Hønefoss Women

Hønefoss sits on the Ringerike plain, an hour's drive north-west of Oslo, and for most of its football history the town's attention went to the men's side of Hønefoss Ballklubb. The women's section only became its own concern in 2015, starting out in the fourth division and climbing from there without ever changing name or merging with another club.

The rise took a decade. A second-place finish in the 1. divisjon in 2019, two points off the top in the club's first season at that level, showed early promise, and a runners-up spot in 2022 pushed the team into the promotion play-offs, where it fell short. The breakthrough came in 2024: HBK won the 1. divisjon outright and were named the division's best breakthrough side of the year, taking the club into Toppserien, Norway's top flight, for the first time in 2025. A sixth-place finish followed in that debut season, the best league placing in the club's history.

The cup run that same year went further than the league table suggested. Hønefoss reached the semi-final of the NM-Cup in 2025 before losing 3-0 to Rosenborg, a marked improvement on the previous year's exit in the third round against Stabæk.

Kristin Sandstad Gumaer's departure marked the moment the promotion side began to move on. She scored 33 goals in 77 appearances between 2022 and 2025, was named the 1. divisjon's best breakthrough player in the promotion year, and left for Stabæk with Norway under-23 caps to her name. Goalkeeper Siri Ervik, who arrived with experience at Rosenborg, Avaldsnes, Kolbotn and UCLA, has since taken up the position between the posts at AKA Arena, the 4,120-capacity ground — 3,500 of it seated — that the women's team shares with the men.

No fixture against Oslo's clubs has grown into a rivalry; the distance and the club's short time in the top division have kept it that way. What Hønefoss Kvinner has instead is the line running back to a fourth-division start in 2015, one climbed a division at a time to reach the top of Norwegian women's football a decade later.