Iceland 1 Deild

Iceland

Iceland is located between the Arctic Sea and Atlantic Ocean. This European country is the UEFA member since 1956, whereas it joined FIFA just after the WWII, in 1946. The country is inhabited by 332 thousand of people, from which 119 thousand live in the capital – Reykjavik (it accounts for 2/5 of the Island population). Iceland is famous from its geysers and active volcanos, one of which become renowned few years ago, when it jammed the air traffic in the whole Europe.

Icelandic football

The first game was an away match, played on the 29th of July, 1930, against the Faroe Islands. The clash ended with 1:0 for Iceland. Its football association was established in 1921. Its nam is Knattspyrnusamband Íslands, in short KSI. The national team plays its games on the Laugardalsvöllur stadium in the capital. The arena is adapted to host also the Athletics competitions and can accommodate 15000 people. The biggest audience was noted in 2004, during the friendly match against Italy. The record was possible due to old FIFA’s safety regulations. The new ones, abiding from 2007, say firmly that the maximum capacity of the stadium is 15000 people, which stands for 4,5% of the country’s population.

Icelandic Federation (KSI) established also its junior national teams: U-17, U-19 and U-21. The country can boast of women and men national teams in Futsal. The Icelandic Football league is divided into 5 divisions:

1. Úrvalsdeild (Pepsi-deildin, Iceland First Division) – Icelandic highest league constitutes a competition for 12 teams. Its winner has the chance to participate in the UEFA Champions League. However, it starts its competition from the qualification rounds. The second and third places give the possibility to play in qualification rounds of the Europa League. The last two teams are relegated to lower division. Last season saw the relegations of Fylkir and Throttur Reykjavik. The championship went to FH Hafnarfjordur, which in the current holds 3rd place as for now (after 9 rounds).

2. 1 Deild (Inkassodeildin, Iceland Second Division) – Its second league comprises also 12 teams. The league was established in 1955. Its first winner was the team named Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar. Analogically, two best teams are promoted to the Pepsi-deildin, while two worst ones are relegated to Icelandic third league. The biggest number of 1 delid titles has the team Þróttur Reykjavík: with the wins in 1958, 1963, 1965, 1977, 1982, 1997, as well as Breiðablik Kópavogur in 1970, 1975, 1979, 1993, 1998 and 2005. Each of these teams won the title 6 teams. Here you find current Iceland 1 Deild table.

3. 2. Deild (Iceland Third division) – The Icelandic third league promotes the teams from 1st and 2nd place to second league and relegates the 11th and 12th to the fourth one. 6 teams the title of this competiton went to Völsungur Húsavík, in years: 1968, 1971, 1979, 1995, 2003 and 2012.

4. 3. Deild (Iceland Fourth Division) – This league comprises 10 teams. It has already witnessed 34 seasons. It was most often won by Höttur Egilstaðir ((1993, 2006,2014), while its first winner was Ármann Reykjavík.

5. 4. Deild (Iceland Fifth Division) – It is divided into 4 groups, comprising the total amount of 28 teams, battling for the title. The league was created in 2013.

Despite Iceland has only 330 thousand of citizens, it can be proud of its well-developed football teams’ infrastructure. It has 20 thousand of officially registered players. It is noteworthy that for the European Championships in 2016, in France, 8% of the country population arrived.

Association’s President

The president’s occupation is held by Guðni Bergsson, in 2007. He is considered as one of the best Icelandic players in its history, being a defender, who is most renowned from his career in Bolton Wanderers. He started his professional career in the team Valur, in which he played 94 games. In 1986 he was loaned to TSV Munchen, while from 1988 he was the player of Tottenham. From 1995 to 2003, he settled down in Bolton. During his English adventure, he played in 270 matches, scoring 22 goals, which is a good result for a defender. He played also 80 international games in the Icelandic national team.

Iceland 1 Deild

Iceland 2nd league was established in 1955. The first league winner was Akureyri, which right now plays in Úrvalsdeild. First, the competition comprised 10 teams. After the change in 2007, the battle for promotion is being played between 12 teams. In the season 2016, the league champions was KA Akureyri, which had a fantastic end of the season, obtaining 51 points in 22 matches and winning the last 6 games. With the 9 points advantage over the second Grindavik and the third Keflavik, the team has firmly pave its way to Pepsi Deild. In the season 2017, it plays averagely, having noted 3 victories, 3 draws and 3 losses (total amount of 9 matches) and locates itself exactly in the middle of the table. (6th place and 12 points).

The top scorer title for 2016 season is being held by ex aequo Stefansson and Thórarinsson (14 goals). The lowest place on the podium was reserved for Jonsson, who scored only 1 goal less. The teams of Huginn and Fjardabyggd were relegated to the 2 Deild. Fjardagybbd played really abysmally throughout the season and did not have any chance to stay in the league, having lost 5 last matches.

We often witnessed draws, which in most cases ended with the result of 1:1 (12%) or 0:0 (11%). Usually the teams were beating they rivals by only one goal. The most popular results were 2:1 (14%) and 1:0 (12%). Games, where the amount of goals was higher than 2.5 (so-called “Over 2.5” matches) happened often in Thor Akureyri matches (75% of clashes). In 82% of Fjardabyggd home matches the players scored at least 3 goals. Those, who like to bet, will need to take a thorough look at the statistics of 1 Deild in this season. When it comes to BBTS system (both teams will score a goal), it’s worth to notice Huginn away matches, where in 73% of the cases we have seen the goals of both teams. In BBTS home matches, it’s Fjargabyggd with its games (91% BBTS). In the Asian handicap (-1.5) it’s KA Akureyri, who has the most impressive statistics, winning 45% of their matches with the advantage of two goals.

This season sees the battle for final victory is being played between Fylkir, Fylkir, Keflavik, Throttur Reykjavík, Fram Reykjavik, Selfoss, Haukar, Thor Akureyri, Leiknir Reykjavik,HK Kopavogs IR Reykjavik, UMF Leiknir and Faskrudsfjoerdur. Grotta. The biggest chances for the final success have the players from Fylkir, remembering how last season they played in Pepsi Deild and having the ambitions to come back as quick as possible. Not without chances is also Keflavik. In 2016 they did not manage to find themselves in the final two, however this year they will not let their rivals take their place and will strive to get the advantage over two Reykjavik’s teams, which are breathing down their neck. 3 rounds are to be played until the half of the season. After the 11th round, the return games will begin, starting a very exciting competition.

The current table of Iceland 1 Deild is available on our website. We are updating it in real time. Even during the match you can control each team’s current position. We are making our effort to make the 1 Deild statistics as up-to-date and precise as possible.

On the 27th of July, we will have a match on the top. Keflavik, will play against another leading team, Fylkir. It seems that we will have a very exciting match. Of course, the results of this game will be available live on our website.

From 2016, Iceland’s Second Division obtained a naming rights sponsor. From last season the league changed its name from Iceland 1 Deild to Inkasso-deildin. The league is sponsored by a banking company. At the same time, a contract with Stod 2 Sport was signed, on the basis of which it shows in TV one of the matches from each round. 4 million of Icelandic króna for the season falls to each of the teams, not counting here the rewards for the final position. It is surely a big boost of money, which might be also reflected in games attendance. Until now, the matches have been available in free online TV.

External links:

1. http://www.ksi.is/mot/motalisti/urslit-stada/?MotNumer=33506 - Official league website
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1._deild_karla_(football) - Wikipedia league page