Hello football fans from wherever in the world you are reading this! Since my Eliteserien season preview seemed to provide some unique content that was not covered elsewhere, I’ve decided to carry on with providing regular updates throughout the Eliteserien season, giving all readers the in-depth coverage in English that you would miss out on if you do not speak Norwegian. With that said, let’s take a look at how the matches played out in week 1!

The four teams I labelled as title contenders pre-season: Bodo/Glimt, Rosenborg, Molde, and Vålerenga, had few surprises. In the first game of the season, Rosenborg hosted Viking FK, and were lucky to escape with 3 points off a 1-0 victory, who’s scoreline did not reflect the pattern of play. Viking produced almost 3 times the amount of xG as Rosenborg, but were unable to convert any of their 4 shots on target, while Rosenborg scored their only shot on target. These are the kinds of wins you need to secure to fight for the title. Elsewhere, Vålerenga and Bodo/Glimt picked up away wins, 1-0 at Aalesund, and 2-0 at Sarpsborg, respectively. Molde was our only title contender to not win their first match, losing 0-1 away to Tromso. It looks more like an anomaly result than a cause for concern, with Molde amassing an impressive 3.48xG on 24 shots (6 on target) to Tromso’s 0.98xG. What makes this more impressive, is that Tromso missed a penalty, which accounted for 0.79/0.98xG. Somehow, through Vegard Ostraat Erlien, Tromso got their goal from 0.19 open play xG, and defended well enough to get the 3 points. Molde should rebound well in their next match.

A projected mid-table match between Brann and FK Haugesund at the Brann Stadion ended in a dominant 3-0 victory for the home side Bard Finne bagged a brace, and the match never looked in question.

In a battle of two teams I projected to be fighting their way out of the relegation places this year, HamKam won a dominant 2-0 victory over Sandefjord at home, producing significanly more chances and deserving their win. As the Lillestrom/Stromsgodset game was postponed, the final game of the week was a 0-0 draw between Stabaek and Odd. Odd have their keeper, Leopold Wahlstedt (a player I bought on my FM save), to thank for the point, as he made 8 saves in the match.

Here’s a look at the league table after the first week.

A great first week for our northernmost clubs, seeing Tromso, Bodo/Glimt, and Rosenborg all picking up wins, while Molde failing to make their many chances count was the biggest surprise of the week. The Eliteserien will start Matchweek 2 on Saturday, April 15 with Viking FK hosting Lillestrøm. Molde will have a tough test to try and avoid starting their season with back-to-back losses as they host Rosenborg.

Check in again soon for more updates from Norway, and other places around the footballing world!

Have a great day everyone 🙂

-Lukas