Brynjar Karl Sigurðsson (born 17 September 1973) is an Icelandic businessman, basketball coach and former player. He played several seasons in the Icelandic top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla and was a member of the Icelandic national team. Following his basketball career, he founded the company Sideline Sports which designed coaching software used by the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

and the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

. A controversial figure in Iceland, he has been scrutinized for his coaching methods and fight with the

Icelandic Basketball Association 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 Basketbal ...

to let his junior women's team compete in boys tournaments. In February 2021, the documentary ''

Raise the bar "Raise the Bar" is a song performed by Australian pop singer Bonnie Anderson and written by Anderson and songwriting duo DNA Songs. The song was released in November 8, 2013 as Anderson's debut solo single. It peaked at number 55 on the ARIA C ...

'' which follows him and his girls teams, premiered in Iceland.

Early life

Brynjar was born in

Breiðholt Breiðholt () is a southeastern district of Reykjavík, Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

in 1973. He started training basketball at the age of 9.

Basketball career

Club career

Brynjar spent most of his career with

Valur Valur may refer to: People * Birkir Valur Jónsson (born 1998), Icelandic football player * Björn Valur Gíslason (born 1959), Icelandic politician * Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 1979), Icelandic handball player * Guðni Valur Guðnason (born ...

and ÍA. In 1996, he was slated to play for freshly promoted

KFÍ The Vestri men's basketball team, commonly known as Vestri, is a basketball team based in Ísafjörður, Iceland. The club was founded in 1965 as Körfuknattleiksfélag Ísafjarðar and held that name until it merged with newly founded Íþrótta ...

during the 1996–97 season but he eventually signed back with ÍA. In January 2001, Brynjar transferred from Valur to ÍA, which by then was playing in the second-tier 1. deild karla. He appeared in four games the rest of the season, averaging 27.3 points per game. The following season, he averaged 32.2 points in five games as a player-coach. He resigned in December the same year due to unpaid salary from the club. In 2009, Brynjar had a short comeback in with FSu, for whom he was the head coach, when he scored 20 points in a loss against Snæfell.

National team career

Brynjar played 11 games for the Icelandic national team from 1994 to 1995.

Coaching career

In May 2001, Brynjar was hired as a player-coach for ÍA. He resigned in December the same year due to unpaid salary. In 2005, he founded the FSu basketball academy in

Selfoss Selfoss may refer to: *Selfoss (town), Iceland *UMF Selfoss, a football club based in Selfoss **Selfoss men's football **Selfoss women's football *Selfoss (waterfall), Iceland *Selfoss Airport Selfoss Airport is an airport serving Selfoss, a to ...

. In 2008, he guided the team to promotion to the top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla after beating

in the 1. deild karla promotion playoffs. In 2021, he became the head coach of 1. deild kvenna club Aþena-UMFK.

Handball career

In 2011, Brynjar was selected to

's roster for its game against

Akureyri Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nicknamed ...

in the Icelandic Handball Cup finals despite never having played professional handball before. The game plan was for him to see spot minutes as a defender in the first half but due to Valur playing a man short for an extended amount of time, he eventually did not see any playing time in Valur's 26–24 win.

Executive career

In October 2021, Brynjar was announced as the new chairman of Leiknir's basketball department.

References

External links

Úrvalsdeild statistics 1989–2001
at

Icelandic statistics 2009-present
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sigurdsson, Brynjar Karl 1973 births Living people Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson Brynjar Karl Sigurdsson