Sarpsborg 08 FF

Football in Sarpsborg has traditionally been dominated by Sarpsborg FK (SFK), which won the Norwegian Cup six times and played 20 seasons in the top division, and to a lesser extent IL Sparta, which won the Norwegian Cup in 1952 and played nine seasons in the top division. However, after SFK's relegation from the 1974, no teams from Sarpsborg played in the top division for the next two decades. In 1999, 16 teams in the Sarpsborg area joined forces to create a team that could compete in the top divisions of Norwegian football, called Sarpsborg Fotball, which overtook SFK's spot in the league-system. In its first season, the team was relegated from the 2. divisjon, and several clubs, including both SFK and Sparta, withdrew from the collaboration.

The remaining clubs in the "Sarpsborg Fotball" project formed a new club called Borg Fotball, which won promotion to the 2. divisjon in 2002, but was relegated again in 2003. Meanwhile, Sparta was promoted to the Second Division the same season, and re-entered the collaboration club which now was renamed FK Sparta Sarpsborg. The club earned promotion to 1. divisjon (the second tier of Norwegian football) in 2005.

At the end of the 2007 season, the last major club in the district, Sarpsborg FK, joined the collaboration of teams and ended a rather long and hefty rivalry between the two clubs. At the same time, in an effort to unite the different factions within the collaboration, the jersey was changed and the club renamed itself Sarpsborg Sparta FK. This name remained a source of contention throughout the 2008 season, however, and a new name, Sarpsborg 08 FF, was adopted in 2009.

The 2009 season started badly for Sarpsborg, and it appeared they would be fighting against relegation to the 2. divisjon. The situation worsened when the Football Association of Norway determined that Sarpsborg 08 had submitted an unrealistic budget when they obtained their license to play in the 1. divisjon, and were penalized three points in June, leaving Sarpsborg in a relegation spot.^[2] However, after Roar Johansen became coach, the second part of the season went well for the team, which not only climbed out of the relegation spots, but finished fifth, allowing them to participate in the qualification matches for the 2010 Tippeligaen. In the semi-final match of the qualification, Sarpsborg defeated local rivals Fredrikstad FK 2–0 (who were therefore relegated from the top division).^[3] In the home match of the qualification final, Sarpsborg defeated Kongsvinger 3–2,^[4] but lost the second leg 3–1 and remained in the 1. divisjon.^[5]

The 2010 season ended with a 4–0 home-win against Alta. This meant that the team ended in second place, after league-winner Sogndal, and won the right to play in the 2011 edition of the Tippeligaen.

The 2011 season started with a surprising 3–0 win against Molde in Ole Gunnar Solskjær first match as manager of Molde. But after a good start, Sarpsborg was relegated back to 1. divisjon on 23 October 2011, when they lost 3–0 away at Brann with three rounds left to play. The club finished last with only 21 points.

In the 2012 season, Sarpsborg finished the 1. divisjon in second place and was promoted to Tippeligaen. On 3 January 2013, former Sheffield United striker Brian Deane was appointed as head coach. In 2015, Geir Bakke took over as head coach and led the club to their first Norwegian Cup final. They lost the 2015 Norwegian Football Cup final 0−2 against Rosenborg. In 2017 they repeated the feat and reached the final again, but lost 2–3 against Lillestrøm. Sarpsborg finished in third place in the 2017 Eliteserien, their first medal-winning position in club history.

On 30 August 2018 Sarpsborg 08 qualified for the group stage of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League for the first time in history.^[6]

Sarpsborg 08 has gained a reputation as one of the best springboards for African players in need of a European acclimatization club. Senegalese Makthar Thioune played three years for Sparta Sarpsborg and Sarpsborg Sparta (Sarpsborg 08's predecessors) in the second tier, and when Molde purchased him in 2009 he was immediately "Player of the Year" in the top league, with the third highest rating in a 25-year period. He later played in Germany. Another big Sarpsborg 08 transfer in 2014 happened when Guangshou R&F manager Sven Göran Eriksson purchased Aaron Samuel from Sarpsborg 08 for €1.4m. Samuel blossomed in Sarpsborg with 13 goals in a year, after only 2 goals in big city club Vålerenga. He also scored both his goals for Nigeria in 2014. In 2017 Sarpsborg 08 signed Krepin Diatta from Senegal. He hardly played in his first half year in the club, but then blossomed with 5 goals and 8 assists in 3 months. Diatta was then sold to Brügge for €2.65m and later to Monaco for €16.7m. In 2019 Sarpsborg 08 signed Malian Ismaila Coulibaly and while acclimatized he only started 5 matches in the first 35 league matches while in the club. Then he was given the chance at a time the club was rock bottom with five losses in five matches. The club then took 17 points in the next 6 weeks and Coulibaly dominated with 4 goals, leading to Sheffield United purchasing him for €2m. Being only the 16th largest municipality in Norway, the processing of African teenage talents has been a major success factor leading to Sarpsborg 08 fighting above the size of the city.

Season	League	Pos.[7]	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Top scorer	Player of the year [8]	Notes
Pre-existence
2000	2. divisjon	↓ 9	22	6	7	9	33	36	25	First round	Jon Bjerkholt		As Sarpsborg Fotball, relegated to the 3. divisjon
2001	3. divisjon	5	22	12	2	8	47	33	38	First round	Pål Østby		As Navestad in tables, commercial name was FF Sarpsborg
2002	3. divisjon	↑ 1	22	19	2	1	76	14	59	First round	Jørn Holmen		Name changed to Borg Fotball, promoted to 2. divisjon
2002	3. divisjon	2	22	16	5	1	67	27	53	First round			As FK Sparta Sarpsborg, status as secondary club
2003	2. divisjon	↓ 11	22	5	9	12	35	56	24	Second round	Gjermund B. Hansen		As Borg Fotball, relegated to the 3. divisjon, name changed to FK Sparta Sarpsborg 2
2003	3. divisjon	↑ 1	22	17	4	1	88	24	55	Second round	Lasse Alexandersen		As FK Sparta Sarpsborg, promoted to the 2. divisjon
2004	2. divisjon	2	26	16	4	6	63	38	52	Second round	Lasse Alexandersen		As FK Sparta Sarpsborg, now defined as primary club
2005	2. divisjon	↑ 1	26	21	1	4	90	28	64	Second round	Ronald Turner		Promoted to the 1. divisjon
2006	1. divisjon	10	30	11	6	13	44	56	37	First round	Fredrik Dahm	Makhtar Thioune
2007	1. divisjon	13	30	8	8	14	50	52	32	Second round	Bjørnar Johannessen	Bjørnar Johannessen	Avoided relegation because Raufoss had its license revoked
Club history
2008	1. divisjon	10	30	10	7	13	45	43	37	Third round	Martin Wiig	Are Tronseth	Name changed to Sarpsborg Sparta FK
2009	1. divisjon	5	30	15	5	10	47	38	47	Second round	Martin Wiig	Are Tronseth	Name changed to Sarpsborg 08 FF
2010	1. divisjon	↑ 2	28	16	6	6	54	36	54	Third round	Martin Wiig & Morten Giæver	Ole Heieren Hansen	Promoted to the Tippeligaen
2011	Tippeligaen	↓ 16	30	5	6	19	31	65	21	Fourth round	Martin Wiig	Øyvind Hoås	Relegated to the 1. divisjon
2012	1. divisjon	↑ 2	30	19	6	5	73	43	63	Third round	Martin Wiig	Tom Erik Breive	Promoted to the Tippeligaen
2013	Tippeligaen	14	30	8	7	15	40	58	31	Second round	Martin Wiig & Moi Elyounoussi	Duwayne Kerr
2014	Tippeligaen	8	30	10	10	10	41	48	40	Semifinal	Bojan Zajic	Joachim Thomassen
2015	Tippeligaen	11	30	8	10	12	37	49	34	Runners-up	Bojan Zajic	Anders Trondsen
2016	Tippeligaen	6	30	12	9	9	35	37	45	Quarterfinal	Pål A. Kirkevold	Sigurd Rosted
2017	Eliteserien	3	30	13	12	5	50	36	51	Runners-up	Patrick Mortensen	Sigurd Rosted
2018	Eliteserien	8	30	11	8	11	46	39	41	Third round	Patrick Mortensen	Joachim Thomassen	Europa League group stage
2019	Eliteserien	12	30	5	15	10	30	40	30	Third round	Kristoffer Zachariassen	Kristoffer Zachariassen
2020	Eliteserien	12	30	8	8	14	33	43	32	Cancelled	Mustafa Abdellaoue	Anton Saletros
2021	Eliteserien	8	30	11	6	13	39	44	39	Quarterfinal	Ibrahima Koné	Bjørn Inge Utvik
2022	Eliteserien	8	30	12	5	13	57	54	41	Second round	Tobias Heintz	Anton Saletros
2023	Eliteserien	8	30	12	5	13	55	52	41	Quarter final	Mikkel Maigaard
2024 (in progress)	Eliteserien	11	29	9	7	13	41	54	34	Fourth round	Henrik Meister

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Agg.
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1QR	ÍBV	2−0	4−0	6−0
		2QR	St. Gallen	1−0	1–2	2−2 (a)
		3QR	Rijeka	1−1	1−0	2−1
		PO	Maccabi Tel Aviv	3−1	1–2	4−3
		Group I	Beşiktaş	2–3	1–3	4th
			Genk	3−1	0–4
			Malmö	1–1	1–1

Notes

• 1QR: First qualifying round
• 2QR: Second qualifying round
• 3QR: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

As of 29 August 2024^[9][10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   SEN Mamour Ndiaye 2 DF   NED Menno Koch 4 DF   NOR Nikolai Skuseth 5 DF   NOR Magnar Ødegaard 6 MF   SWE Aimar Sher 7 FW   GAM Alagie Sanyang 8 MF   NOR Harald Nilsen Tangen 10 MF   NOR Stefan Johansen 11 MF   SWE Simon Tibbling 13 GK   FIN Carljohan Eriksson 14 FW   NOR Jo Inge Berget 16 FW   DEN Frederik Carstensen 17 MF   NOR Anders Hiim 18 MF   NOR Håvard Åsheim 19 FW   ISL Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen 20 DF   NOR Peter Reinhardsen 22 MF   NOR Victor Emanuel Halvorsen

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF   NOR Niklas Sandberg 25 DF   NOR Jesper Gregersen 26 MF   NGA Daniel Job (on loan from Future Pro) 27 FW   NOR Sondre Ørjasæter 29 FW   NOR Martin Håheim-Elveseter 30 DF   NGA Franklin Tebo Uchenna 31 MF   SEN Amidou Diop 32 DF   NOR Eirik Wichne 37 FW   POL Paweł Chrupałła (on loan from Rosenborg) 40 GK   NOR Leander Øy 72 MF   NOR Sander Christiansen 74 FW   NOR Aridon Racaj 81 MF   NOR Mathias Svenningsen-Grønn 83 DF   NOR Adam Kaszuba 98 MF   NOR Rafik Zekhnini 99 MF   NOR Elias Haug

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 GK   NOR Anders Kristiansen (at IFK Göteborg until end of 2024) 77 DF   NOR Markus Welinder (at Mjøndalen until end of 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   NOR Jakob Johannes Auby (at FK Ørn Horten until end of 2024) — GK   NOR Jarik Sundling (at Moss FK until end of 2024)

Below are notable players who have represented Sarpsborg 08. To appear in the section below, a player must have either at least two international matches or Champions League matches (group stage or later), 150 official club matches or 30 club goals, including appearances and goals for preceding teams mentioned in pre-existence phase. Players are sorted by birth date.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sarpsborg 08.

• Official website (in Norwegian)
• Supporter site (in Norwegian)