Finnur Freyr Stefánsson (born 29 October 1983) is an Icelandic professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach. With KR, he won the Icelandic championship five years in a row from 2014 to 2018 and the

Icelandic Men's Basketball Cup The Icelandic Men's Basketball Cup (Icelandic: Bikarkeppni KKÍ), also known as VÍS bikarinn for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball competition between clubs in Iceland. It is Iceland's first-tier cup competition, and is n ...

in 2016 and 2017. He has served as an assistant coach to the Icelandic men's national basketball team from 2014, helping the team to

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

and

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

Coaching career

Club career

Finnur started his coaching career as an assistant to Herbert Arnarson on KR men's team in 2004 and served there until 2008. He was the head coach of the KR women's team during the 2012-2013 season and in 2013, he was hired as the head coach of the KR men's team. On 30 April 2017 he won the Icelandic championship with KR for the fourth consecutive season, earning him the nickname ''"Finnur sem allt vinnur"'' (English: ''"Finn(ur) that everything Wins"''). Finnur was named

coach of the year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

in the Úrvalsdeild karla in 2014 and 2016. On 28 April 2018, Finnur won his fifth straight Icelandic championship after KR defeated Tindastóll in the Úrvalsdeild finals. After the season he was named the Úrvalsdeild Karla Coach of the Year for the third time in his career. On 5 June 2018, KR announced that Finnur had decided to step down as head coach. In August 2018, Finnur was hired as a junior team coach with Valur. On 14 April 2019, Finnur guided the Valur women's team in game four of its semi-finals playoffs series against KR in the absence of head coach Darri Freyr Atlason, who was serving a one game suspension. Valur won the game and advanced to the Úrvalsdeild finals. In June 2019, Finnur was hired as the head coach of

Horsens IC Horsens Idræts Club Basketball, commonly known as Horsens IC or Horsens, is a professional basketball team based in Horsens, Denmark. The club plays at the Forum Horsens, which can accommodate 4,000 people. The team holds six titles in the Bask ...

of the Danish

Basketligaen The Basketligaen ( en, The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The original men's first division was founded in 1957 and the current league was founded in 1998. All-time record holder in league titles is ...

. He guided the team to the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

finals where it lost to the

Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for the most ...

in February 2020. He left the club in May 2020 after the season had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic in Denmark. On 4 May 2020, Finnur Freyr was hired as the head coach of Valur men's team with a two-year contract. On May 18 2022, he won his sixt national championship after Valur defeated Tindastóll in the Úrvalsdeild finals. On 2 October 2022, he won the Icelandic Super Cup with Valur. On 14 January 2023, he guided Valur to its first Icelandic Cup win in 40 years, after the team defeated

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan, commonly known as Stjarnan, is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær.and in the top 10 in the World and they have won the League ...

in the Cup final.

National basketball team

In 2014, Finnur was hired as an assistant coach to

Craig Pedersen Craig Pedersen (born June 13, 1965) is a Canadian basketball coach and the head coach of the Iceland national team, where he coached them at the EuroBasket 2015 and EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket champion ...

for the Icelandic men's national basketball team, and as the head coach of the Icelandic men's national under-20 basketball team. Finnur served as head coach of the men's national team during the

2017 Games of the Small States of Europe The 2017 Games of the Small States of Europe, also known as the XVII Games of the Small States of Europe, took place in San Marino from 29 May to 3 June 2017. Development and preparation Venues Games Participating teams * (Andorra at th ...

. He stepped down as the head coach of the U-20 team on 28 July 2017, after leading them to an 8th-place finish at the

2017 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2017 FIBA U20 European Championship was the 20th edition of the FIBA U20 European Championship. The competition took place in three Greek cities, Chania, Rethymno and Heraklion, on the island of Crete, from 15 to 23 July 2017. Venues Partic ...

. In February 2018 Finnur came under heavy criticism after five

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

players were selected to a short 20-player training camp, the day before Haukar met KR in an important regular season game on February 18. No KR players were selected to the camp which aimed to help the coaching staff select two players for the remaining rosters spots prior to Iceland's games against

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and the

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in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification later that month. Iceland's national team head coach,

came to Finnur's defence, stating that himself had the final say in player selections, not Finnur. Due to the criticism and 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 ...

silence on the matter, Finnur stated that he was contemplating resigning from the national team. On 13 September 2018, Finnur was hired as the manager of Iceland's junior national teams program. In May 2019, he was slated to head the team during its games at the

Games of the Small States of Europe The Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) is a biennial multi-sport event, launched by the Republic of San Marino, organized by and featuring the National Olympic Committees of nine European small states since 1985. The Games are held at t ...

Honours

Club

* Icelandic men's league champion: 2007¹,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

: 2016, 2017, 2023 * Icelandic Men's Supercup: 2007¹, 2014, 2015, 2022 * Icelandic Men's Company Cup: 2014

Individual

* Úrvalsdeild karla coach of the year:

¹ As assistant coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefansson, Finnur Freyr 1981 births Living people Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson Finnur Freyr Stefánsson