The 2008 Tippeligaen was the 64th completed season of top division football in Norway. The season began on 29 March and ended 2 November. Brann were the defending champions, having won their third Tippeligaen championship in 2007. The teams promoted from the 1. divisjon at the end of the previous season were champions Molde, automatic qualifiers HamKam, and play-off winners Bodø/Glimt.
Overview Summary Stabæk secured their first ever league championship by defeating Vålerenga 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 1. divisjon.
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. Team Location Stadium Turf Capacity Aalesund 7 Ålesund Color Line Stadion Artificial 10,778 Bodø/Glimt 18 Bodø Aspmyra Stadion Artificial8,800 Brann 52 Bergen Brann Stadion Natural 17,967 Fredrikstad 39 Fredrikstad Fredrikstad Stadion Natural 12,800 HamKam 22 Hamar Briskeby Natural7,500 Lillestrøm 45 Lillestrøm Åråsen Stadion Natural 12,200 Lyn 35 Oslo Ullevaal Stadion Natural25,572 Molde 32 Molde Aker Stadion Artificial11,167 Rosenborg 45 Trondheim Lerkendal Stadion Natural 21,166 Stabæk 13 Bærum Nadderud Stadion Natural6,950 Strømsgodset 21 Drammen Marienlyst Stadion Artificial8,500 Tromsø 22 Tromsø Alfheim Stadion Artificial8,300 Vålerenga 48 Oslo Ullevaal Stadion Natural25,572 Viking 59 Stavanger Viking Stadion Natural16,600
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table Lillestrøm Tom Nordlie Resigned 29 May 2008 Frode Grodås Erland Johnsen Erlend Slokvik Jan Åge Fjørtoft (caretakers) 29 May 2008 13th Aalesund Sören Åkeby Sacked 31 August 2008 Kjetil Rekdal 4 September 2008 13th Lyn Henning Berg Mutual consent 9 September 2008 Kent Bergersen 9 September 2008 5th Lillestrøm Frode Grodås Erland Johnsen Erlend Slokvik Jan Åge Fjørtoft Released 1 January 2009 Henning Berg 1 January 2009 off-season
League table
Relegation play-offs By finishing 13th, Aalesund competed in a two-legged relegation play-off against Sogndal, who finished 4th in the 2008 1. divisjon, for the right to play in the 2009 Tippeligaen. 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 Tippeligaen. Sogndal remained in the 1. divisjon.
Results
Season statistics Sources: fotball.no , TV 2 Sporten
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals 1 Daniel NannskogStabæk162 Johan AnderssonStabæk12 José MotaMolde4 Thorstein HelstadBrann11 Olivier OcceanLillestrøm6 Garðar JóhannssonFredrikstad10 Morten MoldskredTromsø Steffen IversenRosenborg Veigar Páll GunnarssonStabæk Espen HoffLyn Trond OlsenBodø/Glimt
Discipline Player Most yellow cards: 7 David Nielsen (Strømsgodset) Vidar Riseth (Lillestrøm) Most red cards: 2 Abgar Barsom (Fredrikstad) Jan Michaelsen (HamKam) Kristján Örn Sigurðsson (Brann)
Club Most yellow cards: 48 Strømsgodset
Most red cards: 5 HamKam
Attendances Team Stadium Capacity Turf Total Games Average % of Capacity Lyn Ullevaal Stadion 25,572 Natural 86,359 13 6,643 25.97 Vålerenga Ullevaal Stadion 25,572 Natural 165,106 13 12,700 49.66 Rosenborg Lerkendal stadion 21,850 Natural 246,443 13 18,957 86.76 Brann Brann stadion 17,967 Natural 220,407 13 16,954 94.36 Viking Viking Stadion 16,600 Natural 199,927 13 15,379 92.64 Fredrikstad Nye Fredrikstad stadion 12,800 Natural 149,798 13 11,523 90.02 Lillestrøm Åråsen stadion 11,637 Natural 114,242 13 8,788 75.51 Molde Aker Stadion 11,167 Natural 106,645 13 8,203 73.45 Aalesund Color Line Stadion 10,778 Artificial 134,725 13 10,363 96.14 Strømsgodset Marienlyst stadion 8,500 Artificial 76,890 13 5,915 69.58 Tromsø Alfheim stadion 8,159 Artificial 71,261 13 5,482 67.18 Bodø/Glimt Aspmyra stadion 7,659 Artificial 71,533 13 5,503 71.85 HamKam Briskeby gressbane 7,500 Natural 66,647 13 5,127 68.36 Stabæk Nadderud stadion 6,550 Natural 75,203Different from official figures due to miscount of spectators in Stabæk-Tromsø match on June 28 13 5,785 88.32
TotalGamesAverage1,785,1861829,809 Source: VG Nett
References