Sigurður Gunnar Þorsteinsson (born 8 July 1988) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays for Úrvalsdeild karla club Tindastóll and 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 ...

. Nicknamed Ísafjarðartröllið (English: The Ísafjördur

Troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

), he has won the Icelandic championship three times, in 2008, 2012 and 2013. Outside of Iceland, Sigurður has played professionally in Greece and Sweden.

Early life

Sigurður was born and raised in

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

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 capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. He played youth basketball with

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 ...

before playing for the senior team, first with its B-team in the

2. deild karla 2. deild karla (English: Men's Second Division) is a football league in Iceland. It is the third division in the Icelandic football league system. The current champions are Afturelding from Mosfellsbær, who won their 1st title in 2018. The divi ...

and later with the main squad in the top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla.

Professional career

In September 2015, Sigurður signed with the Greek 2nd Division team Machites Doxas Pefkon, where he averaged 11.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. In August 2016, Sigurður signed with the Greek 2nd Division team A.E.L. 1964. Sigurður rejoined Grindavík in August 2017. For the season he averaged 12.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. In July 2018 he left the club. On 17 August 2018, Sigurður signed with ÍR. On 1 April 2019, he scored 16 points in ÍR's victory in game 5 of its first-round playoff series against second seeded

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 ...

. With the victory, ÍR became the third team in the Úrvalsdeild history to come back from a 0-2 deficit and win a best-of-five series. After helping ÍR reach the Úrvalsdeild finals, where it lost to KR, Sigurður was named to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team. In June 2019, Sigurður signed with

BC Orchies Basket Club d'Orchies or just BC Orchies is a basketball club based in Orchies, France that plays in the NM1. Results {, class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%" , - bgcolor= !Season !Tier !League ! !Postseason !French Cup !European competitio ...

of the

NM1 The Nationale Masculine 1, abbreviated as NM1, (English: National Male 1), is the professional level third-tier division of men's club basketball in France. The two top teams from each season of the competition are promoted to the LNB Pro B, which ...

. Two days before the first game of the season, the

French Basketball Federation The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) (french: Fédération Française de Basketball) is the governing body of basketball in France. It was founded in 1932 (and members of the FIBA since 1933). The Federation operates the France national teams ...

declared that the Orchies did not fulfill their required financial obligations and as a result Sigurður was released from his contract. On 23 October 2019, Sigurður returned to ÍR, signing a two year contract. Only 9 minutes into his first game back, he suffered a season ending injury after tearing a cruciate ligament in his knee. After the season, ÍR terminated the contract with Sigurður, leaving him a free agent. In August 2020, Sigurður sued ÍR for missing salary payments and claimed the team owed him over 2 million ISK. ÍR had stopped paying Sigurður his salary after the injury, claiming he was not fulfilling his end of the contract. On 17 November 2020, the

District Court of Reykjavík A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

ruled that ÍR owed Sigurður two million ISK in back pays plus penalties. On 10 June 2020, Sigurður signed with Úrvalsdeild club Höttur. In 22 games, he averaged 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Despite his performance, Höttur was relegated after a loss in the last game of the regular season. On 31 May 2021, Sigurður signed with Tindastóll. On 11 November 2021 he became the 11th player to grab 2,000 career rebounds in the Úrvalsdeild. On 30 April, he had 20 points and 9 rebounds in Tindastóll's game four series deciding victory against

in the semi-finals of the Úrvalsdeild playoffs. With the victory, he became the first player to advance to the finals with four different teams. On 9 May, he became the Úrvalsdeild finals all-time leader in blocked shots, breaking Friðrik Erlendur Stefánsson's record of 150 blocks.

Icelandic national team

Between 2007 and 2019, Sigurður has played 58 games for the Icelandic men's national team. He did not make the 12 man roster for the FIBA Eurobasket in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

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 ...

. In May 2019, he was called up to the national team for the first time since July 2017, ahead of 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 ...

Awards and honours

Club

* 3x Icelandic League champion (2008, 2012, 2013) * 4×

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 ...

winner (2008, 2011-2013) * Icelandic Basketball Cup winner (2014) *2x Company Cup winner (2006, 2011)

Individual

* 6x Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team (2009, 2011–2013, 2019, 2021) * Úrvalsdeild Young Player of the Year (2008) * 2x Úrvalsdeild blocks leader (2010, 2019) *

Greek A2 Basket League The Greek A2 Basket League ( el, Ελληνική Α2 Μπάσκετ Λιγκ, link=no), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Baske ...

blocks leader (2017) * Icelandic Cup MVP (2014)

References

External links