The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Divisionsforeningen.
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:
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 (2026–27)
Club 2026–27Position First season intop division First season ofcurrent spell intop division AGF 1st 1918–19 2015–16 Brøndby 4th 1982 1982Copenhagen 7th 1992–93 1992–93Horsens 2005–06 2026–27Lyngby 1980 2026–27Midtjylland 2nd 2000–01 2000–01Nordsjælland 3rd 2002–03 2002–03OB 8th 1927–28 2025–26Randers 10th 2004–05 2011–12Silkeborg 9th 1988 2021–22Sønderjyske 6th 2001–02 2024–25 Viborg 5th 1981 2021–22
Winners
Seasons SeasonChampionsPerformancePtsPldWDLGFGAGD1991Brøndby261810622615+111991–92Lyngby32Tally includes points carried over from the first half of the season.14923227+151992–93Copenhagen32148333123+81993–94Silkeborg31148242315+81994–95AaB31147433013+171995–96Brøndby673320767132+391996–97Brøndby683320856439+251997–98Brøndby763324458133+481998–99AaB6433171336537+281999–2000Herfølge563316895249+32000–01Copenhagen6333171245527+282001–02Brøndby693320947428+462002–03Copenhagen6133171065132+192003–04Copenhagen683320855627+292004–05Brøndby693320946123+382005–06Copenhagen733322746227+352006–07Copenhagen763323736023+372007–08AaB713322566038+222008–09Copenhagen743323556726+412009–10Copenhagen683321576122+392010–11Copenhagen813325627729+482011–12Nordsjælland683321574922+272012–13Copenhagen6533181146232+302013–14AaB623318876038+222014–15Midtjylland 713322566434+302015–16Copenhagen713321846228+342016–17Copenhagen843625927420+542017–18Midtjylland 853627458039+412018–19Copenhagen823626468637+492019–20Midtjylland 823626466129+322020–21Brøndby 613219495838+202021–22Copenhagen683220845619+372022–23Copenhagen593218596135+262023–24Midtjylland633219676243+192024–25Copenhagen633218956033+272025–26AGF6732191036232+30
Relegations SeasonRelegated team(s) 1991 Ikast 1991–92 Vejle 1992–93 Frem, B 1909 1993–94 Viborg, B93 1994–95 Fremad Amager 1995–96 Ikast, Næstved 1996–97 Viborg, Hvidovre 1997–98 Ikast, OB 1998–99 Aarhus Fremad, B93 1999–00 Vejle, Esbjerg 2000–01 Herfølge, SønderjyskE 2001–02 Vejle, Lyngby 2002–03 Silkeborg, Køge 2003–04 Frem, AB 2004–05 Herfølge, Randers 2005–06 SønderjyskE, AGF 2006–07 Vejle, Silkeborg 2007–08 Viborg, Lyngby Boldklub 2008–09 Horsens, Vejle 2009–10 AGF, Køge 2010–11 Randers, Esbjerg 2011–12 Lyngby Boldklub, Køge 2012–13 Horsens, Silkeborg 2013–14 AGF, Viborg 2014–15 Vestsjælland, Silkeborg 2015–16 Hobro 2016–17 Viborg, Esbjerg 2017–18 Lyngby, Silkeborg, Helsingør 2018–19 Vendsyssel, Vejle 2019–20 Hobro, Silkeborg, Esbjerg 2020–21 Horsens, Lyngby 2021–22 Vejle, SønderjyskE 2022–23 Horsens, AaB 2023–24 Hvidovre, OB 2024–25 Lyngby, AaB 2025–26 Fredericia, Vejle
Notable players
Top goalscorers SeasonTallyTop scorer(s) 1991 11Season was only 18 games Bent Christensen (Brøndby) 1991–92 17 Peter Møller (AaB) 1992–93 22 1993–94 18 Søren Frederiksen (Viborg) 1994–95 24 Erik Bo Andersen (AaB) 1995–96 20 Thomas Thorninger (AGF) 1996–97 26 Miklos Molnar (Lyngby) 1997–98 28 Ebbe Sand (Brøndby) 1998–99 23 Heine Fernandez (Viborg) 1999–00 16 Peter Lassen (Silkeborg) 2000–01 21 Peter Graulund (Brøndby) 2001–02 22 Peter Madsen (Brøndby) and Kaspar Dalgas (OB) 2002–03 18 Søren Frederiksen (Viborg) and Jan Kristiansen (Esbjerg) 2003–04 19 Steffen Højer and Mwape Miti (both OB), Mohamed Zidan (Midtjylland) and Tommy Bechmann (Esbjerg) 2004–05 20 Steffen Højer (OB) 2005–06 16 Steffen Højer (Viborg) 2006–07 19 Rade Prica (AaB) 2007–08 17 Jeppe Curth (AaB) 2008–09 16 Morten Nordstrand (Copenhagen) and Marc Nygaard (Randers) 2009–10 18 Peter Utaka (OB) 2010–11 25 Dame N'Doye (Copenhagen) 2011–12 18 2012–13 18 Andreas Cornelius (Copenhagen) 2013–14 18 Thomas Dalgaard (Viborg) 2014–15 17 Martin Pusic (Esbjerg/ Midtjylland) 2015–16 18 Lukas Spalvis (AaB) 2016–17 23 Marcus Ingvartsen (Nordsjælland) 2017–18 22 Pål Alexander Kirkevold (Hobro) 2018–19 29 Robert Skov (Copenhagen) 2019–20 18 Ronnie Schwartz (Silkeborg/Midtjylland) 2020–21 19 Mikael Uhre (Brøndby) 2021–22 17 Nicklas Helenius (Silkeborg) 2022–23 15 Patrick Mortensen (AGF) and Gustav Isaksen (Midtjylland) 2023–24 15 German Onugkha (Vejle) 2024–25 20 Patrick Mortensen (AGF) 2025–26 17 Franculino Djú (Midtjylland)
All-Time top scorer(s)
Rank Player Goals Club(s) 1 Morten Rasmussen 142 AaB, AGF, Brøndby, Midtjylland 2 Søren Frederiksen 139 AaB, Silkeborg, Viborg 3 Peter Møller 135 AaB, Brøndby, Copenhagen 4 Heine Fernandez 125 AB, Copenhagen, Silkeborg, Viborg 5 Steffen Højer 124 AaB, OB, Viborg 6 Patrick Mortensen 113 AGF, Brøndby, Lyngby 7 Frank Kristensen 108 Ikast, Midtjylland, Randers 8 Peter Graulund 107 AGF, Brøndby, Vejle 9 Søren Andersen 101 AaB, AGF, OB 10 Nicklas Helenius 96 AaB, AGF, Silkeborg, OB
Most capped players
Rank Player Appearances Club(s) 1 Rasmus Würtz 452 AaB, Copenhagen, Vejle 2 Jesper Hansen 444 AGF, Lyngby, Midtjylland, Nordsjælland 3 Nicolai Larsen 419 AaB, Nordsjælland, Silkeborg, Vejle 4 Rasmus Falk 410 Copenhagen, OB 5 Hans Henrik Andreasen 397 Esbjerg, Hobro, OB 6 Per Nielsen 394 Brøndby 7 Jakob Poulsen 390 AGF, Esbjerg, Midtjylland 8 Jimmy Nielsen 374 AaB, Vejle 9 Mogens Krogh 370 Ikfast, Brøndby Nicolai Stokholm 370 AB, OB, Nordsjælland
Most capped foreign players
Rank Player Appearances Club(s) 1 Arkadiusz Onyszko363 Midtjylland, OB, Viborg 2 Jerry Lucena334 AGF, Esbjerg 3 Karim Zaza322 AaB, Brøndby, Copenhagen, OB 4 Rilwan Hassan296 Midtjylland, Sønderjyske 5 Todi Jónsson243 Copenhagen, Lyngby 6 Pierre Bengtsson242 Copenhagen, Nordsjælland, Vejle 7 Andrew Tembo218 OB 8 Kolja Afriyie212 Esbjerg, Midtjylland 9 Björn Kopplin208 Brøndby, Hobro, Randers 10 Izunna Uzochukwu201 Midtjylland, OB
Attendances