Norwegian cup

Norwegian Football Cup

Founded	1902
Region	Norway
Number of teams	272
Current champions	Rosenborg (11th title)
Most successful club(s)	Odd (12 titles)
Website	fotball.no
2016 Norwegian Football Cup

The Norwegian Football Cup (Norwegian: Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament is commonly known as Cupen ("The Cup") or NM, an acronym formed from Norgesmesterskap ("Norwegian Championship"). These terms are used to describe both the men's and women's competitions. The equivalent competition for women's teams is the Norwegian Women's Football Cup.

The Norwegian Football Cup is a national championship, meaning that while the Norwegian Premier League may be the most prestigious competition to win, it is the winners of the Cup who are awarded the title "Norwegian football champions". This differs from, for example, English football, where the winners of the FA Premier League are the ones who become English champions.

The current Norwegian champions and holders of the cup are Rosenborg, who defeated Sarpsborg 08 2–0 in the 2015 final.

The first rounds of the cup are played in April, around the same time as the Norwegian Premier League starts. The first few rounds are set up by the Norwegian Football Association, and the top premier league teams are usually pitted against fairly weak amateur teams, often in rural areas, on the amateur team's home pitch. Early upsets, where an amateur team knocks a professional team out of the tournament do happen occasionally. For example, in 2012 the Tippeliga teams Sandnes Ulf and Sogndal IL were knocked out in the first round by the third division (fourth tier) teams Staal Jørpeland IL and Florø SK respectively. Even if the amateur team loses, squaring off against a professional team may well be the highlight of their season.

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