2020 Eliteserien


The 2020 Eliteserien was the 76th season of top-tier football in Norway. This was fourth season of Eliteserien as rebranding from Tippeligaen.
The season was scheduled to begin on 4 April. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway the opening games of the season were delayed. It was first delayed until 2 May, then further delayed until 23 May. The season was scheduled to end 29 November 2020, not including play-off matches, but was rescheduled to conclude on 22 December. On 7 May, the Norwegian government allowed the league to start on 16 June with full training starting immediately.
Molde were the defending champions. Aalesund, Sandefjord and Start joined as the promoted clubs from the 2019 1. divisjon. They replaced Lillestrøm, Tromsø and Ranheim who were relegated to the 2020 1. divisjon.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

The season was scheduled to begin on 4 April, but on 12 March it was revealed that the first five rounds of the season were postponed and the opening game therefore would be delayed until 2 May due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway. On 24 March, the Norwegian Football Federation announced that the football season was further delayed till 23 May. On 7 May, the Norwegian government allowed the teams to begin with full training starting immediately, and opened for the league season to start on 16 June. On 12 June, the NFF announced that 200 spectators would be allowed to attend the games.
On 30 September, the Minister of Culture and Church Affairs, Abid Raja, announced that clubs would be able to have crowds of 600 at games from 12 October.

Teams

Sixteen teams compete in the league – the top thirteen teams from the previous season, and three teams promoted from 1. division. The promoted teams were Aalesund, Sandefjord and Start. They replaced Lillestrøm, Tromsø and Ranheim, ending their top flight spells of forty-five, five and two years respectively.

Stadiums and locations

TeamLocationArenaTurfCapacity
Aalesund17ÅlesundColor Line StadionArtificial10,778
Bodø/Glimt25BodøAspmyra StadionArtificial5,635
Brann63BergenBrann StadionNatural17,049
Haugesund14HaugesundHaugesund StadionNatural8,754
Kristiansund4KristiansundKristiansund StadionArtificial4,444
Mjøndalen21MjøndalenConsto ArenaArtificial4,200
Molde44MoldeAker StadionArtificial11,249
Odd39SkienSkagerak ArenaArtificial11,767
Rosenborg57TrondheimLerkendal StadionNatural21,421
Sandefjord8SandefjordSandefjord ArenaNatural6,582
Sarpsborg 089SarpsborgSarpsborg StadionArtificial8,022
Stabæk24BærumNadderud StadionNatural4,938
Start42KristiansandSør ArenaArtificial14,448
Strømsgodset33DrammenMarienlyst StadionArtificial8,935
Vålerenga60OsloIntility ArenaArtificial16,555
Viking70StavangerViking StadionArtificial15,900

League table


Relegation playoffs

The 14th-placed team in Eliteserien will play against the winners of the 1. divisjon promotion play-offs on neutral ground to decide who will play in the 2021 Eliteserien.
''Mjøndalen IF won 3–2 and maintained their position in the Eliteserien; Sogndal Fotball stayed in the 1. divisjon.''

Season statistics

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDate

Clean sheets

RankPlayerClubClean
sheets
1

Discipline

Player

Club

  • Most yellow cards: 69
  • *Aalesund
  • Most red cards: 3
  • *Mjøndalen
  • *Molde
  • *Sandefjord
  • *Vålerenga

League attendances

Due to COVID-19 restrictions only 200 people were allowed in each match at the beginning of the season.
Two clubs were punished for incidents of racism during their matches, having to play certain games without attendants.