Women's football in Norway is one of the traditional powers of women's football. Football is the most popular sport in Norway. The Norwegian Women's Football Championship is a tournament reserved for women's football teams divided into six levels, consisting of a national championship in the top three under the management of the Norwegian Football Association, while the lower ones are managed by various regional associations. Toppserien is the biggest football division in Norway by importance and is followed by the 1st division hierarchy. The Norwegian football system consists of a series of alloys linked to each other by hierarchy through promotions and relegations. In each division the teams face an Italian round with round-trip matches. Three points are assigned to the winning team, one point for each team in the event of a draw and zero points for the losing team.
History
Women's football has been played in Norway as early as 1928. The Norwegian Football Federation first officially recognised women's football in 1976 and the first national team was established two years later with Per Pettersen becoming Norway's first manager. The first ever win for the female national side came against Northern Ireland and the first major achievement came in 1987 when they won the European Championship after beating Sweden in the final.
National competition
The highest level is the Toppserien, a division consisting of 12 teams, which assigns the champion title of Norway. From the Toppserien they are relegated to 1. division the teams ranked at the last two places of the final standings. The second level is represented by the 1st division, created in 1996 and consisting of 12 teams. The first two classifieds of the 1st. division are promoted in Toppserien, while the last two are back in 2nd division. The third level is represented by the 2nd division, consisting of groups with a variable number of up to 12 teams each, geographically divided. The winning teams of the nine groups, the first two of only group 1, are facing to define the two teams promoted in 1. division, while the relegations are individually managed by the regional associations.
