Kvindeligaen

The Danish Women's League, also known as "Kvindeligaen," is the top-tier women’s football league in Denmark. Founded in 1974 and run by the Danish FA (DBU), this division was previously called the "Elite Division" (Elitedivisionen) before adopting its current name in 2016.

Kvindeligaen operates on a summer-to-spring schedule and features eight teams competing in two phases. The first phase is the regular season, where each team plays the others twice in a double round-robin format. At the end of this phase, the top six clubs advance to the spring championship finals, while the bottom two enter the qualification league.

The spring championship finals also use a double round-robin format, with the six participating teams facing each other twice for a total of 10 matches. The club with the most points at the end of this round is crowned the champion. The top two teams qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and the third-placed side secures a spot in the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup. Points and goals (scored and conceded) from the regular season carry over into this round.

In the qualification league, the bottom two teams from the Danish Women’s League face the top four clubs from the Kvinde 1. Division, Denmark’s second-tier women’s league. These six teams compete for two spots in the top division, and like the championship finals, the qualification league follows a double round-robin format, but regular-season points and goals do not carry over.

Brøndby IF, Fortuna Hjørring, and IK Skovbakken have been the most dominant clubs in the league, with Brøndby IF winning 12 titles in the first two decades of the 21st century. HB Køge has also enjoyed success in Kvindeligaen, winning three consecutive seasons from 2020 to 2023.