Norwegian Tippeligaen

The Norwegian Premier League, commonly known as Tippeligaen, is the top tier of the Norwegian football system founded in 1991. However, the league itself exists already since 1937, but changed several names since then.

The league title is contested by 16 clubs from March to November. Each club plays 30 matches a season on a home and away basis. The two teams that finish bottom at the end of a season are classed down to Adeccoligaen (or the First Division), the second tier of Norwegian football. The league winner gets a ticket to the Second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, meanwhile the second and third placed teams qualify to the third and the second qualifying rounds of the Europa League respectively.

Fredrikstad became the first club to win the Norwegian top league in 1938. However, Viking Stavanger was the first club to win Tippeligaen in 1991. Rosenborg BK established themselves as the most titled club with 22 titles throughout the league history. Moreover, the team hold a record of 13 consecutive wins since 1992 till 2005.

As every other country, Norway has its own notable players. Thus, Roar Strand has made the largest number of Norwegian Premier League appearances, 437 to be more precise, since 1989 till 2010. Current midfielder of Molde FK Daniel Berg Hestad is close to beat the record with 403 appearances since 1993. Sigurd Rushfeldt established himself as the league top striker with 172 goals in between 1992 and 2011. Thorstein Helstad is the league’s active top scorer with 111 goals.