The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as

PostNord PostNord AB is a provider of postal services operating mainly in the Nordic countries. The company was formed on 24 June 2009, under the name ''Posten Norden'', as the holding company in a Mergers and acquisitions, merger between the Danish and ...

-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 ...

. 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

the winner of each group earns promotion to the second-highest division,

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 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 who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

can participate in, and only reserve teams from the

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

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

Current members

The following 28 clubs are competing in the 2025 Norwegian Second Division. ;Group 1 *

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

* Brann 2 * Brattvåg * Eik Tønsberg * Fløy * Jerv * Lysekloster *

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, G ...

* Pors *

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 26,438 inhabitants in 2023. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

Sotra Sotra or Store Sotra is the name of a large island in Øygarden Municipality in Vestland county, Norway, located just west of the city of Bergen. It is part of a pair of islands called ' Sotra' and ' Litlesotra' ('small Sotra') that are part of ...

* Træff * Vard Haugesund ;Group 2 * Alta *

Asker Asker (), also called Asker proper (''Askerbygda'' or ''gamle Asker'' in Norwegian), is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway, located approximately 20km southwest of Oslo. From 2020 it is part of the ...

Eidsvold Turn Eidsvold Turnforening is a Norwegian sport club from Eidsvoll, Akershus. It has sections for association football, team handball, track and field, gymnastics and speed skating. The club was founded as ''Eidsvold IL'' on 29 April 1910, and the na ...

* Follo *

Grorud Grorud is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. The borough contains the Ammerud, Grorud, Kalbakken, Rødtvet, Nordtvet and Romsås areas. To the north of the borough is the forest of Lillomarka. The borough is the smallest in Oslo, with ...

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2022 ...

Kjelsås Kjelsås, sometimes called Kjelsaas, is one of the northern neighbourhoods of Oslo situated in Nordre Aker, the northern borough of Oslo, Norway. History Together with Grefsen, Kjelsås was part of the borough ''Grefsen-Kjelsås'' until Ja ...

Levanger Levanger may refer to: Places * Levanger Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Levanger (town), a town within Levanger Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Levanger landsogn, a former municipality (1856–1962) in Trø ...

Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star Films * Rana (2012 film), an Indian Kannada-language action drama * Rana, a 1998 Telugu-language action film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy * R ...

* Stjørdals-Blink *

Strindheim Strindheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen in Trondheim Municipality Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and ...

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Akershus county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills ...

* Tromsdalen * Ull/Kisa

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

. 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

.
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

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 where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

ship rights sold to

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