The 2012

Tippeligaen 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 ...

was the 68th completed season of top division

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 ...

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 competition began on 23 March 2012 and ended on 18 November 2012, with a summer break from 28 May to 30 June.

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

were the defending champions, while

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 ...

and

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 ...

entered as the promoted teams from the 2011 1. divisjon. They replaced

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

and Sarpsborg 08 who were relegated to the 2012 1. divisjon. On 11 November 2011, Molde won the title with one matchday left to play after a 1–0 home win over Hønefoss. It was their second consecutive league title and also their second top-flight title overall.

Season summary

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

were leading the league most of the season, but four matches before the end of the season there were three teams competing for the title. Rosenborg lost out on the title-race after losing to Strømsgodset and

. Molde secured the title in the 29th round after they won 1–0 at home, while Strømsgodset lost 2–1 against Sandnes Ulf. Stabæk were relegated after being positioned at the bottom of the table throughout the season. Ahead of the last round, four teams were fighting against relegation, but

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") 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 municipal ...

lost their match against the league-winners Molde and were relegated, while

finished 14th and played relegation play-offs against Ullensaker/Kisa, the sixth-placed team in the

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 ...

. Sandnes Ulf won the play-offs 7–1 on aggregate (4–0 away and 3–1 at home), and were not relegated. The average attendance in 2012 were 7,014 spectators, down from 7,995 in 2011, which was the lowest average attendance in Tippeligaen since 2003.

Teams

Sixteen teams competed in the league – the top fourteen teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the

The promoted teams were

(returning after a season's absence) and

(their first post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

top-flight season). They replaced Sarpsborg 08 (relegated after their first ever presence) and

(ending their three-year spell in the top flight).

Stadiums and locations

:''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''

Managerial changes

League table

Positions by round

Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, Stabæk and

were relegated directly to 1. divisjon, and will be replaced by

and

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 ...

who were directly promoted. Five teams entered a play-off for the last Tippeligaen spot in the 2013 season. These were: * A)

(by virtue of being the 14th placed team in the Tippeligaen) * B)

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

(by virtue of being the third placed team in the 1. divisjon) * C)

Mjøndalen Mjøndalen is a built up area in Drammen municipality in Buskerud, Buskerud county, Norway. It is situated south of the Drammenselva River opposite of Krokstadelva. History Mjøndalen has traditionally been a railway site most known as an indu ...

(by virtue of being the fourth placed team in the 1. divisjon) * D) Bodø/Glimt (by virtue of being the fifth placed team in the 1. divisjon) * E) Ullensaker/Kisa (by virtue of being the sixth placed team in the 1. divisjon) The four 1. divisjon teams first played a single game knockout tournament, with the winner (Ull/Kisa) advancing to a two-legged tie against the Tippeligaen team (Sandnes Ulf) for the 16th and final spot in the 2013 season. Sandnes Ulf retained their Tippeligaen spot with an aggregate 7–1 win over Ull/Kisa. ;Results ---- ---- ''Sandnes Ulf won 7–1 on aggregate.'' ----

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Source:Alt om fotball
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Discipline

Player

*Most yellow cards: 7 **

Tremaine Stewart Tremaine Stewart (5 January 1988 – 18 April 2021) was a Jamaican professional footballer who played as a forward or winger. Club career Nicknamed 'Tan Tan', he began his career in his native homeland, playing for August Town and Portmore U ...

(Aalesund) *Most red cards: 1 **23 players

Club

*Most yellow cards: 48 **Lillestrøm *Most red cards: 3 **Fredrikstad **Sandnes Ulf **Vålerenga

Attendances

Awards

Annual awards

Goalkeeper of the Year

The Goalkeeper of the Year awarded to Kenneth Udjus (

Sogndal Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

)

Defender of the Year

The Defender of the Year awarded to Vegard Forren (

)

Midfielder of the Year

The Midfielder of the Year awarded to Magnus Wolff Eikrem (Molde)

Striker of the Year

The Striker of the Year awarded to

Alexander Søderlund Alexander Toft Søderlund (born 3 August 1987) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Vard Haugesund. He has represented the Norway national team. Club career After playing for Stegaberg IL in his youth, Søderlund ...

(

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

)

Coach of the Year

The Coach of the Year awarded to

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He spent the majority of his playing career with Manchester United and made 67 appea ...

(Molde)

References

{{2012–13 in European football (UEFA) Eliteserien seasons 1