Helena Sverrisdóttir (born 11 March 1988) is an Icelandic former
basketball player. Generally considered the greatest Icelandic female basketball player of all time,
she was named the
Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year 12 times. During her playing career, she won the Icelandic championship five times and the
Slovak championship two times.
Helena played
college basketball for
TCU TCU may stand for:
Education
* Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania
* Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas
** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school
* Tok ...
where she was named the
Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in 2010.
She played for the
Iceland women's national basketball team for 21 years, becoming its all-time leader in games played in 2023.
Early life
Helena was born in
Reykjavík, Iceland, but grew up in
Hafnarfjörður. She played both basketball and
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 ...
in her youth.
Playing career
Helena first played for Haukar's senior team in 2000, at the age of 12.
After winning
Division I in 2002 with Haukar, Helena took the Úrvalsdeild by storm in 2002-2003, averaging 17.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists. She was named the
Úrvalsdeild Young Player of the Year and was widely regarded as the top prospect in the country. Despite her performance, Haukar finished last in the league and were relegated back to Division I.
[ ]
In 2003-2004, at the age of 16, Helena averaged a
quadruple-double in the
Icelandic Division I with 37.6 points, 13.3 rebounds, 11.6 assists and 10.2 steals. Out of the 16 games she played, she posted a quadruple-double in six of them. Her best scoring output came against
Ármann/Þróttur where she scored 86 points.
She played
college basketball for
TCU TCU may stand for:
Education
* Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania
* Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas
** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school
* Tok ...
from 2007 to 2011.
Helena returned to Haukar in 2016 after 9 seasons away and helped the club achieve the best regular season record in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna. For the season she averaged 24.4 points, 13.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists, and was named the
Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year. Helena missed most of the 2016-2017 season due to being pregnant of her first child. She returned to the floor on March 19 in a loss against
Stjarnan, five weeks after the birth of her daughter.
On December 20, 2017, Haukar loaned Helena to
Good Angels Kosice until the end of January 2018. On January 21, Helena helped the Good Angels win the Slovak Basketball Cup.
On April 30, 2018, she helped Haukar to win the
national championship, their fourth championship and first one in nine years.
Helena was named the
Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP after averaging 20.2 points, 12.2 rebounds and 10.8 assists in the finals series. On May 4, Helena was named the
Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year and to the
Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team.
On 16 May 2018, Helena signed with Ceglédi EKK of the
Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A. In November she left the club after a contract dispute.
On 15 November 2018, Helena signed with
Úrvalsdeild kvenna club
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 ...
. On 16 February 2019, she won the Icelandic Cup after Valur defeated
Stjarnan in the Cup finals, 74-90. In the game, Helena had 31 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists. On 27 April 2019, she helped Valur win its first ever national championship after beating
Keflavík in the Úrvalsdeild finals 3-0. After the season she was named the
Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year for the second straight year and to the
Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team.
Valur opened the 2019–20 season by defeating
Keflavík, 105-81, in the annual
Icelandic Super Cup
The Icelandic Men's Super Cup (Icelandic: ''Meistarakeppni karla'') is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic Cup holders (or, if the same team holds both titles, between the title-holde ...
where Helena posted 14 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists. It was Valur's first Super Cup win and the victory made them the holders of all four major national crowns, the others being the national championship, the national cup and the league championship which is awarded for the best regular season record in the Úrvalsdeild.
In December 2019, she was named the
Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year for the 12th time in her career.
On 29 May 2020, Helena announced that she was pregnant with her second child.
On 2 June 2021, she won the national championship after Valur beat Haukar 3–0 in the Úrvalsdeild finals and was named the
Playoffs MVP. After the season, she was named to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team.
On 19 June 2021, Helena signed back with her hometown team of Haukar. On 18 September 2021, she led Haukar to victory in the Icelandic Cup and was named the Cup Finals MVP after turning in 26 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in the 94–89 win against
Fjölnir in the Cup finals. On 30 September, she scored 32 points in the second leg of the
2021–22 EuroCup Women
The 2021–22 EuroCup Women was the twentieth edition of FIBA Europe's second-tier international competition for women's basketball clubs under such name.
Teams
Schedule
Draw
The draw will take place in Freising, Germany at 11:00 CET of August ...
Qualifiers matches against
Clube União Sportiva, leading Haukar to an aggregate win of 160-157 and a seat in the EuroCup regular season. On 19 March 2022, she won the Icelandic Cup again after Haukar defeated
Breiðablik in the 2022 Cup Finals.
On 20 September 2023, still battling with injuries, Helena was an unused substitute in Haukar's 78-77 win against Valur in the
Icelandic Super Cup
The Icelandic Men's Super Cup (Icelandic: ''Meistarakeppni karla'') is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic Cup holders (or, if the same team holds both titles, between the title-holde ...
. On 19 November 2023, she announced her retirement from playing due to a knee injury.
TCU statistics
Source
Icelandic national team
Helena is the
Icelandic women's national basketball team's allt team leader in games played, playing 81 games from 2002 to 2023.
Personal life
Helena's sister,
Guðbjörg Sverrisdóttir
Guðbjörg Sverrisdóttir (born 10 October 1992) is an Icelandic basketball player for Valur of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna.
Career
Guðbjörg came up through the junior teams of Haukar and played her first games with the senior team during the 20 ...
, plays for
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 ...
in Úrvalsdeild kvenna and was named to the
2016 Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team. She has also played for the Icelandic national team since 2014.
Her brother, Kristján Leifur Sverrisson, played for
Haukar in
Úrvalsdeild karla.
Helena is married to former
Icelandic national team player
Finnur Atli Magnússon
Finnur Atli Magnússon (born 14 September 1985) is an Icelandic basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic men's national basketball team. He won the Icelandic championship as a member of KR in 2011, 2015 and 2019. In 2012, he was ...
with whom she has one daughter.
Awards, titles and accomplishments
Individual awards
*
Icelandic Women's Basketball Player of the Year (12): 2005–2015, 2019
*
Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year (6): 2005, 2006, 2007,
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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
,
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 United ...
,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
*
Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team (7): 2005–2007, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021
*
Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP (4): 2007, 2018, 2019, 2021
*
Úrvalsdeild Young Player of the Year : 2003
*
Icelandic Cup Finals MVP (3):
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
,
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
,
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
*
Mountain West Conference Player of the Year: 2010
*
Mountain West Conference All-Tournament Team (3): 2009, 2010, 2011
*
Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year: 2008
Titles
Iceland
*
Icelandic champion (5): 2006,
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
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 United ...
,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, 2021
*
Icelandic Basketball Cup (5): 2005, 2007,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
,
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
,
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
,
2023
Events
Predicted and scheduled events
* January 1
** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law.
** Croatia will adopt the eu ...
*
Icelandic Super Cup
The Icelandic Men's Super Cup (Icelandic: ''Meistarakeppni karla'') is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic Cup holders (or, if the same team holds both titles, between the title-holde ...
(3): 2006, 2019, 2021
*
Icelandic Company Cup (3): 2005, 2006, 2015
*
Icelandic Division I (2): 2002, 2004
Slovenia
*
Slovak champion (2): 2012, 2013
*Slovak Basketball Cup (3): 2012, 2013, 2018
Accomplishments
*
Úrvalsdeild scoring champion: 2005
*
Úrvalsdeild assist leader (4): 2005, 2006,
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
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 trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
References
External links
TCU Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sverrisdottir, Helena
1988 births
Living people
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
TCU Horned Frogs women's basketball players
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Helena Sverrisdottir
Forwards (basketball)
Helena Sverrisdottir