The Kniksen Award (
Norwegian: Kniksenprisen), established in 1990, honors the best players in the Norwegian
football premiership. The award is named after the legendary Norwegian football player
Roald Jensen, nicknamed "Kniksen".
Categories
Category A
A jury composed of players, leaders, coaches and officials in the
Tippeligaen, nominates and choose the winners in each category. All the nominees must play in the Norwegian top division. The player's nationality does not matter. The categories are:
Goalkeeper of the Year
Defender of the Year
Midfielder of the Year
Striker of the Year
Coach of the Year
Referee of the Year
In 2006, two further categories were also awarded: Young player of the year, and 1. divisjon player of the year.
Category B (the main awards)
Kniksen of the Year
This is awarded to the best Norwegian player of the year. The Kniksen of the year award was replaced by "
Gullballen" (
English: The Golden Ball) in 2014. The player can play abroad or in
Norway and can be won by both female and male players.
Kniksen's honour award
The Kniksen's honour award is awarded to a person or a team, who have made a great contribution to Norwegian football. This award can be considered a lifetime achievement award, and is recognized as Norwegian football's most prestigious award. The Kniksen's honour award was not awarded in 2005 or 2006, but was resumed in 2007.
The main awards were presented annually at
Idrettsgallaen at
Hamar in January, but in 2007, all Kniksen awards were presented at a separate award show in November.
Nils Arne Eggen was awarded the Coach of the Year six times (1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999).Rune Bratseth was awarded the Kniksen of the Year award a record three times (1991, 1992 and 1994).Frode Grodås became Goalkeeper of the Year in 1991 and 1993.Egil Olsen was awarded the Kniksen's honour award in 1992 and the Kniksen of the Year in 1993.Erik Hoftun was awarded the Defender of the Year award six consecutive times from 1995 to 2000.Henning Berg won Kniksen of the Year after winning the
Champions League with
Manchester United in 1999. He shared the Kniksen's honour award with
Hege Riise in 2004.
Ørjan Berg was awarded Midfielder of the Year three consecutive seasons (2000, 2001, 2002).John Carew was awarded the Kniksen of the Year award a record three times (2005, 2007, 2008).John Arne Riise was awarded the Kniksen of the Year award in 2006.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has won four awards in three different categories: Kniksen of the Year (1996), Kniksen's honour award (2007) and Coach of the Year (2011, 2012).Sigurd Rushfeldt, the all-time top scorer in
Eliteserien was awarded the Kniksen's honour award in 2011.Svein Oddvar Moen was awarded the Referee of the Year award three consecutive times from 2010 to 2012.The player with most appearances in
Eliteserien,
Daniel Berg Hestad, was awarded the Kniksen's honour award in 2016.
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ab"Disse vant årets priser i Eliteserien" [These people won this year's prizes in the Elite Division]. eliteserien.no (in Norwegian). Eliteserien. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.