Hörður Axel Vilhjálmsson (born 18 December 1988) is an Icelandic

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 for Álftanes of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic national team. He is the Úrvalsdeild karla all-time leader in assists.

Professional career

Hörður began his senior team career at the age of 15 with Fjölnir Reykjavík. At 17, he moved to Spain to play for Gran Canaria, but returned shortly later to Iceland and joined

Njarðvík Njarðvík () is a town in southwestern Iceland, on the peninsula of Reykjanes. As of 2009, its population was 4,400. History In 1995 it merged with the town of Keflavík and the village of Hafnir to form the new municipality of Reykjanesbær. T ...

. He started the 2008–2009 season with Club Melilla but returned to Iceland again and finished the season Úrvalsdeild club Keflavík. In 2009 he set the Úrvalsdeild record for most minutes played in a single game when he played all 60 minutes in a quadruple overtime game against KR. In 2010/11 he appeared in 30 games averaging 33 minutes on the floor and delivered an average of 16.5 points. With 7.3 assists, he was the third-best assist provider and he also had 2.5 steals per game being the second best player in the league in this category. In 2011 Hörður signed

Mitteldeutscher BC Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club ( en, Central German Basketball Club), for sponsorship reasons named SYNTAINICS MBC, and commonly known as MBC, is a professional basketball club based in Weißenfels, Germany. The club currently plays in the Baske ...

. He received a three-year contract, which was valid in both the ProA and in the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. In 37 games, he averaged 23 minutes on the floor and gave off 9.6 points and 2.3 assists. Mitteldeutscher BC reserved the right in the contract, to terminate the cooperation. On 17 June 2013 it was announced that Hörður made use of the option to buy out of his existing contract for a four-figure sum. This made the club as well as fans of incomprehension and disappointment as was counted on him. Due to the Eurobasket 2013 and the related absence of some players in the Spanish first division, Hörður played with Bilbao Basket for the preseason. After preparation of completed time he moved within the league to

CB Valladolid Club Baloncesto Valladolid, S.A.D. was a professional basketball team based in Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain. CB Valladolid was member of the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB). Famous players that have played for the team include Arvydas ...

. During the season he switched back to Mitteldeutscher BC. On 3 June 2014, the club announced signed Hörður again. On 18 August 2015 he signed with Aries Trikala of the Greek Basket League. In October, he left the club and signed with

ČEZ Nymburk Basketball Nymburk, also known as ERA Nymburk due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in the town of Nymburk. The club plays in the top-tier level professional Czech National League (NBL). Nymburk regularly pl ...

. On 6 January 2016, he rejoined Aries Trikala for the rest of the season. On 1 July 2016, he joined Rethymno Cretan Kings. After

Antonis Constantinides Antonis Constantinides (born 24 October 1974) is a Cypriot professional basketball head coach, currently head coach of BC Körmend of the Hungarian league. He won both the Cypriot championship and cup titles in 2011 with ETHA Engomis, his first e ...

became the head coach of the club, Hörður left the club before appearing in a single game. The 2016–17 season he started with Keflavík but after only two games he left the club, and on 21 October 2016 he signed with Belgian club Limburg United. He left Limburg after appearing in five games, and returned to Keflavík. On 12 April 2017, the day after being eliminated with Keflavík from the Icelandic semi-finals, he signed with Bondi Ferrara of the Italian

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

. On 5 July 2017 he signed with Astana of the VTB United League. In December 2017, Hörður left the club and expected to sign back with Keflavík. On December 27, Hörður signed with Keflavík for the rest of the 2017–18 season. On 29 March 2018, after Keflavík had been eliminated from the Úrvalsdeild playoffs, Hörður signed with Kymis of the Greek Basket League. In July 2018, Hörður signed with Keflavík once again. Following the 2020-21 season he was named the Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year and the

Defensive Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY or DPOTY) is the name of an award given in sports for outstanding defensive play by a single player over the course of a season. Many sports leagues award this type of award. League awards for Defensive Player o ...

. Following the 2022–23 season, he left the club. In May 2023, Hörður signed with newly promoted Álftanes. On 5 January 2024, he became the Úrvalsdeild's all-time leader in assists, breaking

Justin Shouse Justin Christopher Shouse (born 16 September 1981) is an American and Icelandic former basketball player and coach. He won the Icelandic Cup four times and was named the Cup Finals MVP in 2015. He was named the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the ...

's record of 1,486 assist, after handing out 4 assists in Álftanes 80–68 win against reigning national champions Tindastóll.

National team career

Hörður was a part of the first

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 ...

to qualify for a

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

tournament, in 2015. He also played at

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 Sept ...

with Iceland, where he averaged 6.8 points and 2.2 assists per game.

Coaching career

On 8 May 2019, Hörður was announced as an assistant coach to the Keflavík women's team. In May 2022, he was hired as the head coach of Keflavík women's team. After leading the team to the best record in the league and to the Úrvalsdeild finals, were the team lost to

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 ...

, Hörður resigned as head coach.

Titles, awards and achievements

Germany

Titles

* ProA champion: 2012

Iceland

Titles

* Icelandic Champion:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 ...

: 2008

Awards

* Úrvalsdeild Defense Player of the Year:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

* Úrvalsdeild Young Player of the Year:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team:

Achievements

* Úrvalsdeild assist leader:

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 ser ...

, 2020, 2021, 2022

References

External links