The 2008 Tippeligaen was the 64th 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 season began on 29 March and ended 2 November. Brann were the defending champions, having won their third

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 ...

championship in 2007. The teams promoted from the

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

at the end of the previous season were champions

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 ...

, automatic qualifiers

HamKam Hamarkameratene (literally ''the Hamar Comrades''), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently pro ...

, and play-off winners Bodø/Glimt.

Overview

Summary

Stabæk secured their first ever league championship by defeating

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 ...

6–2 in the penultimate round. From the 2009 season onwards, the number of teams in the Tippeligaen was expanded from fourteen to sixteen. To accommodate this expansion, only one team faced automatic relegation to the 1. divisjon, as opposed to the regular two, while the three best teams in the 1. divisjon were awarded automatic promotion. As in previous years, there was a two-legged playoff at the end of the season, this time between the thirteenth-placed team in the Tippeligaen and the fourth best team in the 1. divisjon.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Fourteen teams competed in the league – the top eleven teams from the previous season, and three teams promoted from

. :''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Managerial changes

League table

Relegation play-offs

By finishing 13th, Aalesund competed in a two-legged relegation play-off against

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

, who finished 4th in the 2008 1. divisjon, for the right to play in the

2009 Tippeligaen The 2009 Tippeligaen was the 65th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 15 March and end on 1 November. Stabæk were the defending champions. Odd Grenland, Sandefjord and Start entered as the three promot ...

. Sogndal played at home first, decided in a draw held by the NFF. Aalesund won 7–2 on aggregate, thereby securing a new season in the

. Sogndal remained in the

. ----

Results

Season statistics

Sources
fotball.no

TV 2 Sporten

Top scorers

Discipline

Player

*Most yellow cards: 7 **

David Nielsen David Jean Nielsen (born 1 December 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager. He played for a number of Danish clubs, as well as Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany and English clubs Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Norwich City. His ...

(Strømsgodset) **

Vidar Riseth Vidar Riseth (born 21 April 1972) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or midfielder. He played for Neset, Rosenborg, Kongsvinger, Lillestrøm and Strømsgodset in Norway, and Luton Town, LASK Linz, Celti ...

(Lillestrøm) *Most red cards: 2 ** Abgar Barsom (Fredrikstad) **

Jan Michaelsen Jan Munk Michaelsen (born 28 November 1970) is a former Danish footballer and currently is the head of coaching at Nykøbing FC. He made 20 international appearances, scored one goal for the Danish national team. He is the son of former Danish f ...

(HamKam) **

Kristján Örn Sigurðsson Kristján Örn Sigurðsson (often spelled Sigurdsson; born 7 October 1980 in Akureyri) is an Icelandic footballer who is a player-assistant manager for Þór. Club career He started his career at his local club ÍF Völsungur Húsavik, and mo ...

(Brann)

Club

*Most yellow cards: 48 **Strømsgodset *Most red cards: 5 **HamKam

Attendances

Source
VG Nett

References

{{2008-09 in European Football (UEFA) Eliteserien seasons 1