The Danish Women's League ( da, Danmarksturneringens Kvindeliga, Kvinde-DM Liga or Kvindeligaen) is a semi-professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed as the first division of the Danish football league system. Clubs in the league must meet certain criteria concerning appropriate facilities and finances. All of the league's clubs qualify for the proper rounds of the DBU KvindePokalen. The top teams of each season qualify for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

. The division has changed its name on several occasions. It has previously been known simply as Danmarksturneringen i damefodbold (1975 until 1980), Dame 1. division (1981 until 1992), Elitedivisionen (1993 until 2015–16) before settling with the current name, Kvindeligaen, beginning with the 2016–17 season. Due to

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

arrangements, it was known as 3F Ligaen for fourteen seasons (2005–06 until 2018–19) and since the 2019–20 season as Gjensidige Kvindeligaen.

Format

From 1994 to 2005/06 the league consisted of 8 teams playing each other 3 times and the best team then was awarded the championship. The last team was relegated with the second last team playing a playoff, against the second team of the ''Kvinde 1. division''. 2006/07 was a transition year, because the league was extended to 10 teams. The last team after the season played a relegation match against the third placed team of the 1. division, for a place in Elitedivisionen. The top two teams of the 1. division were automatically promoted. From 2007/08 to 2012/13 the league consisted of 10 teams. Those 10 teams play a double round robin as a regular season. After that there are 2 Playoff Groups. Place 1 to 4 of the regular season play the Championship Playoff. Place 5 to 10 play the Relegation Playoff. In the Playoffs, the points accumulated over the regular season are divided by 2 (rounding up if necessary). Those points are the starting points for the playoffs. The Championship group plays another round robin (6 matches each) with the winner being awarded the championship title. The Relegation Group plays a single round robin (5 matches each) after which, the bottom two clubs are relegated. The 2013/14 season again was played only with eight teams. The top six after the regular season play a championship group, the seventh plays a relegation play-off and the eight placed team gets relegated.

Clubs

National champions

2021–22 season

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

Aarhus GF Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howeve ...

* Brøndby IF *

Fortuna Hjørring Fortuna Hjørring is a women's association football team from Hjørring, Denmark. The club was formed in 1966 and play in green and white. Their biggest achievement in European football was reaching the 2002–03 UEFA Women's Cup final where they ...

Kolding IF Kolding IF is an association football club based in Kolding, Denmark. The team competes in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of Danish football, after suffering relegation at the end of the 2020–21 season. Founded in 1895, Kolding IF pl ...

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. It ...

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

* FC Thy-Thisted Q

Footnotes

References

External links

Official league site
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Summer association football leagues League Women's sports leagues in Denmark Professional sports leagues in Denmark