Eliteserien is the top professional football division in Norway, operated by Norsk Toppfotball (NTF), the interest organization for the clubs in the league and the OBOS-ligaen.[1] The current visual identity was introduced in August 2016 and took effect from the 2017 season, when the league dropped the sponsored name Tippeligaen and adopted Eliteserien as its official name.[2]
Design and History
The new league identity was presented in August 2016 before a match at Skagerak Arena.[3] It was designed by Oslo-based Scandinavian Design Group, the same agency that had previously rebranded the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) and the national team.[2][4] The work on the new visual profile and overall brand architecture took over two years.[4]
The logo features a prominent lion in dark blue and light blue, with the wordmark “Eliteserien” split by a diagonal cut, one half in each color.[5][6] The diagonal cut, or intersection point, is always set at 45 degrees in the logo.[7] The main logo exists in a full version and a flat version, with a secondary logo icon for small applications such as social media and TV graphics.[7]
The league’s previous identity was tied to its title sponsor, Norsk Tipping, which had given the league the name Tippeligaen since 1990. NTF chose to stop selling the naming rights so that Norwegian football could own its own brand.[5] The name Eliteserien was already widely used informally, and NTF selected it after research showed it as a clear winner.[2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The lion symbol draws inspiration from the Norwegian coat of arms, which shows the national lion within a shield.[3] The lion has long traditions in Norwegian football: it was used by the national team as early as 1911, when players wore the national lion on their chests in a match against Sweden.[7] When NFF and the national team received a new visual identity and crest in the summer of 2015, the lion was carried forward, and Eliteserien continues this tradition to connect the national team with the top domestic division.[7]
The intersection point in the logo symbolizes the duality of two parties meeting, where the tension between clubs, players, fans and partners arises.[7] The logo is also used with the payoff “Lidenskap og fellesskap” (Passion and community), which is always written in capital letters in the Gotham Medium font.[7]
The color palette was developed after an analysis of the profile colors of the clubs in Eliteserien and OBOS-ligaen in 2016. The two primary colors, dark blue and cyan, were chosen because no club uses them in its own logo, yet adjacent colors occur, making them colors that all clubs can match with.[7][2]
Typography and Design
Eliteserien’s primary typography is the font Tungsten, used for profile and communication purposes. Gotham serves as the secondary font for body text and as a contrast to Tungsten, while Arial is the system font for internal presentations and office documents.[7]
The official primary colors are specified as dark blue Pantone 2965 C (RGB 0, 38, 61) and cyan Pantone 2995 C (RGB 0, 168, 225).[7] The color combination of text and lion must not be altered, and the elements of the main logo must never appear alone or in other combinations.[7]
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