#NorwegianFootballinEnglish Tippeligaen Predictions

No start to a football season would be complete without the wild guesswork also known as league predictions. I’ve been lucky enough to receive predictions for the 2012 Norwegian season by some of the very best people tweeting in English about Tippeligaen. Before I look at what the combined knowledge of these fine gentlemen has come up with, let me first introduce them properly.

Brendan Husebø (@brendanhusebo)  is one of the most knowledgeable and perceptive people when it comes to Norwegian football, and a range of other leagues, on Twitter.

Vegard Flemmen Vaagbø (@RBFlemma – he also has a Norwegian language account, @RBVegard) is a sports journalist with Romsdals Budstikke in Norway. He is in my opinion the leading professional journalist tweeting about Tippeligaen in English, and as he is with a Molde-based paper nobody will have better access to Solskjær’s team.

Ben Cullimore (@thenorsenetwork) has given himself the impressive task of following football throughout all the Nordic countries. He also has a personal twitter account, @mnmlftbl.  

A special mention should also go to David Nikel and his blog, Life In Norway (@LifeInNorway). His full predictions are not included here, but there will be a lot of football related material on his blog in the year ahead, in addition to other insights in what it’s like to be an expat in Oslo.

So without further ado, here are the combined #NorwegianFootballinEnglish league predictions:

1.         Molde – 4

2.         Rosenborg -8

3.         Vålerenga – 16

4.         Tromsø – 21

5.         Viking – 23

6.         Brann – 23

7.         Aalesund – 31

8.         Lillestrøm – 32  

9.         Odd Grenland – 32

10.       Strømsgodset – 37

11.       Haugesund – 39

12.       Fredrikstad – 48

13.       Stabæk – 53

14.       Sandnes Ulf – 57

15.       Hønefoss – 58

16.       Sogndal – 62   

(Points were calculated by adding together the positions for each team)

Like my own season review, the predictions first seem to divide the table into three parts. Vålerenga, Rosenborg and Molde are expected to cover the top three, and we have the four usual suspects at the bottom, with the rest thrown into the mix in the middle. However, if you look at the combined points total the picture is slightly different.

Tromsø, Brann and Viking are expected to follow the top three closely, while there is a new, separate group fighting for the places between 7th and 11th  place. While all four of us have tipped Fredrikstad in 12th, it is clear that nobody would be surprised if they slipped into relegation trouble.

Perhaps surprisingly, it is Sandnes Ulf that are tipped for the play-off spot in 13th, above Hønefoss, who beat them to the Addecoligaen title last year. Sogndal is expected to finish bottom at the table, while Stabæk have been given a lot more faith from us than some major news outlets in Norway have.

When looking at the individual tables below, the biggest difference in a prediction for a single team involved Lillestrøm. While Vegard have predicted them as high as third, Ben has put them at the other end of the table on 13th. Brendan and myself are sitting on the proverbial fence, both predicting Lillestrøm to finish 8th.

The most clear and important conclusion is found at the top of the table. All four of us predict Molde to be the first team other than Rosenborg to retain the title since 1984. If that prophecy is fulfilled, it would mark the first substantial shift in Norwegian football power in over two decades.

We will start to find out exactly how wrong our predictions are by tonight, when Molde host Strømsgodset in the first match of the 2012 Tippeligaen season.  

Individual predictions:

 Vegard Flemmen Vaagbø  – @RBFlemma

1.    Molde

2.    Rosenborg

3.    Lillestrøm

4.    Viking

5.    Aalesund

6.    Vålerenga

7.     Brann

8.     Tromsø

9.     Strømsgodset

10.   Haugesund

11.   Odd Grenland

12.   Fredrikstad

13.   Stabæk

14.   Sandnes Ulf

15.   Hønefoss

16.   Sogndal

 

Brendan Husebø – @brendanhusebo

1. Molde

2. Rosenborg

3. Vålerenga

4. Brann

5. Viking

6. Tromsø

7. Aalesund

8. Lillestrøm

9. Odd Grenland

10. Haugesund

11. Strømsgodset

12. Fredrikstad

13. Sandnes Ulf

14. Hønefloss

15. Stabæk

16. Sogndal

 

Ben Cullimore – @thenorsenetwork

1. Molde

2. Rosenborg

3. Tromsø

4. Vålerenga

5. Brann

6. Odd Grenland

7. Strømgodset

8. Haugesund

9. Viking

10. Aalesund

11. Stabæk

12. Fredrikstad

13. Lillestrøm

14. Sandnes Ulf

15. Sogndal

16. Hønefoss

 

Christian Wulff – @ahellofabeating

1. Molde

2. Rosenborg

3. Vålerenga

4. Tromsø

5. Viking

6. Odd Grenland

7. Brann

8. Lillestrøm

9. Aalesund

10. Strømsgodset

11. Haugesund

12. Fredrikstad 

13. Hønefoss

14. Stabæk

15. Sogndal 

16. Sandnes Ulf