Løv-Ham Fotball is a football club from

Fyllingsdalen Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consis ...

Bergen, Norway Bergen (, ) is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 2025 the population is 294 029 according to Statistics Norway. The municipali ...

. Its origins are two local sports teams in Fyllingsdalen called ''Løvåsen'' and ''Hamre''. On 29 December 1975 those clubs were merged, choosing the name Løv-Ham. In March 1999 Løv-Ham was divided into a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

division, Løv-Ham Fotball, and a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

division, Løv-Ham Håndball. Løv-Ham is most notable as a football club, with more than 600 members. The senior football team played in

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

, the second tier of Norwegian football from

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

until 2011 1. divisjon. After the 2011 season, Løv-Ham merged with Fyllingen to create FK Fyllingsdalen, and for a period the club only existed at a junior level. The club later started playing senior football again, and is currently playing in the sixth tier of Norwegian football.

History

The club was founded on 29 December 1975, as a merger between Løvåsen and Hamregården. From 1989 till 2004 the club was playing on the third and fourth tier of Norwegian football. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, the club was promoted to

, after winning their 2. divisjon group. The club struggled against relegation throughout their stint in 1. divisjon, but despite being a low-budget club, Løv-Ham was somewhat stabilised as a second-tier club. In the 2010 season, Løv-Ham finished in 4th place and advanced to the

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 ...

. They lost 0–2 away in the semifinal against

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and twelve Norwegian Football Cup, Norwegian Cup wins, FFK ...

. Promotion to the top flight was not a goal for Løv-Ham, their goal was to develop talents in the Bergen region.

Merger with Fyllingen

Løv-Ham had in the recent years taken over Fyllingen's spot as

's best football-club, but it was still Fyllingen that had the biggest support and the financial power in the borough. In the end of 2007, the two clubs started negotiation to merge the football-departments of the two clubs. If this had been a reality the goal was a budget of at least 15 million, a doubling compared to the Løv-Ham's budget in 2007. The aim was to create an organization and a name that create a stable state football team, and which in time also be able to play up in the Premier League. The experiment stranded when it was not achieved sufficient majority at the extraordinary annual meeting of Fyllingen. Four years later, on 28 September 2011, the members of both clubs' voted yes to a merge. The new club, FK Fyllingsdalen, replaced Løv-Ham in the

2012 Norwegian Second Division The 2012 2. divisjon season began on 14 April 2012 and ended on 27 October 2012. The league consisted of 56 teams divided into 4 groups of 14 teams. The four group-winners, Elverum, Kristiansund, Vard Haugesund and Follo was promoted to the 1. ...

, and the two old clubs ceased to exist. Kjetil Knutsen became head coach of the new team.

Recent history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lov-Ham Fotball Sport in Bergen Association football clubs established in 1975 1975 establishments in Norway