Pálína María Gunnlaugsdóttir (born 2 January 1987) is an Icelandic sport TV host,

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 ...

coach and a former player. She is currently a host for

Stöð 2 Sport Stöð 2 Sport is an Icelandic television channel that broadcast a wide variety of different sports in Iceland. Stöð 2 Sport is only broadcast in Iceland and only in Icelandic. Sports shown Stöð 2 Sport offers a wide variety of live sports ...

's '' Domino's Körfuboltakvöld'' (English: Domino's Basketball Night). During her career she won the Icelandic championship five times and was named the playoffs MVP in 2011 and 2013. Pálína was named the Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year three-times, in 2008, 2012 and 2013.

Playing career

Pálína started her senior team career with

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar (, ) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Association football, Football, Haukar Handball, Handball, Basketball, Haukar RC, Rugby union, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The clu ...

during the 2000–2001 season. After helping Haukar wing back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, she signed with

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

. In her five seasons with Keflavík, Pálína won the national championship three times; in 2008, 2011 and 2013. In 2013, she signed with

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

After two seasons with Grindavík, where she won the Icelandic Cup in 2015, she returned to Haukar and helped the team to the 2016 Úrvalsdeild Finals. The following season she signed with Snæfell but left the team in January 2017 for personal reasons.

Icelandic national team

Between 2006 and 2016, Pálína played 36 games for the Icelandic national basketball team.

Coaching career

In 2019, Pálina was hired as an assistant coach to the Icelandic women's national basketball team. In April 2021, she replaced Margrét Sturlaugsdóttir as head coach of Stjarnan women's team.

Awards and honors

Awards

*3x Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year (2008, 2012, 2013) *2x Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP (2011, 2013) *6x Úrvalsdeild Defensive Player of the Year (2005-2008, 2012, 2013) *4x Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team (2008, 2011-2013) *1x Icelandic Cup Finals MVP (2011)

Titles

*5x Icelandic champion (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013) *5× Icelandic Basketball Cup (2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015) *4x Icelandic Supercup (2006, 2007, 2008, 2016) *6x Icelandic Company Cup (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015) *2x Icelandic Division I (2002, 2004)

References

External links

Icelandic statistics 2008-presentEurobasket.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnlaugsdottir, Palina 1987 births Living people Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Palina Gunnlaugsdottir Shooting guards