1997 Norwegian First Division

The 1997 1. divisjon, Norway's second-tier football league, began play on 20 April 1997 and ended on 12 October 1997. The league was contested by 14 teams, and the top two teams won promotion to Tippeligaen, while the third placed played a promotion-playoff against the 12th-placed team in Tippeligaen to win promotion. The bottom four teams were relegated to the 2. divisjon.

1. divisjon

Season	1997
Dates	20 April – 12 October
Champions	Vålerenga
Promoted	Vålerenga Moss
Relegated	Runar Drøbak/Frogn Harstad Sarpsborg
Matches played	182
Goals scored	540 (2.97 per match)
Top goalscorer	Espen Musæus (16 goals)
← 1996 1998 →

Vålerenga and Moss won promotion to Tippeligaen, while Eik-Tønsberg lost the promotion-playoff against Tromsø. Runar, Drøbak/Frogn, Harstad and Sarpsborg was relegated to the 2. divisjon.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Vålerenga (C, P)	26	19	3	4	70	21	+49	60	Promotion to Tippeligaen
2	Moss (P)	26	19	2	5	52	27	+25	59
3	Eik-Tønsberg	26	11	7	8	43	34	+9	40	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Start	26	11	7	8	41	44	−3	40
5	Odd Grenland	26	11	6	9	39	36	+3	39
6	Byåsen	26	11	4	11	42	36	+6	37
7	Hødd	26	11	3	12	35	40	−5	36
8	HamKam	26	9	8	9	40	34	+6	35
9	Bryne	26	10	5	11	46	42	+4	35
10	Aalesund	26	11	2	13	36	36	0	35
11	Runar (R)	26	10	4	12	35	45	−10	34	Relegation to Second Division
12	Drøbak/Frogn (R)	26	6	6	14	21	47	−26	24
13	Harstad (R)	26	4	8	14	21	52	−31	20
14	Sarpsborg (R)	26	5	3	18	19	46	−27	18

Source: nifs.no
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AAL	BRY	BYÅ	D/F	EIK	HAM	HAR	ILH	MOS	ODD	RUN	SAR	IKS	VÅL
Aalesund	—	0–2	0–3	3–0	1–2	3–0	3–1	4–2	0–1	3–0	2–0	3–0	1–3	1–2
Bryne	0–1	—	1–5	1–2	3–1	1–0	7–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–0	5–5	1–1
Byåsen	2–1	3–2	—	3–0	1–3	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	1–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	2–3
Drøbak/Frogn	0–1	0–2	1–3	—	0–3	0–0	1–3	3–0	0–5	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–4	1–2
Eik-Tønsberg	3–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	—	2–2	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	4–0	0–6
HamKam	4–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	4–2	—	4–0	0–0	0–1	2–3	5–3	0–1	0–0	0–2
Harstad	1–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	—	2–0	0–4	1–4	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–1
Hødd	3–0	5–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	0–3	0–0	—	2–1	1–3	2–3	1–0	2–1	0–2
Moss	1–0	1–2	3–2	2–0	2–2	2–0	5–0	1–0	—	1–3	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–1
Odd Grenland	1–1	2–3	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	3–1	1–3	—	2–3	4–2	1–3	0–0
Runar	3–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–3	0–0	2–1	3–0	0–1	0–1	—	2–1	1–3	0–2
Sarpsborg	0–2	0–5	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–5	1–3	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–4	—	2–2	0–0
Start	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–4	1–4	3–0	0–4	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	—	2–0
Vålerenga	1–0	3–0	3–1	5–1	3–2	5–0	2–0	4–1	6–2	3–0	8–0	1–2	4–0	—

Source: NIFS (in Norwegian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Espen Musæus	Vålerenga	16
2	Espen Haug	Vålerenga	14
3	John Erik Ødegaard	Byåsen	13
	Tommy Sylte	Moss
5	Bengt Sæternes	Odd Grenland	12
	Caleb Francis	Bryne
	Erling Ytterland	Aalesund
8	Fredrik Thorsen	Runar	11
	Jarle Raastad	Runar
10	Bjørn Tore Hansen	Aalesund	9
	Kjell Roar Kaasa	Vålerenga
	Krister Isaksen	Start

See also

• 1997 Tippeligaen
• 1997 2. divisjon
• 1997 3. divisjon