Íþróttabandalag Akureyrar () or Akureyri Sports Association, commonly known as ÍBA, is an organization which was founded on 20 December 1944, based in

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

in the north of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. The union is a part of the National Olympic and Sports Association (ISI) and the Icelandic Youth Association (UMFÍ) and acts as a connection between the town of Akureyri and its sports clubs. Within ÍBA, 21 member associations are registered and over 40 sports are available for practitioners

Football team

Between 1944 and 1974 the two most prominent football clubs in Akureyri, Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar ''(Often abbreviated to 'KA')'' and Þór, sent a united team under the banner of ÍBA to the Icelandic first tier made up of a selection of players from the Akureyri clubs. The club played 17 seasons in Úrvalsdeild karla. The first time the two Akureyri clubs, KA and Þór, combined forces was against recent league champions Valur in the middle of July 1942. The teams played twice, the united team from Akureyri won one game but lost the other. The positive results gave impetus to unification ideas and in 1943 for the fourth time a team from Akureyri played in the Icelandic football league, Úrvalsdeild karla. But now it sailed under the flag of Íþróttaráð Akureyrar ''(In english Akureyri Sports Council)'' and not KA as in all the previous time

The subsequent year, in 1944, saw the establishment of ÍB Akureyri. By 1946, a football team representing ÍBA competed in the top flight, Úrvalsdeild karla, for the first time. From 1955 to 1974, the ÍBA team always took part in the Icelandic men's football tournament. In 1974, the two respective sports clubs ended their collaboration and started sending teams separately as KA and Þó

External links

Official website of KA Akureyri
Defunct football clubs in Iceland Association football clubs established in 1928 Association football clubs disestablished in 1974 1928 establishments in Iceland 1974 disestablishments in Iceland {{Iceland-footyclub-stub