• The Eliteserien is the top flight of Norwegian football
• Carrying the name Eliteserien since 2017, there has been a one-league top flight in Norway since 1963
• Read below for more on Eliteserien history

Bettors are spoilt for choice when placing football bets in Europe. The Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A may get most of the attention, but there are tens of competitive leagues across the continent, including Norway’s Eliteserien.

Norway has sprung to the centre of football conversation over the last few years. A Norwegian has been in the dugout at one of the biggest clubs in the world, and a raft of young talents make Norway one of the most intriguing national teams in the 2020s.

The Eliteserien has been a hub of player development, though it still ranks 21st among Europe’s live betting leagues.

According to UEFA’s country coefficients, the Eliteserien places behind Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Denmark. It’s just ahead of Israel and Sweden.

What is Eliteserien?

The Eliteserien is the top football league in Norway. The league took this name on in 2017, after 26 years known as the Tippeligaen. Norway’s top flight has been rebranded several times since it was founded back in 1937 as the Norgesserien.

There are 16 teams in the Eliteserien, which is fewer than Europe’s big five leagues. Seasons run from March through to November, with each team playing one another home and away.

A standard structure for an Eliteserien weekend sees two games on Saturday, five on Sunday and the final fixture played either on Friday or Monday.

The last two rounds are played simultaneously to avoid any team gaining an advantage by finding out other results before they play.

There are 30 matchweeks in the Eliteserien, which has been the case since 2009. There was as few as 10 teams in the league between 1963 to 1971, though this increased to 12 in 1972, 14 in 1995 and 16 in 2009.

Eliteserien History

Prior to 1937, there was no nationwide league competition in Norway. The creation of the Norgesserien saw the first national format other than the Norwegian Cup. Teams were split into groups with the winner decided through a knockout tournament.

Plans to evolve the format were halted by the Second World War. Once sport was back functioning at something resembling normality, the Hovedserien was formed in 1948.

This saw the top 16 teams from the district leagues placed into two groups of eight with the group winners meeting in a final. This lasted until the early 1960s, when the decision was made to merge the two groups.

As change was introduced, the league played an historic 15-month season with half of the teams ultimately relegated. This enabled the creation of a single-league top division called the 1. Divisjon.

Brann won the inaugural 1. Divisjon, defending their title from the previous campaign. A couple of extra teams were added to the top division in 1972.

At the same time, teams from Northern Norway were finally allowed to gain promotion to the top division, though stricter promotion rules remained in place for another seven years.

Due to sponsorship, the league was renamed Tippeligaen in 1990. The first 15 years of this era was dominated by Rosenborg, who won 13 consecutive titles from 1992. Vålerenga ended their run in 2005, pipping IK Start to the title by a lone point.

Rosenborg’s spell at the top coincided with the league becoming professional in 1992. Two more teams were added to take the total to 14 in 1995, and it reached today’s tally of 16 in 2009.

In 2017, the league dropped the Tippeligaen name and became known as the Eliteserien.

Most Successful Teams

Rosenborg are the most successful Eliteserien team by a distance. They have won 26 Norwegian titles, 17 more than anyone else, and all of them have come since the single-league format was introduced in 1963.

Bodo Glimt won their first title in 2020 and second in 2021. Molde have won the Eliteserien four times since 2010.

Viking are the second-most successful Eliteserien team since 1963, winning seven of their eight titles after it became a single league. De mørkeblå haven’t been crowned champions since 1991, though, and have won just twice since 1979.

Famous Eliteserien Players

• Erling Haaland – Haaland played for Molde from 2017 until he joined RB Salzburg in 2019. 
• John Obi Mikel – Making just six appearances for Lyn in the mid-2000s, Mikel was subject of transfer controversy before joining Chelsea in 2006. 
• Kyle Lafferty – Journeyman Northern Irish striker Kyle Lafferty had a brief spell with Sarpsborg in 2019 between stints with Rangers and Sunderland. 
• Mame Biram Diouf – Diouf caught the eye of scouts when he scored 24 goals for Molde in 2009, earning a surprise move to Manchester United. 
• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Before becoming a club icon and Champions League final hero at Manchester United, Solskjaer scored 41 goals in 56 appearances for Molde across 1995 and 1996. 
• John Carew – Carew played for Vålerenga and Rosenborg before joining Valencia for €8.5 million in 2000. 
• John Arne Riise – Former Liverpool left-back Riise started his career at Aalesund and returned to make 13 appearances in 2016.
• Henning Berg – Berg played for Vålerenga and Lillestrom prior to joining Blackburn in 1993. 
• Morten Gamst Pedersen – Pedersen played five seasons with Tromsø before playing in the Premier League with Blackburn. Via Turkey, he has returned to Norway in the latter part of his career, playing for Rosenborg before a second stint with Tromsø.  
• Brede Hangeland – Amassing over 150 appearances for Viking in the early 2000s, Hangeland won a Norwegian Cup and played in continental competition. 
• Steffen Iversen – A former Tottenham, Wolves and Crystal Palace striker, Iversen is still playing deep into his forties. He started out with Rosenborg and has twice returned to the club. 
• Martin Ødegaard – The Arsenal attacking midfielder made his Eliteserien debut for Strømsgodset at just 15 years old – he’s the youngest goal scorer in league history. 
• Nicklas Bendtner – Following unsuccessful spells with Nottingham Forest and Wolfsburg, Bendtner joined Rosenborg in 2017. He won two Eliteserien titles with the club and was top scorer in the 2017 campaign. 
• Uwe Rösler – At the end of a journeyed playing career, Rösler played 13 times for Lillestrom. He went on to manage the team, and had further spells in charge of Viking and Molde.

Eliteserien Betting

Like so many leagues around the world, outright Eliteserien betting usually features a familiar group of teams at the top. Molde, Rosenborg, Bodo Glimt and Lillestrom are often the title favourites.

Molde are getting a lot of football prediction sport heading into the new season, priced as odds on favourites to win the league.

Reigning champions Bodo Glimt are next in the market before a considerable jump to Rosenborg, Lillestrom, Valerenga and Kristiansund.

*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*

FIRST PUBLISHED: 22nd March 2022