IL Sparta is a

multi-sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsbor ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The club was founded on 23 November 1928, and today it has sections for

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 ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. While the club have had a football department since the foundation, the ice hockey department was founded in 1959. The club has previously also been playing

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

. Sparta is regarded as one of the big clubs of Norwegian ice hockey, having played in the top division uninterrupted since 1980, and having won the Norwegian ice hockey championship three times (1984, 1989 and 2011) as well as four regular-season titles. Sparta's football department enjoyed its best run in the 1950s when the club played nine seasons in the top division and won the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, but currently plays in the lower divisions.

Ice hockey

Sparta's

department is officially named ''Ishockeyklubben Sparta Sarpsborg'', but is promoted under the name

Sparta Warriors Ishockeyklubben Sparta Sarpsborg is a Norwegian ice hockey team based in Sarpsborg, Norway. They currently play in EliteHockey Ligaen. They play their home games in the Sparta Amfi arena and is Norway's oldest ice hockey rink. The team colours ...

. The club became Norwegian champions in 1984 and 1989, and won

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 ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. Sparta was the first sports-club in Norwegian history to bankrupt in 1995, withdrew from Eliteserien and restarted at the lowest tier of Norwegian ice hockey. Sparta have in the recent years had the highest average home attendance of the Norwegian ice hockey clubs, with the local derbies against Stjernen having the highest attendance throughout the season. Sparta also fields a women's team, which was Norwegian champions in 2009

Football

Sparta's

department is officially named ''Fotballklubben Sparta Sarpsborg'', which has been its name since 2004. The club won the

, having scored all the five goals in the final against

Solberg Solberg is a surname of Norwegian origin (Sol meaning Sun and Berg meaning Mountain), and may refer to: * Asbjørn Solberg (1893–1977), Norwegian politician from Østfold; served three terms in the ''Storting'' * Dorvan Solberg (b. 1934), America ...

which Sparta won 3-2. Sparta played in Hovedserien from the start in 1948–49 until 1957–58, only interrupted by one season at the second tier. In the ten seasons at the top tier the average attendance differed between 1300 and 5000. After decades in the lower divisions, Sparta secured promotion to

Adeccoligaen 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 ...

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 ...

, with a 15-0 win against Fram Larvik on 22 October 2005. Ahead of the 2008 season Sparta withdrew their team and gave place to the new club called

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian professional football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. ...

. Sparta is currently playing in the fourth division, having won promotion from the fifth division in 2010.

Honours

Norwegian top division 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 ...

**Runners-up: 1947–48 *

**Winners:

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparta, IL Sport in Sarpsborg Sports clubs and teams in Norway Association football clubs established in 1928 Bandy clubs established in 1928 Ice hockey clubs established in 1928 1928 establishments in Norway Defunct bandy clubs in Norway