IL Sparta is a

multi-sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from Sarpsborg, Norway. The club was founded on 23 November 1928, and today it has sections for

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 ...

and ice hockey. While the club have had a football department since the foundation, the ice hockey department was founded in 1959. The club has previously also been playing

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

. Sparta is regarded as one of the big clubs of Norwegian ice hockey, having played in the top division uninterrupted since 1980, and having won the Norwegian ice hockey championship three times (1984, 1989 and 2011) as well as four regular-season titles. Sparta's football department enjoyed its best run in the 1950s when the club played nine seasons in the top division and won the Norwegian Cup in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, but currently plays in the lower divisions.

Ice hockey

Sparta's ice hockey department is officially named ''Ishockeyklubben Sparta Sarpsborg'', but is promoted under the name Sparta Warriors. The club became Norwegian champions in 1984 and 1989, and won Eliteserien in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Sparta was the first sports-club in Norwegian history to bankrupt in 1995, withdrew from Eliteserien and restarted at the lowest tier of Norwegian ice hockey. Sparta have in the recent years had the highest average home attendance of the Norwegian ice hockey clubs, with the local derbies against

Stjernen Stjernen Hockey is a Norwegian ice hockey team based in Fredrikstad, Norway. They currently play in the GET-ligaen. They play their home games in Stjernehallen. Their team colours are red and white. History Stjernen was founded in 1960 when th ...

having the highest attendance throughout the season. Sparta also fields a women's team, which was Norwegian champions in 2009

Football

Sparta's

department is officially named ''Fotballklubben Sparta Sarpsborg'', which has been its name since 2004. The club won the Norwegian Cup in

, having scored all the five goals in the final against

Solberg Solberg is a surname of Norwegian origin (Sol meaning Sun and Berg meaning Mountain), and may refer to: *Asbjørn Solberg (1893–1977), Norwegian politician from Østfold; served three terms in the ''Storting'' * Dorvan Solberg (b. 1934), American ...

which Sparta won 3-2. Sparta played in Hovedserien from the start in 1948–49 until 1957–58, only interrupted by one season at the second tier. In the ten seasons at the top tier the average attendance differed between 1300 and 5000. After decades in the lower divisions, Sparta secured promotion to Adeccoligaen 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 ...

, with a 15-0 win against Fram Larvik on 22 October 2005. Ahead of the 2008 season Sparta withdrew their team and gave place to the new club called Sarpsborg 08. Sparta is currently playing in the fourth division, having won promotion from the fifth division in 2010.

Honours

Norwegian top division 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 promoti ...

**Runners-up: 1947–48 * Norwegian Cup **Winners:

References

External links

Official site
Sport in Sarpsborg Sports teams in Norway Association football clubs established in 1928 Bandy clubs established in 1928 Ice hockey clubs established in 1928 1928 establishments in Norway Defunct bandy clubs in Norway {{Norway-sport-team-stub