Norwegian First Division 2008

The 2008 Norwegian First Division season (known as Adeccoligaen for sponsorship reasons) began on 5 April 2008 and is scheduled to end on 2 November 2008.^[1]

In 2009, the number of teams in the Norwegian Premier League will expand from fourteen to sixteen.^[2] Therefore, 2008 will be a transitional season, in which more teams will be promoted to the top flight, and less teams relegated to the Second Division, than usual. Automatic promotion will be awarded to the teams finishing in the top three places in the standings. As in previous years, there will be a two-legged promotion playoff at the end of the season, this time between the fourth-placed team in the First Division and the thirteenth-placed team in the Premier League. Only the two teams at the bottom of the standings will face relegation to the Second Division, as opposed to the regular four.

The three clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2007 were Odd Grenland, Start and Sandefjord. Odd Grenland ended up finishing in twelfth place for the second year in a row, forcing them into yet another play-off. Having defeated Bryne 10-1 on aggregate in the previous playoff, Odd this time lost both matches, sending them down after nine seasons in the top flight. Start meanwhile, were relegated only two years after being runners-up in the league, their best result since winning in 1980, whereas Sandefjord were relegated after their first two seasons ever at the highest level.

Nybergsund-Trysil are playing in the First Division for the first time in their history. Founded in 1918, they won promotion in 2007 after spending 22 of the last 24 seasons in the Second Division. The other three newcomers have all played at the second level on previous occasions: Hødd in 2006; Alta in 2005; Sandnes Ulf in 1972.

1 League table
2 Results
3 Top goal scorers
4 Relegated teams
5 Promoted teams
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] League table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Odd Grenland	9	8	0	1	26	11	15	24	Promotion to Tippeligaen
2	Start	9	5	4	0	18	8	10	19
3	Bryne	9	5	1	3	8	9	-1	16
4	Notodden	9	4	3	2	17	11	6	15	Qualification to Tippeligaen
5	Hønefoss	8	4	2	2	12	7	5	14
6	Moss	9	3	5	1	14	11	3	14
7	Sogndal	9	3	3	3	8	10	-2	12
8	Sandnes Ulf	9	3	2	4	14	13	1	11
9	Løv-Ham	9	3	2	4	9	10	-1	11
10	Sandefjord	8	3	2	3	10	14	-4	11
11	Haugesund	9	3	1	5	13	16	-3	10
12	Sarpsborg Sparta	9	3	1	5	9	13	-4	10
13	Hødd	9	1	5	3	10	13	-3	8
14	Nybergsund-Trysil	7	2	1	4	12	14	-2	7
15	Alta	9	2	0	7	12	23	-11	6	Relegation to Second Division
16	Kongsvinger	9	0	4	5	8	17	-9	4	Relegation to Second Division

Last updated: 2 June 2008
Source: speaker.no
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.
The winner, runner-up and third place finisher in the First Division are automatically promoted to the Norwegian Premier League. The fourth-placed team in the First Division and the 13th-placed team in the Premier League meet in a playoff at the end of the season. The two teams finishing at the bottom of the table are automatically relegated to the Second Division.
P = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points; (C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted.

[edit] Results

Home \ Away¹	AIF	BFK	FKH	ILH	HBK	KIL	LØV	MFK	NFK	NIL	ODD	SF	ULF	SSFK	SGD	IKS
Alta			1–0								3–7		0–1		0–2
Bryne	3–1						1–0		1–1					1–0	0–1
Haugesund				3–1	0–4				3–1	3–1	1–4
Hødd		0–1					1–1				1–2			2–0
Hønefoss		2–0						1–0				0–0				3–3
Kongsvinger	1–3	0–1	2–2	1–1							1–3
Løv-Ham					1–0	3–1							1–2	1–2		0–0
Moss				2–2		1–1			1–1	2–1		3–1
Notodden	5–3						0–1					5–0	2–1
Nybergsund		4–0							0–1						1–1
Odd Grenland					2–0		3–1					2–1		3–2
Sandefjord	2–1			2–2									2–1		2–0
Sandnes Ulf					1–2			1–1		2–3					3–0	2–2
Sarpsborg Sparta			2–1			1–1		1–2								0–2
Sogndal			1–0					2–2	1–1					0–1
Start	2–0			1–1		2–0				5–2	1–0

Last updated: 2 June 2008
Source: speaker.no
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; White = draw; Red = away team win.

[edit] Top goal scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Chukwuma Akabueze	4	Odd Grenland
Morten Fevang	4	Odd Grenland
Peter Kovacs	4	Odd Grenland
Samir Saric	4	Løv-Ham
Vegard Braaten	3	Alta
Allan Borgvardt	3	Bryne
Kenneth Dokken	3	Odd Grenland
Bernt Hulsker	3	Start
Rógvi Jacobsen	3	Hødd
Bjørnar Johannessen	3	Moss
Madiou Konate	3	Hønefoss
Joseph Lapira	3	Nybergsund Trysil
Fabian Taylor	3	Notodden
Cameron Weaver	3	Haugesund