Björg Hafsteinsdóttir (born 22 October 1969) is an Icelandic former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and a former member of the

Icelandic national basketball team The Iceland men's national basketball team ( is, Íslenska karlalandsliðið í körfubolta) represents Iceland in international basketball tournaments. The team is controlled by the Icelandic Basketball Association. Iceland has qualified for t ...

. She played 12 seasons in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, winning the Icelandic championship seven times and the Icelandic Basketball Cup eight times. In 2001 she was named one of the twelve players of the Icelandic basketball team of the 20th century by the

Icelandic Basketball Federation The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketba ...

. She was a six time Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team selection and was named the league's Player of the Year in 1990. She spent the vast majority of her career with Keflavík, outside of a few months in the fall of 1992 when she played for KR. One of the first great Icelandic three-point shooters, she set several national three-point shooting records during her career.

Early life

Björg was born in Keflavík where she started playing basketball with the junior boys team at the age of around 10–11. In her youth, she also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

Basketball

Club career

She played her first senior team game on 10 October 1985 where she scored 7 point in a victory against KR. On 6 January 1994, she scored a career high 41 points in a 185–30 victory against ÍR. She retired from basketball following Keflavík's loss against eventual champions

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula (Iceland), Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn (mountain), Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in ...

in the 1997 playoffs. Following her retirement from playing, she served as an assistant coach to Anna María Sveinsdóttir for Keflavík during the 1997–1998 season, helping the team to the national championship and the Icelandic Cup.

National team career

Between 1986 and 1997, Björg played 33 games for the

Football

Björg played for Keflavík's football team as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. In 1991, when the team was playing in the second-tier 2. deild kvenna, she helped the team to the Icelandic Football Cup finals after beating top-tier teams Breiðablik, where she saved two penalties in a penalty shootout, and

Þór Akureyri Íþróttafélagið Þór, commonly known as Þór Akureyri, simply Þór or Thór, is a multi-sport club in Akureyri, Iceland. It features departments in Basketball, football, Handball and Taekwondo. Its main rivals is another sport club from A ...

in the previous rounds. In the finals, Keflavík lost 1–6 against ÍA.

Personal life

Björg is the mother of basketball player Thelma Dís Ágústsdóttir.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hafsteinsdottir, Bjorg 1969 births Living people Women's association football goalkeepers Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Guards (basketball) Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir