The Toppserien is the top level of

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

in Norway. It was founded in 1984.

History

Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1979. Regional leagues were in operation until the formation of the First Division

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 ...

, when the league was divided into three regions, Group Eastern-Norway (''Østlandet''), Group Western-Norway (''Vestlandet''), and Group Mid-Norway (''Trøndelag''). No teams from Northern-Norway (''Nord-Norge'') played, however. The winners of the three groups met each other for a play-off. Regional leagues for women had been played before 1984, and a championship play-off had been done between the winners of Mid-Norway and Eastern-Norway in 1983 (

Trondheims-Ørn Rosenborg Ballklub Kvinner (previously known as Sportsklubben Trondheims-Ørn) is a Norwegian women's professional football club in Trondheim, Trøndelag. History The club was founded as a multi-sports club on May 18, 1917, and became a me ...

beat Setskog 2-1), but this championship was considered unofficial by the

Football Association of Norway The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the men's and women's national teams, as well as the league systems f ...

. In

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 ...

, a group for Northern-Norway was added, and in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, the groups and play-off matches were dropped, and one single league with teams from all over the country was played. The league was known as 1. divisjon (Norwegian for ''1st Division'') from 1984 to 1995, the Eliteserien (Norwegian for ''The Elite League'') from 1996 to 1999, and the Toppserien (Norwegian for ''The Top League'') from 2000. Traditionally,

and

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

was the two power-houses of Toppserien, with 7 and 6 championship wins respectively. Trondheims-Ørn finished in the top three 16 out of 23 times from the beginning in 1984 to their current last medal in 2006. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, Asker managed the almost unthinkable, winning every single one of their 18 league games that season (Asker didn't win the double that season, however, as the club was knocked out of the semi-finals of the

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

by Trondheims-Ørn). However Asker FK, the women's team within

Asker Fotball Asker Fotball is the football department of Norwegian sports club Asker SK from Asker. The women's football team is one of the most successful clubs ever in Norway, with 6 top flight championships and 5 cup championships. Due to financial diff ...

, became bankrupt at the end of 2008 and most of the players were transferred to a new team within the nearby

Stabæk IF Stabæk Idrætsforening is a Norwegian multi-sports club in Bærum, a municipality bordering on Oslo in the west. It has sections for football, bandy, handball and alpine skiing. While the football team Stabæk Fotball is the most prominent, the m ...

, named Stabæk FK (FK = Fotball Kvinner (Football Women)). Asker finished among the top three 18 out of the 25 seasons the club existed. The new Stabæk team began playing in the Toppserien from the 2009 season and won the league in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Røa Røa is a neighbourhood and a former administrative borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In 2004 the borough of Røa was merged with neighbouring Vinderen to become Vestre Aker borough. Røa is a suburb of Oslo, located approximately 7 kilometer ...

won Toppserien five times from 2004 to 2011. Lillestrøm SK Kvinner won six consecutive titles from

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

The league

The league currently consists of 12 teams, which play each other 2 times (home and away), for a total of 22 matches. The season lasts from April to October. Teams are ranked by: * Number of points (3 points per win, 1 point per draw). * Goal difference * Goals scored * Results between the tied teams.

2022 teams

;Notes

Winner by year

The following medals have been awarded:

List of champions

Below is a list of the gold, silver and bronze medalists in the Toppserien since its beginning in 1984. The

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for kvinner) is a knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the men's ...

has been played since 1978. From 1984 to 1995 the name of the league was 1. divisjon ("First Division"), and between 1996 and 1999 the name was Eliteserien ("The Elite League", a generic name) before getting its current name, Toppserien in 2000. From 1984 to 1985, the league was divided into three sections, and after the inclusion of teams from

Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical Regions of Norway, region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainlan ...

there was four sections in 1986, with the championship decided through a play-off. Since then it has been a round-robin decided through a league table.

Winners by club

The following clubs have won the top division in Norwegian football since

. ¹ = In 2008 Stabæk was handed the license to play in the top league, and also took over the best players from

, because of financial problems in the latter. But the rest of Asker remains, and they still have their top female team - in league three. Therefore, Stabæk is not to be considered the successor of Asker.
² =

Athene Moss FK Athene Moss was a Norwegian women's football club from Moss. It is named after Athena in Greek mythology. It was founded in 1996, replacing SK Sprint-Jeløy which was a former successful club from Moss. Athene Moss played in the Toppserien u ...

was Sprint/Jeløy successor, so one bronze as Athene Moss in 1998 is included.
³ = LSK Kvinner is the successor of

Setskog/Høland LSK Kvinner Fotballklubb is a Norwegian women's football club from Lillestrøm. They currently play in Toppserien, the top division of Norwegian football. The club was founded as Setskog/Høland Fotballklubb on 10 October 1989. History The cl ...

and

Team Strømmen LSK Kvinner Fotballklubb is a Norwegian women's football club from Lillestrøm. They currently play in Toppserien, the top division of Norwegian football. The club was founded as Setskog/Høland Fotballklubb on 10 October 1989. History The cl ...

.
⁴ = Rosenborg is the successor of

.
⁵ = Brann is the successor of

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

References

External links

League
at toppserien.no
League
at nrk.no {{Top level women's association football leagues around the world 1984 establishments in Norway Sports leagues established in 1984 1 Nor Professional sports leagues in Norway