The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the

Norwegian football league system The Norwegian football league system, or pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Norway. 2017 system in men's football , the current national league system administered by the NFF is organised as 1–1–2–6, where E ...

. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

the winner of each group earns promotion to the second-highest division, 1. divisjon. The teams finishing in second place in their respective group will qualify for the promotion play-offs, where they will face each other. The winner will play against the 14th placed team in 1. divisjon for promotion. The bottom three teams in each group are relegated to 3. divisjon. 2. divisjon is the highest league a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

can participate in, and only reserve teams from the

Eliteserien 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 promotio ...

clubs (first tier) are allowed to enter. The participation of reserve teams stirs debate from time to time.

History

Between 1963 and 1990, 2. divisjon was the second highest level of the

, therefore the name of the third highest level was 3. divisjon. When the highest level was rebranded in 1991, this level changed its name to 2. divisjon. From 2009 to 2011, the official name of the league was Fair Play ligaen, and from 2012 to 2015 the name was Oddsen-ligaen (after the main sponsor Norsk Tipping's betting-game called Oddsen). The league is currently branded as PostNord-ligaen, sponsored by PostNord.

Current members

The following 28 clubs are competing in the 2023 Norwegian Second Division.

Winners

1991–1995

All group winners, excluding second teams of top division teams, were promoted to 1. divisjon.

1996–2000

Each group winner played qualification play-offs to decide which teams promote to 1. divisjon. Teams in bold promoted to 1. divisjon through qualification play-offs.

2001–2016

All group winners, excluding second teams of top division teams, were promoted to 1. divisjon.

2017–

Teams in bold were promoted to 1. divisjon.
Teams in ''italics'' were relegated to 2. divisjon.

Reserve teams

Reserve teams of clubs from the two top divisions can participate in the 2. divisjon. Reserve teams of clubs from the 1. divisjon can not play in the 2. divisjon, so if a team is relegated from the 1. divisjon, the club's reserve team will be relegated to the 3. divisjon regardless of their final position in the league.Norwegian Football Association website

Sponsorship

From 2016, 2. divisjon has its

title sponsor Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

ship rights sold to PostNord.

Records and statistics

Team records

Average attendances

Top ten most attended games

References

External links

Current 2. divisjon table, results and fixtures at Soccerway2. divisjon stats at Fotballen.euDF-02 (divisjonsforeningen av 2002)
an interest group for the 2. divisjon {{UEFA third leagues 3 Year of establishment missing Norw Professional sports leagues in Norway