VG believes that the club name Rosenborg will win a Norwegian women’s league title for the first time.
The predecessor Trondheims-Ørn did indeed win seven series championships in the period 1994 to 2003, while the new Rosenborg Kvinner saw the light of day in 2020.
It was silver in 2020 and 2021. In the playoff year 2022, the Trønders won bronze. Now it’s time for gold in Trondheim after the people from Bergen have won series championships two years in a row, first as Sandviken, then as Brann.
The playoffs are – fortunately, in the opinion of many – a wreck. Instead, the clubs will meet three times during the season.
VG tip:
1. Rosenborg
Rosenborg has kept the tribe in the team. There aren’t that many new faces, but the continuity speaks for Trondheim’s pride. It should be Rosenborg’s turn.
Elin Sørum and Matilde Alsaker Rogde are with us after long-term injuries, and the stable seems wide and good.
Steinar Lein is still a coach in a club where traditions are embedded in the walls – both on the women’s and men’s side.
2. Fire
Two cheering seasons are over. Many players are gone, new ones have come in – and Brann is starting a bit anew. But even if names like Guro Bergsvand, Lisa Fjeldstad Naalsund, Elisabeth Terland (disappeared to England in the middle of the season), Tuva Hansen and Therese Sessy Åsland are difficult to replace, Olli Harder (who took over the responsibility when Alexander Straus left for Bayern Munich) has a good foundation to build on.
A good handful of replacements have been brought in, among them Andrine Stolsmo Hegerberg, but is the stable as good as in 2022? Time will tell.
3. Vålerenga
Vålerenga won in 2020 and took silver in 2022. The Oslo team is very solid defensively and scored many goals last year.
Last season’s top scorer in the league, Elise Thorsnes, is taking on a new season as a 34-year-old, and Vålerenga has gained an exciting offensive addition in Swedish Felicia Rogic from Eskilstuna. That means two very experienced players.
Vålerenga are hungry for gold, but we think it will be another almost season.
4. Stabæk
Stabæk surprisingly managed to get to the top play-off with the top four last year – and hardly has a worse team this year.
Coach Petter Belsvik has a young team, but these players still have good experience – and the team looks strong.
Stabæk conceded quite a few goals in 2022, so it will be important to get the back rows in order.
5. Lyn
Lyn is ready for its sixth straight season at the top level, and the club from Oslo West has managed to lay a good foundation. Last year’s 6th place in the basic game was a surprise, but there is nothing to suggest that Lyn will be worse this year. The club is good at bringing out young talent.
Among those for whom there are great expectations in 2023 are Kamilla Melgård and Julie Aune Jorde.
6. LSK Women
The old defender André Bergdølmo is the new coach, and LSK are optimistic after last year’s season with conflicts and a bad atmosphere.
National team goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand will be good to have at the back, but we are unsure how good the stable is as a whole.
The club, which won the league seven times between 2012 and 2019, ended up in 7th place in 2022. We are tipping one notch up.
7. Roa
The club from Oslo’s best west end is dangerous to write off. They have their own ability to bounce back, no matter how dark it looks. Røa had a bad first season in 2022, but fought back and saved their place in the relegation game in the autumn.
Geir Nordby is “as usual” coach, and he is a tactical fool. Siw Døvle’s cruciate ligament injury does not suit him very well.
The old greatness Dynamite Girls is definitely not what it once was – but the opportunities should be there to save the place.
8. The hills
Åsane has largely the same crew as last year, when they took the step up after 11 years at level two. And ensured that there are now three Bergen teams in the league.
Even if Åsane cannot be at the top, it is so even further down that they should have usable opportunities to save their place at the top level.
Many in Åsane’s starting line-up have played in the Toppserien for other clubs in the past.
9. Avaldsnes
John Arne Riise’s women narrowly saved their place in 2022. The decision came in the 116th minute of the second qualifying match against level two team Øvrevoll Hosle. There could be a new battle for survival in 2023.
As usual, there are quite a few replacements in the stable at Avaldsnes. Danish Maria Hovmark is an exciting addition – but the 23-year-old has been injury-prone so far in her career.
The results in the training matches have not been reassuring.
10. Arna-Bjørnar
Without Marte Hjelmhaug (LSK Women) and Meryll Abrahamsen (Stabæk), Arna-Bjørnar is betting very young. The team has lost to both Åsane and Røa in the training matches.
Arna-Bjørnar certainly impressed in the relegation play-off in 2022 – after a weak basic game. They may need that ability to rise in the autumn this season as well.