The 2013

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

was the 69th completed season of top division

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The competition began 15 March 2013 and ended on 10 November 2013, when Strømsgodset defeated

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...

4–0 to win their second league title. The league was contested by 16 teams: The best 13 teams of the 2012 season,

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

and

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

who won promotion from the 2012 1. divisjon and

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 1. divisjon, the second highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The clu ...

who retained their spot in the top league after beating the 1. divisjon side Ullensaker/Kisa in the relegation play-off.

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

who won Tippeligaen the previous season failed to defend the championship and ended on sixth place. Strømsgodset who won silver in 2012, won their first league championship in 43 years, finishing one point ahead of title contenders Rosenborg.

won bronze for the first time in the history, while

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

and

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008, ...

were relegated to the 2014 1. divisjon.

Background

, Strømsgodset and Rosenborg were involved in the title race in the 2012 season. After Rosenborg lost against the other title contenders Molde and Strømsgodset in the 27th and the 28th round respectively, Molde secured their second straight Tippeligaen title with one match left to play when Strømsgodset lost against

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

and Stabæk were relegated after finishing 15th and 16th respectively, while

had to play a relegation play-off against the 1. divisjon side Ullensaker/Kisa, which they won 7–1 on aggregate. After the 2012 season, Rosenborg's head coach

Jan Jönsson Jan Jönsson (born 24 May 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former player. Career Playing career He spent most of his playing career with Halmstads BK. Coaching career Between 1993 and 1994 he was the Sanfrecce Hiroshima assistant coa ...

was fired from his position, and was replaced by the head coach of the successful Norwegian under-21 team,

Per Joar Hansen Per Joar Hansen (born 17 August 1965) is a Norwegian football coach. He grew up in the small community of Trofors in Nordland. He played for and managed Rosenborg BK, and he has managed GIF Sundsvall, Aalesunds FK, Ranheim and the Norwegian u ...

. Jönsson was soon appointed as head coach of Aalesund, as a replacement for

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...

who had also been fired. Rekdal returned to his old club

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

, which he won the league with in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Martin Andresen Martin Andresen (born 2 February 1977) is a Norwegian former professional football player and manager, who played as a central midfielder. Club career Early career Andresen was born in Kråkstad. He was a regular on many Norway national yout ...

had announced in October 2012 that he would leave his position as manager of Vålerenga after the season., In addition

Per-Mathias Høgmo Per-Mathias Høgmo (born 1 December 1959) is a football manager from Norway and former player. He is the former manager of the Norway national football team. He has previously been head coach of Norway women's national football team and the Tippe ...

left

after his contract expired, and they appointed

Agnar Christensen Agnar Christensen (born 5 June 1969) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He is the former manager of Tromsø IL in the Norwegian Premier League Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs ...

as the new head coach.

Season summary

Ahead of each Tippeligaen season, the newspapers in Norway predict how the season is going to end. In 2013, all of the major newspapers predicted that either Molde or Rosenborg would win the league. The opening match of the 2013 season was played between

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

and the defending champions Molde in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. Viking won the match 2–1 after a match-winning goal by Trond Olsen. Molde became the first defending champion in Norway to lose the first four matches of the season, with their manager

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward who last managed Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Solskjær spent the majority of his car ...

stating that the club wouldn't be able to defend the title. After collecting two points in the first seven matches, Molde won their first match 4–1 against local rivals Aalesund. Aalesund had an impressing season opener, by winning four of the first four matches, and after the loss against Molde they won 7–1 against

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

with

Abderrazak Hamdallah Abderrazak "Abdo" Hamdallah ( ar, عبد الرزاق حمد الله; born 17 December 1990) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Saudi Professional League club Al-Ittihad and the Morocco national team. He started ...

scoring a hat-trick, and was positioned second after nine matches. With Molde out of the race for the title, it looked as though it was going to be a fight between Strømsgodset and Rosenborg. Aalesund were, however, only five points behind the leaders Rosenborg, after they won three consecutive matches away from home, and with 10 matches left to play the players started to talk about winning the league. After Aalesund lost three matches in a row, the team was too far behind the top two teams, and three points behind Viking in third place. Aalesund went seven matches without winning, but with a record-high number of points the club finished the season in fourth place. Tromsø, who finished fourth and lost the Norwegian Cup Final in the previous season, were the only Norwegian team to qualify for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The 2014 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Sevil ...

group stage, but their form in the league after the summer break was declining, and they soon found themselves fighting against relegation. The team did however manage to put an end to Rosenborg's streak of 16 matches without losing, when Tromsø won 1–0 at home. After the loss at home against

in the 25th round, Tromsø had collected six points in the last 12 matches and the club fired the head coach Agnar Christensen and replaced him with Steinar Nilsen, who had saved the team from relegation in 2005 and 2006. For the first time since the 2005 season, the championship was determined in the decisive match of the season. Strømsgodset were leading the league one point ahead of Rosenborg, and could secure the championship in the home-match against bronze-winners

. At the same time, six teams were not safe from relegation with one match left to play; the three teams Sarpsborg 08, Tromsø and Hønefoss were fighting to avoid the two direct relegation spots, while Vålerenga, Sogndal and Sandnes Ulf could still be forced to play a relegation play-off against a 1. divisjon side if they finished 14th in the league. Rosenborg was leading 2–0 at half-time against Lillestrøm, and Strømsgodset needed to score a goal in their match against Haugesund to secure the title.

Ola Kamara Ola Williams Kamara (born 15 October 1989) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Allsvenskan club Häcken. He has previously played for Stabæk, Hønefoss, Strømsgodset, Molde, Austria Wien, TSV 1860 Munich, C ...

sent Strømsgodset up in a 1–0 lead, and after Stefan Johansen and

Øyvind Storflor Øyvind Storflor (born 18 December 1979) is a Norwegian former professional footballer. With 421 top division appearances, Storflor has made the fifth-highest number of appearances in Eliteserien. Club career Storflor was born in Trondheim. He ...

scored one goal each and

scored his second goal in the game, Strømsgodset won the match 4–0 and secured their first championship since the 1970 season. Tromsø had to win the match away against Brann, who had nothing to play for in the last round, to avoid relegation but Tromsø had not won a single match away from home during the season, and also lost the last match 4–1, and were relegated to the 1. divisjon after an 11-year-long spell in the top flight. Hønefoss also had to win their last match to avoid relegation, and were leading the match against Odd, but

Frode Johnsen Frode Johnsen (born 17 March 1974) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played for Odd and Rosenborg in the Tippeligaen and for Nagoya Grampus and Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan. He played in several positions, but was preferred as a ...

scored the match-winning goal and Odd won 3–2. Sarpborg 08 lost the last match 2–1 against Viking, despite leading when the stoppage time began, and finished 14th in the league, and a met the 1. divisjon side

Ranheim Ranheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen. The neighbourhood approximately to the east of the centre of Trondheim. It comprises Olderdalen, Væretrøa, Reppe, and ...

in the

relegation play-off In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

They won 1-0 at home and 2-0 in the awaygame and play in the next seasons Tippeligaen. Johnsen's goal against Hønefoss was his sixteenth overall this season, and he became top goalscorer with one more goal than Aalesund's Hamdallah. Aged 38, Johnsen is the oldest-ever top goalscorer in the Norwegian top flight. Johnsen also won the

Kniksen Award The Kniksen Award ( no, Kniksenprisen), established in 1990, honors the best players in the Norwegian football premiership. The award is named after the legendary Norwegian football player Roald Jensen, nicknamed "Kniksen". Categories Catego ...

for the "forward of the year". Players from Strømsgodset won four of the five Kniksen Award prices as

Adam Larsen Kwarasey Adambathia Larsen "Adam" Kwarasey (born 12 December 1987) is a retired professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. Born in Norway, Kwarasey represents Ghana at international level. Early and personal life Kwarasey was born in Oslo, Norwa ...

won the goalkeeper of the year, Lars Christopher Vilsvik was named defender of the year, Stefan Johansen was the midfielder of the year and the head coach,

Ronny Deila Ronny Deila (born 21 September 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player, who is the manager of Standard Liège. He spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in ...

, won the "manager of the year" award.

Teams

Sixteen teams competed in the league – the top fourteen teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the 1. divisjon The promoted teams were

and

(both returning after a season's absence). They replaced

(ending their two-year spell in the top flight) and Stabæk (relegated after seven years in the top flight).

Stadiums and locations

:''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Personnel and kits

League table

Positions by round

Relegation play-offs

The 14th-placed team,

, took part in a two-legged play-off against

, the winners of the 2013 1. divisjon

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, to decide who would play in the

2014 Tippeligaen The 2014 Tippeligaen was the 70th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 28 March 2014, two weeks later than in the previous season. A three-week summer-break in June was scheduled due to the 2014 FIFA Worl ...

. ;First leg ---- ;Second leg ''Sarpsborg 08 won 3–0 on aggregate and maintained their position in the

; Ranheim stayed in the 1. divisjon.'' ----

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Source:

Top assists

Source:Alt om fotball
/ref>

Discipline

Player

*Most yellow cards: 7 ** Bismar Acosta (Start) ** Jørgen Horn (Strømsgodset) **

Magne Hoseth Magne Hoseth (born Magne Hoset on 13 October 1980) is a Norwegian football coach and former footballer who played for Averøykameratene, Molde (two times), Copenhagen, Viking, Aalesund, Stabæk, Notodden and Kristiansund. On 21. November 2022 ...

(Molde) **

Azar Karadas Azar Karadas ( tr, Azar Karadaş; born 9 August 1981) is a Norwegian former footballer. Although he could also play as a central defender, he operated primarily as a centre forward. He had three spells with Brann, where he began and ended his ...

(Sogndal) **

Guðmundur Kristjánsson Guðmundur Kristjánsson (born 1 March 1989) is an Icelandic football player, currently playing for Icelandic club Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar, having previously played for Icelandic football club Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan, comm ...

(Start) ** Petter Vaagan Moen (Lillestrøm) ** Þórarinn Ingi Valdimarsson (Sarpsborg 08) *Most red cards: 1 **34 players

Club

*Most yellow cards: 50 **Sarpsborg 08 *Most red cards: 3 **Brann **Haugesund **Molde **Odd **Rosenborg **Sandnes Ulf **Strømsgodset

Attendances

Awards

Annual awards

Player of the Year

The Player of the Year award awared to Badou Ndiaye ( Bodø/Glimt)

Goalkeeper of the Year

The Goalkeeper of the Year award awared to

( Strømsgodset)

Defender of the Year

The Defender of the Year award awared to Lars-Christopher Vilsvik (Strømsgodset)

Midfielder of the Year

The Midfielder of the Year award awared to Stefan Johansen (Strømsgodset)

Striker of the Year

The Striker of the Year award awared to

(

Odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

)

Manager of the Year

The Manager of the Year award awared to

(Strømsgodset)

References

{{2013–14 in European football (UEFA) Eliteserien seasons 1