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Danish Women's Handball League

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Countries
  
Denmark

Founded
  
1936

Relegation to
  
1. Division

Confederation
  
EHF

Number of teams
  
12

Domestic cup(s)
  
Santander Cup

Danish Women's Handball League

The Danish Women's Handball League (Danish: Damehåndboldligaen) is the top professional league for Danish women's handball clubs. It is administered by the Danish Handball Federation, and the winners are recognized as Danish champions. The league is officially called Primo Tours Ligaen for sponsorship reasons. It has previously been known as Boxer Dameligaen, TOMS Ligaen and GuldBageren Ligaen. The current title holder is Viborg HK. The Danish league is widely recognized as the strongest women's handball league in the world over the last 10–15 years, with Danish clubs having won several international trophies.

Contents

Competition format

The Danish Women's Handball League shares the season style with the men's league. It consists of 12 teams, each playing 22 regular season games. The six teams with most points at the end of the regular season advance to the play-offs. They are divided into two groups of three, based on their placement. Group A is formed by 1, 3 and 6 while Group B has 2, 4 and 5. Four matches are played in each group, in home and away form. Teams ending first and second at the regular season start with one bonus point. The two group winners advance to the championship finals, while the runners-up will play for the bronze medal. Both the finals and the bronze matches are played as a "best of three" series.

The lowest placed team of the regular season is directly relegated to the second-best division, and replaced by the winner of this. The teams finishing 7 to 11 will together with number 2 to 4 from 1st division be divided into two groups of four teams. Group A is formed by: Number 7 from the league (2 bonus points), number 10 from the league (1 bonus point) and number 2 and 4 from the 1st division. On the other hand, Group B has: Number 8 from the league (2 bonus points), number 9 from the league (1 bonus point), number 11 from the league and number 3 from the 1st division.

The group winners and the runners-up will qualify for the league in the next season. The teams placed third in each group will meet each other in up to three games to play for the last spot in the league. The loser of this matches and number four in each group will play the 1st division the following season.

Previous format

Before the 2008/09 season, the four best teams of the regular season would advance to the playoffs, semi-finals and finals. Both the semi-finals and the finals were played as a "best of 3" series of matches.

Current teams (2016–17)

The twelve teams of the 2016/17 season are:

Champions

The complete list of champions since 1936:

Medal table

After 45 seasons, the all-time medal table for the women's championship is as follows:

Top scorers

The following list shows the top scorers from recent seasons:

  • 2000/01: Mette Vestergaard, FIF (133)
  • 2001/02: Camilla Andersen, Slagelse FH (181)
  • 2002/03: Camilla Andersen, Slagelse FH (215)
  • 2003/04: Bojana Petrović, Slagelse FH (175)
  • 2004/05: Bojana Popović, Slagelse FH (174)
  • 2005/06: Tanja Milanović, Ikast-Bording EH (172)
  • 2006/07: Mette Sjøberg, FCK Håndbold (167)
  • 2007/08: Nadine Krause, FCK Håndbold (153)
  • 2008/09: Grit Jurack, Viborg HK (125)
  • 2011/12: Mette Gravholt, Team Tvis Holstebro (141)
  • 2012/13: Estavana Polman, SønderjyskE Damer (138)
  • 2013/14: Estavana Polman, Team Esbjerg (152)
  • 2014/15: Jette Hansen, Silkeborg-Voel KFUM (157)
  • 2015/16: Nathalie Hagman, Team Tvis Holstebro (191)

    • References

    Danish Women's Handball League Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA