Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur

Þróttur
Full nameKnattspyrnufélagið Þróttur
Nickname(s)Köttarar
Founded5 August 1949
GroundEimskipsvöllurinn
Reykjavík, Iceland
Capacity2,000
ChairmanHelgi Sævarsson (sports club)
Kristján Kristjánsson (football department)
ManagerIan jeffs (men's team)
League1. deild karla
20241. deild karla, 7th of 12

Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur, also referred to as Þróttur Reykjavík or Throttur, is a professional sports club from Reykjavík in Iceland. The club runs a football department as well as handball, volleyball and tennis departments. The club has enjoyed tremendous success in men's volleyball, winning a total of 14 Icelandic Championships since 1974. The handball department enjoyed great success in the early 1980s, winning its major honour, the Icelandic handball cup, in 1981. Football has been played by the club from start, and is the biggest of the four departments.

History

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The club was founded on 5 August 1949. The club was founded in a Nissen hut on the west side of Reykjavík. The club drew support from local area which in the 1950s included large numbers of Nissen huts, an area that was in many ways poverty stricken. The club struggled financially for the first years. The club moved in 1969 to the east side of Reykjavík to a new district that was expanding in the 1960s. The club founded a handball department in the 1950s, and was quite successful in women's handball, winning every available trophy in 1957. A volleyball department was founded in 1974 and has since become the most successful volleyball team in Iceland. The handball department faced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and was disbanded in 1989, but revived in the year 2000. From 1989 the club has also had a Tennis department.

The club moved its headquarters again in 1999 to the nearby area of Laugardalur. Plans to merge the club with neighbors Glímufélagið Ármann did not prove successful, the two clubs now share a location but specialize in different types of sports. Þróttur concentrate more on group sports whereas Ármann focuses more on individual sports, except for basketball.

Recent seasons in football

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The team played in the Úrvalsdeild Karla (men's premier division) in 2005, but it was relegated to the 1. deild karla (men's second league level). They clinched promotion again after the 2007 season. In 2008 the team finished in 10th place, just above the relegation zone. Þróttur was the first to be relegated during the 2009 season, having been sent down after playing only 19 games out of the 22. The 2010 season saw the return of former favorite player, Páll Einarsson, as coach. The season was an overall disappointment and the club finished in mid table in division one. In the following season, the team finished in similar position. The 2012 started off badly, but a mid season turnaround meant that the team made a challenge for promotion, but in the end came in 3rd place. After another poor start to the 2013 season Páll Einarsson was sacked and was replaced by Serbian Zoran Milkjović. Following the 2013 season, Zoran Milkjović left the club, and was replaced by Gregg Ryder who had previously been the assistant coach at ÍBV.

The women's team was promoted to the Úrvalsdeild kvenna (women's top division) in 2010, but got relegated the year after. In 2012 the team got off to bad start but nevertheless managed to win the league and promotion back into the top division.[citation needed]

Current squad

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As of 1 September 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Iceland ISL Sveinn Óli Guðnason
2 MF Iceland ISL Eiríkur Þórsteinsson Blöndal
3 DF Iceland ISL Stefán Þórður Stefánsson
4 MF Iceland ISL Njördur Þórhallsson
5 MF Norway NOR Jörgen Pettersen
6 MF Iceland ISL Emil Skúli Einarsson
7 MF Iceland ISL Sigurður Steinar Björnsson (on loan from Víkingur Reykjavík)
8 MF Iceland ISL Baldur Hannes Stefánsson
9 FW Iceland ISL Viktor Andri Hafþórsson
12 GK Iceland ISL Þórhallur Ísak Guðmundsson
14 MF Iceland ISL Birkir Björnsson
17 FW Spain ESP Izaro Abella
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF Iceland ISL Viktor Steinarsson
21 DF Iceland ISL Brynjar Gautur Harðarson
22 MF Iceland ISL Kári Kristjánsson
25 MF Iceland ISL Hlynur Þórhallsson
26 DF Iceland ISL Þórir Guðjónsson
32 FW Iceland ISL Aron Snær Ingason
33 MF Iceland ISL Unnar Steinn Ingvarsson
45 MF Iceland ISL Vilhjálmur Kaldal Sigurðsson
75 MF Iceland ISL Liam Daði Jeffs
77 FW Equatorial Guinea EQG Cristopher Moisés
99 MF Ukraine UKR Kostyantyn Yaroshenko

Out on loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
10 DF Iceland ISL Guðmundur Axel Hilmarsson (at Haukar)
23 FW Iceland ISL Andi Morina (at Elliði)
24 DF Iceland ISL Daníel Karl Thrastarson (at KFG)
No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF Iceland ISL Samúel Már Kristinsson (at KV)
MF Iceland ISL Ágúst Karel Magnússon (at Ægir)
MF Iceland ISL Theodór Unnar Ragnarsson (at Skautafélag Reykjavíkur)

References

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