Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla

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Name
Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla

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Poster

Established
1912 (113 years old)

First Recorded Event
2020-06-13

Current Season
2025

Level Below
Icelandic 1 deild karla

Sport
Sport Icon

Soccer

Location
Iceland

Gender
Male

TV Rights
Stöð 2 Sport
Eleven Sports
OneFootball

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Upcoming

05 Apr	Breiðablik	-	Afturelding	7:15pm
06 Apr	Valur	-	Vestri	2:00pm
06 Apr	KA Akureyri	-	KR Reykjaví	5:00pm
06 Apr	Fram Reykjav	-	ÍA Akranes	7:15pm
07 Apr	Víkingur Re	-	ÍBV Vestman	6:00pm
07 Apr	Stjarnan	-	FH Hafnarfjo	7:15pm
13 Apr	Vestri	-	FH Hafnarfjo	2:00pm
13 Apr	Víkingur Re	-	KA Akureyri	5:00pm
13 Apr	Afturelding	-	ÍBV Vestman	5:00pm
13 Apr	Fram Reykjav	-	Breiðablik	7:15pm
Results
27 Oct	Víkingur Re	0 - 3	Breidablik
26 Oct	Valur	6 - 1	ÍA
26 Oct	Fram Reykjav	1 - 4	KA
26 Oct	Vestri	1 - 3	Fylkir
26 Oct	KR Reykjavik	7 - 0	HK
26 Oct	Stjarnan	3 - 2	FH Hafnarfjo
20 Oct	HK	2 - 1	Fram Reykjav
20 Oct	Fylkir	0 - 1	KR Reykjavik
19 Oct	KA	2 - 1	Vestri
19 Oct	FH Hafnarfjo	1 - 1	Valur

Description
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The Besta deild karla (lit. 'Men's Best Division') is the top level men's football league in Iceland. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in Iceland, it is generally played in the spring and summer (April to September). It is governed by the Football Association of Iceland (KSÍ) and has 12 teams. By the end of the 2022–23 season, UEFA ranked the league No. 48 in Europe.

From 27 April 2009 to 2022, the league had an active agreement on the league's name rights with Ölgerðin, the Icelandic franchisee for Pepsi. From the 2019 season to the end of the 2021 season, the league was popularly referred to as Pepsi Max deildin (The Pepsi Max League). On 24 February 2022, the league was rebranded as Besta deild karla.

The clubs play each other home and away. At the end of each season, the two teams with the fewest points are relegated to 1. deild karla (First Division), from which two top point teams promote to the higher tier. The winner of the league enters the European national competition UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round. The second, third and fourth placed teams qualify for the UEFA Europa League in the first qualifying round.

An effort by KSÍ to strengthen Icelandic football had only one team relegated in the 2007 season to the First Division and three clubs promoted to the premier division, bringing the top flight to the number of clubs it contains currently.

Championship title counts are: KR with 27, Valur with 23, and ÍA and Fram Reykjavík each with 18. FH has 8 and Víkingur has 7. The 2023 title holder is Víkingur.

Seasons