2.deild kvenna / women’s third division
KR and Augnablik, both relegated from Lengjudeild last year, are joined as division newbies by Vestri and Dalvík/Reynir who are newly formed in the Women’s game.
Of the returning teams, Haukur is the contender from 2023 that seems to return the most key players, with Fjölnir missing their top scorer in particular. Völsungur were C-Tier League Cup champions last year, and like many others here have young squads capable of improvement in 2024.
Also new for 2024 in 2.deild kvenna is the structure: each team plays each opponent once (starting from May 9th), before splitting into 3 sections. 1st-5th, 6th-9th and 10th-13th then play home-and-away games against their sectional opponents from August 10th.
5.deild karla / men’s sixth division
The men’s sixth division in Iceland returns for a second year of the same format: 2 groups of 9 teams play home-and-away before the top 2 go to a playoff and the semi-final winners are promoted.
Last years playoff runners up KFR and Úlfarnir will be hopeful for a return trip with a better outcome, but relegated Uppsveitir and Álftanes may be favourites for a title. The former of each pair (+Stokkseyri) create interesting potential for important Southern derbies.
Þorlákur are the new face of Group A, looking to convert 7v7 success in their first year of 11-a-side football. The unfamiliar in Group B meanwhile is a rebrand for Berserkir/Mídas who I’m told will go postal (code) with the name Boltafélag 108 (hashtagsoftlaunch).
All those teams mentioned constitute a bulky focus on the Southwest, as might be expected in any Icelandic division, but there is still plenty of road trip potential with Samherjar and Spyrnir in Group A, or Hörður and Reynir in Group B.
4.deild karla / Men’s fifth division
The men’s 5th division was one of the most exciting to follow in 2023, not counting the relegation battle which was over early. As a result of that though, many of the ingredients that made it fun are still there, with each returning team having had at least 6 wins from 18 games.
Árborg lead the league multiple times in 2023, and only found themselves outside of the top 2 for the first time after the 16th round and missed out on promotion by a single point. Like them Tindastóll would like to rectify an out of character end of season poor run of form.
The teams joining them from above, also had some surprisingly good results despite relegation. Bottom-side Ýmir had wins against promotion contenders and KFS only went down on Goal Difference. By that metric it wasn’t close, but it was more down to scoring too few than conceding.
RB are coming off an undefeated season, the only one in the nation last year. Kría also swoop in after a good campaign and look to build on that while also looking forward to rematches of their title fight where they missed some key players.
Lengjudeild kvenna / Women’s second division
We come to the Women’s second tier, which looks to be very competitive top-to-bottom. ÍBV and Selfoss may need a bit of a reset after their fall from the Besta deild, but will still surely be among the favourites.
HK and Fram have been among the most proactive with transfers that would set them up well for a title push. American Brookelynn Entz extended her contract and is joined at Kórinn by Birna Jóhannsdóttir. Fram added big firepower in Murielle Tiernan and Alda Ólafsdóttir.
Promoted side ÍA have also been active, while ÍR look more similar to their 2023 lineup, but it was a strong one. Many of the top scorers in Akranes have extended contracts, and in Breiðholt the captain Lovísa Guðrún and Ghanaian defender Linda Eshun could be impactful.
The remaining teams were able to compete with anyone last year as well, with tons of talents across the board. This could easily be one of the most exciting leagues to watch this year, and a difficult one to predict for sure.
3.deild karla / Men’s fourth division
I can’t say for sure, but this may be the league with the highest concentration of indoor venues being used. Augnablik, ÍH and Kári play indoors habitually, while Magni play just their first home game under a domed roof.
That home opener in Akureyri presents a slightly shorter road trip than their usual home of Grenivík. Along with recently relegated Sindri in Höfn, they are the only teams not from the Southwest. Having an even worse 2023 campaign, fellow relegatees KV will need to improve a lot.
Víðir were a team that spent much of last year poised for promotion, falling short in the end while neighbours Reynir won the league. Much of the midtable was held back by inconsistency of results while Hvíti riddarinn made a successful late push for survival.
Back on the venue topic briefly, Árbær and Elliði return to playing on neighbouring pitches next to my second-favourite pool, and promoted 4.deild champs Vængir Júpiters are around 100 yards wide of playing in another indoor pitch, Egilshöllin in Grafarvogur.
2.deild karla / men’s third division
The men’s third division is by far the most decentralised when looking at the map, and that even extends to some teams. Höttur/Huginn will again play on either side of the Lagarfljót river, while fellow combination team Kormákur/Hvöt have 3 planned home venues in 2024.
They start off borrowing from Tindastóll for 2 games, before splitting fairly evenly between Blönduós and Hvammstangi to honour both their clubs. The remaining combo-team KFA breaks the pattern by hosting from a single location, after missing promotion in 2023 on goal difference.
Ægir finds themselves back in 2.deild following their somewhat accidental promotion and self-fulfilled-prophetic relegation. They get another season of local derbies thanks to the less-expected relegation of Selfoss, now on the other side of a regime change and looking to rebound.
Elsewhere in the division, Víkingur and Þróttur were not far from promotion last campaign, with the former even spending time as league leaders before a run with just 1 win in 7 games.
Besta deild kvenna / Women’s first division
Now we come to the top level of women’s football in Iceland, where Valur will be seeking their 4th title in a row. Though still a good squad, they’ve lost several key players over winter and this may spell their opponents’ best chance for years.
Their main rival for the title has typically been Breiðablik, who are also the last other team to take home the trophy. They didn’t quite live up to their talent in 2023 and now retool with former Þróttur boss Nik Chamberlain taking over as Head Coach.
Þróttur themselves may need a bit of a reset, as star youngster Katla Tryggvadóttir has moved abroad. FH are the team I feel have recruited most positively, with Fram’s player of the year Brooke Woodard signing along with others from Valur, Breiðablik and Stjarnan.
Víkingur are an intriguing prospect to challenge straight from promotion. They have now won 4 trophies since they last entered a competition that they didn’t win, and that includes last years Milk Cup in which they beat Breiðablik in the final and FH in the semi.
Lengjudeild karla / Men’s second division
This is the league which has the most representatives from the eruption-scarred Reykjanes peninsula, including the most lava-affected town in recent times: Grindavík.
They found themselves just outside the playoffs last season and as the nation rallies to support the town and club who’s homes and facilities were damaged, there are three clubs who did make the 2023 playoffs, among them Fjölnir & Leiknir will be hoping to at least do one better.
Afturelding were the other unsuccessful playoff contender. They were also most prominent among a wide trend of clubs who spent large portions of last season in 1st place, only to fall dramatically in form towards the latter fixtures and saw their 8-point lead turn 6-point deficit.
Dalvík/Reynir were promoted as 2,kk champs to join Þór in the north, while ÍR’s promotion offers us a couple of Breiðholt derbies for bragging rights in Elvis’ neighbourhood. Keflavík and ÍBV could rebound quickly but it’ll take some work to return to a winning mentality.
Besta deild karla / Men’s first division
The best of the best for men’s football in Iceland. I’ve saved it for last, but in reality it’s the league more than any other where I can really only offer insight that will be better provided by someone else.
As such I’m going to stick to more personal views. I’ve visited each of the venues in some capacity at least once, seen football matches at just 7 of them, plus a former ground of one team. The first was at Víkin, though not before seeing American Football at HK’s Kórinn.
My two favourite pools in Iceland are nearby to two of the venues I’m yet to catch a game at (KR and Fylkir). At Hlíðarendi I experienced the loudest atmosphere (that 1st vs 2nd clash that finished 4-0), at Vestri I saw the hope of a team on the verge of an historical promotion.
There’s much more to football than the highest echelons. That’s why millions of people of people go beyond just watching the World Cup final, it’s why some of you care about football in Iceland, and some of you even the lower leagues there, women’s and men’s football alike.
Why do I post about all of this when others can do a better job? Because football is personal, and for better or worse these teams are part of our lives, for some they are a major part of it. From Wembley to Bolungarvík I have watched teams competing, and I loved it all.