The Valur men's basketball team, commonly known as Valur, is a

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 ...

team based in Reykjavík, Iceland. It is part of the Valur multi-sport club.

History

The club was founded as ''Gosi'' on 25 December 1951 and was one of the founding members of the Icelandic men's top division. On 22 December 1957 the club changed its name to ''Körfuknattleiksfélag Reykjavíkur'' (English: Reykjavík Basketball Club) and played under that name until 1970. On 3 October 1970 the club merged into Valur sports club and became its basketball department. Under the new name, Valur had considerable success in the 1980s, winning the Icelandic championship two times, in 1980 and 1983, and the Icelandic cup three times, 1980, 1981 and 1983. In 1992, Valur reached the Úrvalsdeild finals where it lost to

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 ...

2–3. In 2022, Valur won its third national championship after beating Tindastóll in the Úrvalsdeild finals. On 2 October 2022, Valur won its first

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

, after defeating Icelandic Cup holders

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

80–77. On 14 January 2023, Valur won its fourth Icelandic Cup title, and its first in 40 years, after defeating

in the Cup final.

Honours

Úrvalsdeild karla * Winners (4):

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 2024 Icelandic Cup * Winners (5): 1980, 1981, 1983,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, 2025 Icelandic Super Cup * Winners (2): 2022, 2023 Division I * Winners (2): 1997, 2002

Individual awards

Úrvalsdeild Men's Domestic Player of the Year The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in Ic ...

Kári Jónsson Kári Jónsson (born 27 August 1997) is an Icelandic basketball player who plays for Valur in the Úrvalsdeild karla. He was named to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First team in 2016 when he helped Haukar to the Úrvalsdeild finals where the ...

– 2023 **

Kristófer Acox Kristófer Acox (born 13 October 1993) is an Icelandic basketball player for Valur of the Úrvalsdeild karla and a member of the Icelandic national basketball team, with whom he participated in the EuroBasket 2017. As a member of KR, he won t ...

– 2022 **

Magnús Matthíasson Magnús Helgi Matthíasson (born 25 February 1967) is an Icelandic former basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic national team. He played college basketball for Rice University. Club career After finishing his studies in the Un ...

– 1991 **

Rick Hockenos Richard Hockenos is an American former basketball player and coach. After being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in the 1974 NBA draft he went on to play professionally in Europe. Early life Hockenos attended Bishop Duffy High School in Niagara Fall ...

– 1978 **

Torfi Magnússon Torfi Magnússon (born 6 June 1955) is an Icelandic former basketball player and a former member of the Icelandic national basketball team. He was named the Icelandic Basketball Player of the Year in 1980 and won two national championships with ...

– 1982 **

Þórir Magnússon Þórir Magnússon (born 13 February 1948) is an Icelandic former basketball player and the former member of the Icelandic national basketball team. Nicknamed "Rocket Man", he was known as a high scoring guard and led the Icelandic Basketball ...

– 1974 *

Úrvalsdeild Men's Foreign Player of the Year The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in Ic ...

** Tim Dwyer – 1979, 1980, 1983 * Úrvalsdeild Men's Domestic All-First Team **

– 2023 **

– 2021, 2022, 2023 **

– 1991, 1993 ** Tómas Holton – 1989 * Úrvalsdeild Men's Young Player of the Year Besti ungi leikmaður úrvalsdeildar karla
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– 1991 * 1. deild karla Player of the Year **Ragnar Jónsson – 1997 * 1. deild karla Coach of the Year **

– 1997 * Icelandic Cup Finals MVP **

– 2023 ** Taiwo Badmus – 2025

Notable players

Coaches

* Ólafur Þór Thorlacius 1970–1974 * Guðmundur Þorsteinsson 1974–1976 * Tim Dwyer 1978–1980, 1982–1983 * Vladimir Obuchov 1990–1991 * Tómas Holton 1991–1992 * Svali Björgvinsson 1992–1993, 1994, 1997–1999 * Ágúst Björgvinsson 2011–2019 * Finnur Freyr Stefánsson 2020–present

European record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valur Valur (basketball)