Sport Handball No. of teams 12 | Founded 1951 Country Sweden | |
Most recent
champion(s) IK Sävehof (2015, 11th title) | ||
The Elitserien (English: the Elite League) (Swedish: Elitserien i handboll för damer) is the highest division of women's handball in Sweden. The inaugural Elitserien season took place in 1951, with Kvinnliga IK Sport winning the championship.
The league currently consists of 12 teams. The eight top teams at the end of every season continue to the playoffs, in which the quarterfinals and semifinals are played as a best-of-five series, unlike the final which is played as a single match. The champion is awarded a spot in the EHF Women's Champions League's 2nd qualifying stage. Meanwhile, the teams ranked 11th and 12th are relegated, with the 9th and 10th teams playing a promotion/relegation playoff against the second-tier league Allsvenskan's 3rd and 4th placed teams.
Historically, the women's Elitserien was dominated by Kvinnliga IK Sport and Stockholmspolisens IF, with 14 and 12 championships respectively. IK Sävehof is the most successful team in recent years, with seven titles in eight seasons, as of 2013.
For the 2016-2017 season, the series changed name to "Svensk handbollselit".