Danish Superliga

History

Founded in 1991, the Danish Superliga replaced the Danish 1st Division as the highest league of football in Denmark. From the start in 1991, 10 teams were participating. The opening Superliga season was played during the spring of 1991, with the ten teams playing each other twice for the championship title. From the summer of 1991, the tournament structure would stretch over two calendar years. The 10 teams would play each other twice in the first half of the tournament. In the following spring, the bottom two teams would be cut off, the points of the teams would be cut in half, and the remaining eight teams would once more play each other twice, for a total of 32 games in a season.

This practice was abandoned before the 1995–96 season, when the number of teams competing was increased to 12, playing each other thrice for 33 games per Superliga season. For the first season of this new structure, Coca-Cola became the name sponsor of the league, which was then named Coca-Cola Ligaen. After a single season under that name, Faxe Brewery became sponsors and the league changed its name to Faxe Kondi Ligaen. Before the 2001–02 season, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) became the head sponsor, and the name of the tournament changed to SAS Ligaen. From January 2015 the Danish Superliga would be known as Alka Superliga, as the Danish insurance company Alka became name sponsor.

Logos used for naming rights agreements for the league: File:Coca-Cola Ligaen 1995.jpg | Coca-Cola Ligaen (1995–96) Sponsor: Coca-Cola File:Faxe Kondi Ligaen.png | Faxe Kondi Ligaen (1996–97 until 2000–01) Sponsor: Faxe Brewery File:SAS Ligaen logo.svg | SAS Ligaen (2001–02 until 2009–10) Sponsor: SAS File:Superliga 2010.svg | Superligaen (2010–11 until 31 Dec 2014) No league sponsor File:Alka Superliga (2015).svg | Alka Superliga (1 Jan 2015 until 2017–18) Sponsor: Alka File:Superliga 2010.svg | Superligaen 2018–19 No league sponsor File:3F_Superliga_Logo.jpg | 3F Superliga (Since 2019–20) Sponsor: United Federation of Danish Workers

Structure

From 1996 through 2016, the league included 12 clubs which played each other three times. The two teams with the fewest points at the end of the season were relegated to the Danish 1st Division and replaced by the top two teams of that division. During this era, each team played every other team at least once at home and once away plus once more either at home or away. The top six teams of the previous season played 17 matches at home and 16 away while the teams in 7th to 10th place plus the two newly promoted teams played 16 matches at home and 17 away.

Following the 2015–16 season, the league was expanded to 14 teams, accomplished by relegating only the last-place finisher in that season and promoting the top three teams from the 1st division. The 2016–17 season was the first for the new league structure. It began with the teams playing a full home-and-away schedule, resulting in 26 matches for each team. At that time, the league split into a six-team championship playoff and an eight-team qualifying playoff. All teams' table points and goals carry over fully into the playoffs.

In the championship playoff, each team plays the others home and away again. The top team at the end of the playoff is Superliga champion and enters the Champions League in the second qualifying round. The second-place team enters the Europa League in the first qualifying round. The third-place team advances to a one-off playoff match for another Europa League place. If the winner of the Danish Cup finishes in the top three, the match will instead involve the fourth-place team.

The qualifying playoff is split into two groups, with the teams that finished the regular season in 7th, 10th, 11th and 14th in one group and those finishing 8th, 9th, 12th and 13th in the other. Each group plays home-and-away within its group. The top two teams from each group then enter a knockout tournament, with each match over two legs. If the Danish Cup winner is among the top two finishers in either playoff group, it is withdrawn from the knockout playoff and its opponent automatically advances to the tournament final. The winner of that tournament faces the third-place (or fourth-place) team from the championship playoff in a one-off match, with the winner entering the Europa League in the first qualifying round.

The bottom two teams from each group then contest a relegation playoff with several steps, centered on a separate four-team knockout playoff, also consisting totally of two-legged matches:

• The third-placed teams in each group play over two legs, with the winners remaining in the Superliga and the losers advancing to a playoff final against the third-place team from the 1st Division.
• The bottom teams in each group play over two legs, with the winners advancing to a play-off final against the second-place team from the 1st Division, and the losers dropping to next season's 1st Division.
• The winners of each play-off final play in the next season's Superliga.

In the 2019–20 season, the number of teams was reduced from 14 to 12 teams. It began with all 12 teams playing a full home-and-away schedule, resulting in 22 matches for each team. At that time, the league split into a six-team championship playoff and a six-team qualifying playoff. All teams' points and goals carried over fully from the regular season into the playoffs. In both playoff groups, six teams play a full home-and-away schedule, resulting in ten matches (32 for the full season). The two bottom teams in the qualifying playoff are relegated to 1st Division, while the team finishing 7th plays against the lowest placed team from the Championship playoff, who failed to qualify directly to European Football, in a single match, to decide the final European spot from Denmark.

Teams

Current teams (2025–26)

Winners

Seasons

Relegations

Notable players

Top goalscorers

All-Time top scorer(s)

The top 10 goal scorers throughout the history of the Superliga. Latest update 30 December 2022. :{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" ! Rank ! Topscorer(s) ! Goals ! Club(s) |- | 1. || Morten "Duncan" Rasmussen || 145 || AGF, Brøndby, AaB, Midtjylland |- | 2. || Søren Frederiksen || 139 || Silkeborg, Viborg, AaB |- | 3. || Peter Møller || 135 || AaB, Brøndby, Copenhagen |- | 4. || Heine Fernandez || 126 || AB, Copenhagen, Silkeborg, Viborg |- | 5. || Steffen Højer || 124|| OB, Viborg, AaB |- | 6. || Frank Kristensen || 109 || Midtjylland, Ikast, Randers |- | 7. || Peter Graulund || 107 || AGF, Brøndby, Vejle BK |- | 8. || Søren Andersen || 101 || AGF, OB, AaB |- | 9. || Nicklas Helenius || 93 || AaB, Silkeborg, OB, AGF |- | 10. || Dame N'Doye || 90 || Copenhagen |}

Most capped players

Most capped foreign players

Main article: List of foreign Danish Superliga players

Attendances

Notes

References

1. (28 October 2014). "Officielt: Superligaen bliver til Alka Superligaen".
2. Tally includes points carried over from the first half of the season.
3. Season was only 18 games
4. "Spilletid, all-time".
5. "Udlændinge med flest spillede kampe, all-time". SuperStats.
6. Davidsen, Martin. (25 March 2013). "DIF slår fast: Brøndby uden tilskuere i to kampe".
7. Muminovic, Arnela. (5 June 2020). "Regeringen vil tillade 500 tilskuere til Superliga-kampe".
8. Paaske, Søren. (15 September 2020). "Nye corona-restriktioner: Færre tilskuere til Superliga-kampe".