(English: Men's First Division) or D1 is the second-tier

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 ...

competition among clubs in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It is organized by the

Icelandic Basketball Federation The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

(). The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 18 games, followed by a four-team playoff round. Both semifinals and finals series are best-of-three. The top team from the regular-season phase and the four-team playoff round winner are promoted to the Úrvalsdeild karla. The bottom club is

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, and replaced by the four-team playoff round winner of the third-tier 2. deild karla.

History

Creation

The was founded in 1964. Up until 1978 it was known as .

ÍS and ÍKF's dominance

For the first years, from its foundation in 1964 until the 1970–71 season, the was led by the ÍS (with three wins) and ÍKF (with two wins).

Fram Reykjavík's leadership

Some years later, from the 1974–75 season, Fram Reykjavík started their leadership on the and their series of wins, which ended in the 1985–86 season when they won their fourth title.

Danny Shouse

In 1979, Danny Shouse joined Ármann and took the league by storm. On December 1, 1979, Shouse scored 100 points against Skallagrímur, setting the Icelandic single-game scoring record. In January 1980 he scored 76 points in an overtime loss against

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 ...

and in February he broke the 70 point barrier again, scoring 72 points against

Þór Akureyri Íþróttafélagið Þór (, ), commonly known as Þór Akureyri (), or simply Þór or Thór, is a multi-sport club in Akureyri, in the north of Iceland. It features departments in basketball, football, handball and taekwondo. Its main rival is ...

. His scoring prowess helped Ármann win the league and achieve promotion to the Úrvalsdeild karla. Even though Shouse played in the nation's tier 2 league during his first season, he was widely regarded as one of the best players in the country.

The double fall of ÍR

After their golden years, in which they won 15 Úrvalsdeild karla titles in less than 25 years, the ÍR was

to the First Division. In the 1986–87 season they won the for their first time and came back to the . Afterwards, the ÍR was

again to the 1. deild. In the 1999–00 season they won their second 1. deild title and came back to the Úrvalsdeild karla.

Modern era

In the 2006–07 season,

won their fifth title. In the following season, the 2007–08 season, Breiðablik also won their fifth title, becoming the most successful franchise together with Þór Akureyri. In the 2011–12 season,

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 ...

won their fourth title. On 13 March 2020, the rest of the 2019–20 season was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in Iceland.

Champions

Titles per club

#''ÍKF merged into

Ungmennafélag Njarðvíkur Ungmennafélag Njarðvíkur (, ) is an Icelandic multi-sports club based in Njarðvík, Reykjanesbær, on the south-west peninsula of Iceland. It is primarily known for its men's basketball team which has won the national championship 17 times. ...

in 1969 and became its basketball subdivision. It is today known as

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. ...

. The club won 2 titles under the ÍKF name and has added 1 more after the merger''

Awards and honors

Individual awards

Domestic All-First team

References

External links

KKÍ1. deild karla - kki.isEUROBasket - Icelandic D1
{{Basketball in Iceland Sports leagues established in 1964 Basketball leagues in Iceland Second-level basketball leagues in Europe Professional sports leagues in Iceland