Breiðablik is a multi-sports club from Kópavogur, Iceland. The club was founded in 1950 and is the largest

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

in the country. Breiðablik has several sports divisions, both men's and women's, including

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, athletics,

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 (appro ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

, dance,

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Name

The name Breiðablik comes from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, where it was the home of Baldur. The nickname ''Blikar'' is formed from the second part of that name, meaning splendours or twinkles (like a

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

). The singular form ''Bliki'' is also a name for male ducks.

Basketball

Men's basketball

As of 2018–2019 season, Breiðablik men's basketball team plays in the top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla

Women's basketball

Breiðablik women's basketball team won its lone national championship during its first season in the top-tier league in 1995. As of 2018–2019 season, plays in Úrvalsdeild kvenna.

Football

Men's team

Breiðablik's men's team first competitive match was played on 12 June 1957, a 1–0 loss against Þróttur Reykjavík. After several years in the lower leagues, Breiðablik reached the top-flight for the first time in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. In recent years the Breiðablik men's team has established itself as a powerhouse in the Icelandic league, challenging regularly on all fronts. Throughout its history, the team has however been notorious for bouncing between the two top leagues in Iceland, getting promoted and relegated on a regular basis. Since being promoted in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and under the guidance of coach Ólafur Kristjánsson since 2006, the team has grown steadily and established itself as a real challenger in the Icelandic top-flight. The team's first big trophy came with a win in the Icelandic Cup in 2009, followed by the team's first Úrvalsdeild title in the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. The 2013 season is Breiðablik's 8th consecutive season in the top-flight, a club record. Breiðablik competed in a European competition for the first time in 2010, facing

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

in the Europa League. They lost the first leg 1–0 in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and lost by the same scoreline in the return leg, meaning that the team lost 2–0 on aggregate. A year later, Breiðablik faced Rosenborg in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifiers, losing out 2–5 on aggregate. The team won away from home in Europe for the first time with a memorable 1–0 victory over Austrian side SK Sturm Graz in the 2013–14 competition.

Women's team

Breiðablik women's football team currently plays in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, the top-tier women's football league in Iceland, where they finished second in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. They have won the national championship sixteen times and the Women's Cup eleven times in its history. They reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women's Cup in 2006-07 which is a joint record in UEFA competitions by any Icelandic team, also achieved by Valur women's team in 2005-06.

External links

*
Supporters website in English (mens)Supporters website in English (womens)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breidablik Ubk Sport in Kópavogur 1950 establishments in Iceland Sports clubs and teams established in 1950 Sports clubs and teams in Capital Region (Iceland)