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Faroe Islands Premier League

Founded	1942; 82 years ago (1942) (as Meistaradeildin)
Country	Faroe Islands
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	10
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	1. deild
Domestic cup(s)	Faroe Islands Cup Faroe Islands Super Cup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Conference League
Current champions	Víkingur (3rd title) (2024)
Most championships	HB Tórshavn (24 titles)
Most appearances	Fróði Benjaminsen (503)
Top goalscorer	Klæmint Olsen (239)
TV partners	Televarpið
Website	fsf.fo/betri-deildin-menn
Current: 2024 Faroe Islands Premier League

The Faroe Islands Premier League (also known as Betri deildin menn for sponsorship reasons) is the top level of football in the Faroe Islands. It was founded in 1942 as Meistaradeildin, and it is played in current format since 2005, when Premier League replaced 1. deild as the country's top football division. The league is organised by the Faroe Islands Football Association.

It is contested by 10 clubs. At the end of every season, two teams are relegated and two promoted from 1. deild.

As of February 2024, the Faroe Islands Premier League is ranked 38th out of 55 leagues in the UEFA coefficient.

History

The league was founded in 1942, although clubs did not take part in European competitions until 1992, because the Faroe Islands Football Association joined UEFA only in 1990. From 1942 to 1946, the competition was played in a knockout format, and from 1947 onwards in a league format.

Before the creation of the Faroe Islands Football Association in 1979, the league was organized by the Faroe Islands Sports Association. The only time a season was not played was during the British occupation in 1944, when a lack of footballs caused the season to be cancelled.

The league was known by several names; from its foundation in 1942 until 1975, it was known as Meistaradeildin. It changed its name to 1. deild in 1976 and introduced promotion and relegation system. Since 2005 the league has had different sponsored names, being called Formuladeildin from 2005 to 2008, Vodafonedeildin from 2009 to 2012, Effodeildin from 2012 to 2017, and since 2018 Betri deildin menn.

Competition format

The league is contested by 10 teams, who play each other three times. A draw is made before the elaboration of the next season's fixtures to decide which teams will have an additional home game. Formerly this was decided based on clubs' performance in the previous season.

Promotion and relegation

At the end of the season, two teams are relegated and two are promoted to and from 1. deild. Like in Spain, the teams are allowed to put their B and C teams in the lower divisions, and there will only be relegation if at least one non-reserve team finish in the 1. deild top three.

In the past, the league used a promotion-relegation playoff between the 9th placed team and the 2nd placed team in 1. deild, played from 1995 until 2005.

European qualification

Currently, the Faroese champion qualify to the UEFA Champions League Preliminary round, while the second placed team enter the UEFA Europa Conference League at the first qualifying round. An additional berth in the Europa Conference League first qualifying round is granted to the Faroe Islands Cup winners. If the winners of that competition have already qualified to a European competition, the berth is given to the third placed team in the league. Since the introduction of Europa Conference League, teams from the Faroe Islands can only qualify directly to the UEFA Europa League by winning the Europa Conference League.

Current teams

List of seasons

Bold indicates teams who also won the Faroe Islands Cup that season, an achievement known as the double.

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Top scorer (club)	Goals
1942	KÍ	TB	not available
1943	TB	MB
1944	No tournament due to lack of footballs during the British occupation of the Faroe Islands.
1945	KÍ (2)	SÍ	not available
1946	B36	VB
1947	SÍ	KÍ
1948	B36 (2)	HB
1949	TB (2)	HB
1950	B36 (3)	TB
1951	TB (3)	KÍ
1952	KÍ (3)	TB
1953	KÍ (4)	HB
1954	KÍ (5)	HB
1955	HB	TB
1956	KÍ (6)	TB
1957	KÍ (7)	VB
1958	KÍ (8)	HB
1959	B36 (4)	KÍ
1960	HB (2)	B36
1961	KÍ (9)	B36
1962	B36 (5)	KÍ
1963	HB (3)	KÍ
1964	HB (4)	B36
1965	HB (5)	B36
1966	KÍ (10)	HB
1967	KÍ (11)	HB
1968	KÍ (12)	B36
1969	KÍ (13)	HB
1970	KÍ (14)	HB
1971	HB (6)	KÍ	Heri Nolsøe (HB)	20
1972	KÍ (15)	HB	Heri Nolsøe (HB)	16
1973	HB (7)	KÍ	John Eysturoy (HB)	13
1974	HB (8)	KÍ	Johan Johannesen (HB)	10
1975	HB (9)	KÍ	Johan Johannesen (HB)	8
1976	TB (4)	HB	Heri Nolsøe (HB)	14
1977	TB (5)	HB	Dave R. Jones (ÍF)	12
1978	HB (10)	TB	Ásmund Nolsøe (TB)	9
1979	ÍF	TB	Meinhardt Dalbú (ÍF)	17
1980	TB (6)	HB	Sveinbjørn Danielsson (TB)	15
1981	HB (11)	TB	Suni Jacobsen (HB)	12
1982	HB (12)	TB	Henrik Thomsen (TB)	7
1983	GÍ	HB	Petur Hans Hansen (B68)	10
1984	B68	TB	Aksel Højgaard (B68) Erling Jacobsen (HB)	10
1985	B68 (2)	HB	Símun Petur Justinussen (GÍ)	10
1986	GÍ (2)	HB	Jesper Wiemer (B68)	13
1987	TB (7)	HB	Símun Petur Justinussen (GÍ) Egill Steinþórsson (TB)	10
1988	HB (13)	B68	Jógvan Petersen (B68)	9
1989	B71	HB	Egill Steinþórsson (VB)	16
1990	HB (14)	B36	Jón Pauli Olsen (VB)	10
1991	KÍ (16)	B36	Símun Petur Justinussen (GÍ)	15
1992	B68 (3)	GÍ	Símun Petur Justinussen (GÍ)	14
1993	GÍ (3)	HB	Uni Arge (HB)	11
1994	GÍ (4)	HB	John Petersen (GÍ)	21
1995	GÍ (5)	HB	Súni Fríði Johannesen (B68)	24
1996	GÍ (6)	KÍ	Kurt Mørkøre (KÍ)	20
1997	B36 (6)	HB	Uni Arge (HB)	24
1998	HB (15)	KÍ	Jákup á Borg (B36)	20
1999	KÍ (17)	GÍ	Jákup á Borg (B36)	17
2000	VB	HB	Súni Fríði Johannesen (B68)	16
2001	B36 (7)	GÍ	Helgi Petersen (GÍ)	19
2002	HB (16)	NSÍ	Andrew av Fløtum (HB)	18
2003	HB (17)	B36	Hjalgrím Elttør (KÍ)	13
2004	HB (18)	B36	Sonni Petersen (EB/Streymur)	13
2005	B36 (8)	Skála	Christian Høgni Jacobsen (NSÍ)	18
2006	HB (19)	EB/Streymur	Christian Høgni Jacobsen (NSÍ)	18
2007	NSÍ	EB/Streymur	Amed Davy Sylla (B36)	18
2008	EB/Streymur	HB	Arnbjørn Hansen (EB/Streymur)	20
2009	HB (20)	EB/Streymur	Finnur Justinussen (Víkingur)	19
2010	HB (21)	EB/Streymur	Arnbjørn Hansen (EB/Streymur) Christian Høgni Jacobsen (NSÍ)	22
2011	B36 (9)	EB/Streymur	Finnur Justinussen (Víkingur)	21
2012	EB/Streymur (2)	ÍF	Clayton Soares (ÍF) Páll Klettskarð (KÍ)	22
2013	HB (22)	ÍF	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ)	21
2014	B36 (10)	HB	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ)	22
2015	B36 (11)	NSÍ	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ)	21
2016	Víkingur	KÍ	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ)	23
2017	Víkingur (2)	KÍ	Adeshina Lawal (Víkingur)	17
2018	HB (23)	NSÍ	Adrian Justinussen (HB)	20
2019	KÍ (18)	B36	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ)	26
2020	HB (24)	NSÍ	Klæmint Olsen (NSÍ) Uroš Stojanov (ÍF)	17
2021	KÍ (19)	HB	Mikkel Dahl (HB)	27
2022	KÍ (20)	Víkingur	Sølvi Vatnhamar (Víkingur)	20
2023	KÍ (21)	Víkingur	Sølvi Vatnhamar (Víkingur)	21
2024	Víkingur (3)	KÍ	Páll Klettskarð (KÍ)	23

Performance by club

Clubs in bold are currently playing in the top-tier.
Clubs in italics are no longer active in adult football.

Notes

1. GÍ merged with LÍF to form Víkingur in 2008.

References

1. "Country coefficients". UEFA. July 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
2. Hans Pauli Joensen (9 October 2009). "Season review: Faroe Islands". UEFA. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
3. ^ "Introduction to Faroese Soccer". Soccer and Equipment. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
4. "Faroese future in safe hands". UEFA. February 2015. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
5. Dinant Abbink. "Faroe Islands – List of Second Level Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
6. Karel Stokkermans. "Faroe Islands 2018". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
7. Denis Polsinelli (1 April 2024). "Faroe Islands 2024". RSSSF. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
8. "Menn – Meistarar og steypavinnarar" (in Faroese). Faroe Soccer. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
9. "Meistaradeildin – Toppskorarar" (in Faroese). Faroe Soccer. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
10. Gerd Heuser and Hans Schöggl. "Faroe Islands – List of Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
11. Gerd Heuser and Hans Schöggl (13 May 2020). "Faroe Islands - List of Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

External links

• League at UEFA
• League at FSF Archived 2015-02-28 at the Wayback Machine
• League at Faroe Soccer
• List of football stadiums on the Faroe Islands – Nordic Stadiums

v t e Football in the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands Football Association
League competitions	Men: Premier League 1. deild menn 2. deild menn 3. deild menn Women: 1. deild kvinnur 2. deild kvinnur
Cup competitions	Men: Faroe Islands Cup Faroe Islands Super Cup FSF Trophy (defunct) Women: Faroese Women's Cup Faroese Women's Super Cup
National teams	Men: Faroe Islands results U-21 U-19 U-17 Women: Faroe Islands U-17
Faroe Islands football pyramid List of clubs List of venues List of footballers List of competitions

• Faroe Islands Premier League
• Football leagues in the Faroe Islands
• Top level football leagues in Europe