Full name | Sandefjord Fotball | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Guttane (The Boys) Hvalfangerne (The Whalers) | ||
Founded | 10 September 1998 | ||
Ground | Jotun Arena | ||
Capacity | 6,582 | ||
Chairman | Gunnar Bjønness | ||
Head coach(es) | Hans Erik Ødegaard Andreas Tegström | ||
League | Eliteserien | ||
2023 | Eliteserien, 13th of 16 | ||
Website | http://www.sandefjordfotball.no/ | ||
| |||
Sandefjord Fotball, commonly known simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club, founded on 10 September 1998. The club currently competes in Eliteserien, the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. Their home ground is the Jotun Arena, located in Sandefjord, Vestfold.[1]
The club reached 1.divisjon in 1999, where they made quick progress and soon settled as strong competitors for promotion to the top division. Finishing third in 1.divisjon both in 2002 and 2003 they qualified for play-off matches, but lost both times. In 2004 they finished fourth. In 2005 season they placed second and earned automatic promotion to highest division.
The club, in their first Tippeligaen season, finished ninth in the table and reached the cup final. In 2007 they finished last and were relegated to 1.divisjon.
In the 2008 season in 1.divisjon, Sandefjord recovered from a poor start to finish second and qualify for automatic promotion to Tippeligaen. In the 2009 season Sandefjord finished eighth, their strongest performance in the top flight to date. In 2010 Sandefjord were relegated to 1.divisjon. They won 1.divisjon title in 2014, earning promotion back to Tippeligaen. They were relegated in the 2015 season, but were then promoted in 2016. Their spell in the top flight would last two seasons on this occasion. However, the club was to again win promotion after spending the 2019 season in 1.divisjon.