All statistics correct as of 18 March 2020.1 Sponsored league name, referring to
Úrvalsdeild karla.
The 2019–20 Úrvalsdeild karla was the 69th season of the
Úrvalsdeild karla, the top tier men's basketball league in
Iceland. The season started on 3 October 2019. On 13 March 2020, with each team having one game left, the season was postponed for at least four weeks due to the
coronavirus pandemic in the country.[1]
On 18 March, the rest of the season was canceled.
Fjölnir was relegated and
Stjarnan was named divisional champions for having the best record at the time of the cancelation but no national champions would be named for the season.[2]
Competition format
The participating teams first played a conventional round-robin schedule with every team playing each opponent once home and once away for a total of 22 games. The top eight teams qualified for the championship playoffs whilst the two last qualified were relegated to
Division 1.[3]
Updated to match(es) played on 13 March 2020. Source:
KKÍ Notes:
^As the playoffs where canceled, no team won the national championship. The team with the best record in the league receives the title Division champions (Icelandic: Deildarmeistarar). Stjarnan received the title as it had the best record at the time of cancelation.
On May 15, it was reported that
Keflavík owed the
Icelandic Basketball Association 3 million
ISK in unpaid transfer and referee fees and would lose their spot in the Úrvalsdeild if the debt would not be paid by May 30.[13]
On July 26, it was reported that
Icelandic national team player
Gunnar Ólafsson had terminated his contract with
Keflavík. He was a key player for Keflavík the previous season, averaging 14.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.[24]
On August 20, it was reported that
ÍR had signed
Swiss national team member
Roberto Kovac.[26] Shortly later, it was revealed that he had also signed with Croatian club
KK Cibona without ÍR's approval. In September, Cibona bought up Kovac's contract við ÍR before he played any games for the team.[27]
On August 26,
Haukar signed Dutch-American
Gerald Robinson. He spent the previous season with
ÍR where he went with the team to the Úrvalsdeild Finals where it lost to
KR.[29]
On August 27,
KR signed
Michael Craion who won two national championships with the team in 2015 and 2016. He spent the 2018–19 with
Keflavík and later
ADA Blois Basket 41 in the French
LNB Pro B, after Keflavík was knocked from the Úrvalsdeild playoffs.[30]
On September 9, it was reported that the board of
Þór Akureyri was contemplating to withdraw the team from the Úrvalsdeild due to financial difficulties.[32] The day after, Þór announced that they had solved the issue and would play in the league this season.[33]
On September 10, Icelandic national team player
Kári Jónsson signed back with his hometown team of
Haukar.[34]
On October 21,
Njarðvík released
Evaldas Žabas after appearing in three games where he averaged 12.0 points and 3.3 assists.[35]
On October 23,
Sigurður Þorsteinsson ÍR, signing a two-year contract, after a short stint with
BC Orchies which ended prematurely due to the club's financial difficulties.[36]
On October 31,
Valur point guard,
Chris Jones, refused to play the second half of Valur's game against
Keflavík, effectively ending his stay with the club. Valur officially terminated its contract with Jones the following day.[38]
On 6 November, Daði Berg Grétarsson of
ÍR was suspended for three games for pushing Mantas Virbalas of
Þór Akureyri to the ground and twice kicking the ball so it hit Virbalas where he lay on the floor. Virbalas was suspended for one game for his retaliation towards Daði Berg.[40]
On 8 November,
KR's star player
Jón Arnór Stefánsson was injured in the fourth quarter of KR's loss against
Tindastóll after colliding with
Helgi Rafn Viggósson. After the game, the coach of KR,
Ingi Þór Steinþórsson was livid and accused Helgi of deliberately injuring Jón Arnór,[41] which Helgi Rafn denied.[42] Later, the two were spotted having a heated argument before Helgi left the stadium.[43]
On 11 November, former Icelandic national team member
Danero Thomas signed with
ÍR where he previously had played during the
2017–18 season. He had started the season with
Hamar in the
1. deild karla where he averaged 17.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in six games, all wins.[44]
On 21 November,
Valur signed P.J. Alawoya, who won the national championship and the
Icelandic Cup with
KR in 2017.[45]
On 29 November,
Stjarnan blew out defending champions
KR, 110–67. It was the largest defeat by a reigning national champion since name change of the league in 1978[46] and KR's largest defeat in the top-tier league.[47]
On 12 December, suspicions rose that the results in a game between
ÍR and
Tindastóll had been fixed after unusual amounts where betted in ÍR's victory despite Tindastóll being heavy favorites to win.[49] After an investigation by the
Icelandic Basketball Association,
Íslenskar Getraunir, the
Global Lottery Monitory System and independent investigators who reviewed the game, it was concluded that no fixing had occurred. It stated that the reason for the high amount of betting was most likely due to the common knowledge that the team's travel to
Reykjavík from
Sauðárkrókur took several hours due to weather conditions and the game had to be postponed for an hour due to that.[50]
On 31 January,
KR announced it had signed point guard
Mike DiNunno for the rest of the season. DiNunno had finished the previous season with the team and was a key factor in their national championship run.[51]