Sandefjord	4	Sandefjord	Komplett.no Arena	Natural	9,000	Patrick Walker
Stabæk	15	Bærum	Telenor Arena1	Artificial	15,500	Jan Jönsson
Start	35	Kristiansand	Sør Arena	Natural	14,300	Knut Tørum
Strømsgodset	23	Drammen	Marienlyst Stadion	Artificial	7,544	Ronny Deila
Tromsø	24	Tromsø	Alfheim Stadion	Artificial	7,500	Per-Mathias Høgmo
Vålerenga	50	Oslo	Ullevaal Stadion	Natural	25,572	Martin Andresen
Viking	61	Stavanger	Viking Stadion	Natural	16,300	Åge Hareide

¹Stabæk also played three home matches in May at Ullevaal Stadion because Telenor Arena was being used to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment	Table
Kongsvinger	Trond Amundsen	Resigned	12 April 2010[7]	15th	Tony Gustavsson	26 April 2010[8]	15th
Hønefoss	Ole Bjørn Sundgot	Sacked	18 April 2010[9]	16th	Tom Gulbrandsen	18 April 2010[9]	14th
Brann	Steinar Nilsen	Mutual agreement	22 May 2010[10]	13th	Rune Skarsfjord	25 May 2010[11][12]	13th
Rosenborg	Erik Hamrén	Signed with Sweden	24 May 2010[13][14]	2nd	Nils Arne Eggen	24 May 2010[15]	1st
Molde	Kjell Jonevret	Sacked	30 August 2010[16]	14th	Uwe Rösler	30 August 2010[16]	11th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rosenborg (C)	30	19	11	0	58	24	+34	68	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Vålerenga	30	19	4	7	69	36	+33	61	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
3	Tromsø	30	14	8	8	36	30	+6	50	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
4	Aalesund	30	14	5	11	46	37	+9	47
5	Odd Grenland	30	12	10	8	48	41	+7	46
6	Haugesund	30	12	9	9	51	39	+12	45
7	Strømsgodset	30	13	4	13	51	59	−8	43	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[b]
8	Start	30	11	9	10	57	60	−3	42
9	Viking	30	10	11	9	48	41	+7	41
10	Lillestrøm	30	9	13	8	51	44	+7	40
11	Molde	30	10	10	10	42	45	−3	40
12	Stabæk	30	11	6	13	46	47	−1	39
13	Brann	30	8	10	12	48	50	−2	34
14	Hønefoss (R)	30	7	6	17	28	62	−34	27	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
15	Kongsvinger (R)	30	4	8	18	27	58	−31	20	Relegation to First Division
16	Sandefjord (R)	30	2	6	22	25	58	−33	12

Source: fotball.no
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Norway was among the best three associations in the UEFA Fair Play ranking and thus received an additional spot in the first qualifying round of the Europa League.^[17]
2. Strømsgodset qualified for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League as winners of the 2010 Norwegian Cup.^[18]

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	7	5	9	4	3	1	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Vålerenga	2	4	7	9	7	5	6	4	5	5	5	3	5	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Tromsø	2	10	5	2	2	3	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Aalesund	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	2	1	3	4	5	3	5	4	4	5	4	5	4	4	6	7	4	4	4	6	5	4	4
Odd Grenland	10	8	4	6	8	8	8	11	11	10	7	8	9	6	8	11	10	8	9	8	10	10	8	7	5	6	5	6	5	5
Haugesund	8	12	13	8	10	9	10	7	8	9	10	12	10	11	9	10	11	10	10	9	8	8	5	6	8	5	4	4	6	6
Strømsgodset	2	3	2	7	5	6	4	6	4	6	8	10	11	10	10	8	6	7	6	5	5	4	4	5	6	9	10	8	9	7
Start	2	2	6	3	4	4	5	5	6	8	9	7	8	9	11	9	7	6	7	7	7	7	9	8	7	8	8	7	7	8
Viking	12	7	11	11	11	12	11	9	9	7	6	6	6	7	6	5	4	5	4	6	6	5	6	9	9	7	9	10	11	9
Lillestrøm	16	11	3	5	6	7	7	8	7	4	3	4	4	4	5	6	8	9	8	10	9	11	10	10	10	10	7	9	8	10
Molde	11	14	14	13	13	10	12	12	12	11	12	11	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	11
Stabæk	6	6	8	9	9	11	9	10	10	12	11	9	7	8	7	7	9	11	11	11	11	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	12
Brann	8	13	10	14	14	15	13	13	13	13	13	13	15	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13
Hønefoss BK	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	14	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Kongsvinger	12	15	15	15	15	14	15	15	14	14	14	14	13	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Sandefjord	12	9	12	12	12	13	14	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16

Source: rsssf.no

Relegation play-offs

Main article: 2010 Eliteserien promotion/relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, Sandefjord and Kongsvinger were relegated directly to 1. divisjon, and were replaced by Sogndal and Sarpsborg who were directly promoted.

Four teams entered a play-off for the last Tippeligaen spot in the 2011 season. These were:

• A) Hønefoss (by virtue of being the 14th placed team in the Tippeligaen)
• B) Fredrikstad (by virtue of being the third placed team in the 1. divisjon)
• C) Løv-Ham (by virtue of being the fourth placed team in the 1. divisjon)
• D) Ranheim (by virtue of being the fifth placed team in the 1. divisjon)

	First round					Final round
	14	Hønefoss (a.e.t.)	2
	5	Ranheim	1
						14	Hønefoss	1	0	1
						3	Fredrikstad	4	4	8
	3	Fredrikstad	2
	4	Løv-Ham	0

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	SKB	HAU	HØN	KIL	LSK	MFK	ODD	RBK	SF	STB	IKS	SIF	TIL	VIF	VIK
Aalesund	—	3–1	2–1	1–3	2–0	3–0	0–0	2–3	1–1	2–2	2–2	2–0	3–1	2–0	1–0	3–1
Brann	2–1	—	0–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–3	3–2	2–2	3–4	4–0	0–1	1–1	3–3
Haugesund	2–1	1–1	—	5–1	3–0	3–3	1–2	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	4–2	2–2	0–0	2–0	4–0
Hønefoss BK	0–2	2–0	0–2	—	1–2	3–2	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–4	0–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	0–1
Kongsvinger	1–2	0–3	0–1	3–3	—	0–0	3–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–3	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–1
Lillestrøm	1–0	3–2	1–1	6–0	2–2	—	1–1	2–2	1–2	4–0	0–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	1–4	1–1
Molde	2–1	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–3	—	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–2	2–3	0–1	2–2
Odd Grenland	2–1	0–0	4–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	—	1–3	5–0	2–3	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	2–1
Rosenborg	2–2	3–0	4–3	3–0	4–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	—	1–0	2–0	3–3	3–0	1–0	3–1	1–1
Sandefjord	0–1	1–4	0–1	6–1	0–1	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–3	—	1–1	1–2	0–3	3–5	0–1	0–0
Stabæk	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	4–2	2–1	4–3	0–3	1–2	2–1	—	3–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	2–3
Start	1–0	3–1	3–3	2–0	3–0	2–3	1–1	1–1	2–3	2–0	3–2	—	4–2	1–1	5–3	1–1
Strømsgodset	3–1	1–1	2–1	4–1	2–0	5–4	1–3	0–4	1–1	4–2	1–3	3–1	—	2–1	1–0	2–1
Tromsø	0–1	0–3	2–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	—	2–1	1–0
Vålerenga	3–0	1–0	5–2	0–0	5–2	2–1	2–1	6–1	0–0	3–0	3–2	8–1	4–1	3–0	—	2–0
Viking	1–3	4–0	1–0	4–0	3–1	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	1–1	3–4	—

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Baye Djiby Fall	Molde	16
2	Mohammed Abdellaoue	Vålerenga	15
3	Steffen Iversen	Rosenborg	14
	Petter Vaagan Moen	Brann
	Anthony Ujah	Lillestrøm
6	Rade Prica	Rosenborg	13
7	Tor Hogne Aarøy	Aalesund	12
	Nikola Đurđić	Haugesund
	Luton Shelton	Vålerenga
	Ole Martin Årst	Start
11	Thomas Sørum	Haugesund	11
12	Veigar Páll Gunnarsson	Stabæk	10
	Erik Huseklepp	Brann

Source: NRK Sport

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 9^[19]
  • Kristján Örn Sigurðsson (Hønefoss)
• Most red cards: 1^[20]
  • 23 players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 47^[21]
  • Brann

• Most red cards: 3^[21]
  • Molde
  • Vålerenga

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Rosenborg	253,577	21,474	13,903	16,905	−4.2%†
2	Brann	205,887	17,231	12,009	13,726	−13.7%†
3	Vålerenga	204,688	18,004	10,588	13,646	+26.5%†
4	Viking	172,942	14,283	9,939	11,529	−11.8%†
5	Aalesund	152,195	10,778	9,500	10,146	−0.7%†
6	Molde	126,192	11,140	7,302	8,413	+5.6%†
7	Start	125,789	10,933	6,412	8,386	+1.2%†
8	Stabæk	122,228	11,807	6,661	8,149	−14.0%†
9	Odd Grenland	99,406	9,200	5,463	6,627	−10.1%†
10	Lillestrøm	98,626	7,444	4,760	6,575	−13.5%†
11	Strømsgodset	87,849	7,444	4,760	5,857	+9.4%†
12	Tromsø	70,438	7,024	3,640	4,696	−9.3%†
13	Haugesund	69,912	5,000	4,056	4,661	+74.8%1
14	Sandefjord	64,957	6,936	1,142	4,330	−25.4%†
15	Hønefoss	49,695	4,489	2,438	3,313	+79.4%1
16	Kongsvinger	41,616	4,850	1,542	2,774	+43.2%1
	League total	1,945,997	21,474	1,142	8,108	−9.6%†

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

Awards

Annual awards

Goalkeeper of the Year

The Goalkeeper of the Year awarded to Anders Lindegaard (Aalesunds)

Defender of the Year

The Defender of the Year awarded to Tom Høgli (Tromsø)

Midfielder of the Year

The Midfielder of the Year awarded to Anthony Annan (Rosenborg)

Striker of the Year

The Striker of the Year awarded to Mohammed Abdellaoue (Vålerenga)

Coach of the Year

The Coach of the Year awarded to Jostein Grindhaug (Haugesund)