Fotballklubben Eik Tønsberg Allianseidrettslag (formerly known as Eik-Tønsberg), is a Norwegian

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 ...

club from the Eik neighborhood of

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

. The club got its current name on 1 January 2020 after a merger with

FK Tønsberg FK Tønsberg was a football club from the city of Tønsberg in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway, founded on 10 October 2001 as a cooperation project between 20 local clubs. The new team replaced Eik-Tønsberg in the Norwegian ...

. The football team competes with the name FK Eik Tønsberg 871 where the number represents the founding year of the town of

History

The club was founded as ''Eik Idrettsforening'' on 14 March 1928, and included the city name

in 1989. Before 1988, the district Eik was located in

Sem Municipality Sem is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1988. The area is now part of Tønsberg Municipality. The administrative centre was the ...

, but Sem was incorporated into Tønsberg. It was formerly a team of nationwide importance. The team played their first season in the

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 ...

in the 1957–58 season and finished in sixth place out of eight teams in group B. In the 1959–60 season they finished second in the Main League group B, reaching a bronze play-off match which they won 4–2 against Vålerengen. Since this was the first time a bronze play-off was held, Eik became the first bronze medalists in Norwegian football's top division. In the following 1960–61 season they won the Main League group B, reaching a gold playoff match which they lost to

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 ...

. Well-known players were

Arne Natland Arne Natland (22 May 1927 – 6 November 2009) was a Norwegian footballer. He played for Skeid in the top Norwegian league, and later moved to Tønsberg and played for Eik-Tønsberg. He was capped 26 times for the Norwegian national team, witho ...

Arne Høivik Arne Fredrik Høivik (9 January 1932 – 16 March 2017) was a Norwegian footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Americ ...

and

Tore Halvorsen Tore H. Halvorsen (59 ) is the Senior Vice President of Subsea Technologies division at FMC Technologies, a division focused on technology and systems for the exploration, drilling and developing of offshore oil and gas fields, including deepwater ...

, all of whom were capped by

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 ...

. Eik were promoted to the Norwegian top flight in 1982, finished fifth in 1983, and were relegated in 1985. Among the profiles on this team were midfielder Geir "Bolla" Johansen and striker

Nick Sandberg Nick Sandberg (born 17 October 1958) is a Norwegian footballer. He played in one match for the Norway national football team The Norway national football team (, or informally ''Landslaget'') represents Norway in men's international Associa ...

, both of whom played briefly on the international stage, as well as future

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

goalkeeper

Erik Thorstvedt Erik Thorstvedt (born 28 October 1962) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 97 caps for the Norway national team, and was the starter in goal at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He played for Viking, Eik-Tøn ...

who left the club after the 1983 season. In the 1990s the team was a mainstay 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 ...

, the second tier. After the 1997 season it even contested a

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

to win promotion to the

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 ...

, but did not win. The team was relegated after the 2000 1. divisjon season, and played in the 2001 2. divisjon.

Merger with FK Tønsberg

On 10 October 2001, a new club was founded.

was to be an umbrella team in the district, and was supported by 20 teams in the region. As Eik-Tønsberg was the best regional team, FK Tønsberg took their place in the league system from

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and Eik-Tønsberg started anew. Eik-Tønsberg won their 3. divisjon group in both 2003, 2004 and 2005, but in each year it succumbed to other clubs in the

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. In 2010 the club also contested the playoffs as the 2nd placed team, but was again defeated, and remained in the 3. divisjon. It was relegated to the 4. divisjon after the 2012 season. The club was promoted back to the 3. divisjon for the 2015 season, but was relegated again in 2016. After the 2020 merger with FK Tønsberg, Eik Tønsberg advanced a tier since FK Tønsberg played in the 3. divisjon at the time. In 2023, FK Eik Tønsberg were promoted to the 2. divisjon.

Recent seasons

Sources:

Current squad

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eik Tonsberg Football clubs in Norway Eliteserien clubs Sport in Tønsberg Association football clubs established in 1928 1928 establishments in Norway