From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Valur have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Valur have done the hard part with IA, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Valur
Aron Jóhannsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
$370.0K was the most the club would pay and Vikingur were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A loan move for Herman Haugen is in the works
Valur have made the call to Viking. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valur people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 Feb 2027
19 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market15 Feb 2027
IA come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Valur did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
$370.0K on the table at Vikingur. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ingimar Torbjörnsson Støle, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
IBV come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Valur did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market8 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Lúkas Logi Heimisson again, and this time the name on the line is Fjolnir. Valur are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stjarnan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Valur have made the call to Keflavik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hörður Magnússon and Valur agree another 2 years.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valur has been clear about where Orri Sigurður Ómarsson stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Valur know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valur told Albin Skoglund something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market1 Feb 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gísli Laxdal, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Valur would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Valur
Erik Tobias Sandberg was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lúkas Logi Heimisson, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hörður Magnússon commits to Valur for another 2 years.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Patrick Pedersen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valur will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market25 Jan 2027
Valur bring in an old head
Hörður Magnússon is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market25 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Pedersen signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Valur that is a harder question to answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson keeps the shirt for now, at Valur's convenience rather than his own.
In brief
-
The dugout
Gísli Laxdal has been promised minutes
-
Boardroom
The Valur board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Jan 2027
The view from the top for Valur
19 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Valur
Ingimar Torbjörnsson Støle was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody at Valur will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Albin Skoglund asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gísli Laxdal’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Valur
Ingimar Torbjörnsson Støle and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Valur
Aron Jóhannsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Patrick Pedersen is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gísli Laxdal, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Dec 2026
19 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jónatan Ingi Jónsson is on it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefán Þór S. Ágústsson, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Valur will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gísli Laxdal’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Markus Nakkim and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aron Jóhannsson is on it.
Market14 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Valur has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Erik Tobias Sandberg falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Birkir Heimisson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Valur know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Samúel Kári Friðjónsson is on it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Gísli Laxdal slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gísli Laxdal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Gísli Laxdal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gísli Laxdal, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Pedersen signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A new face in his position, and Samúel Kári Friðjónsson suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Valur have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Nov 2026
The view from the top for Valur
19 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Valur
Gísli Laxdal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bjarni Mark Duffield, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jónatan Ingi Jónsson is on it.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gísli Laxdal’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Markus Nakkim plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Aron Jóhannsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bjarni Mark Duffield falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Albin Skoglund knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valur, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Valur
Aron Jóhannsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bjarni Mark Duffield falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad9 Nov 2026
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakob Franz Pálsson, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Samúel Kári Friðjónsson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valur have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
$2.5M on the table at Valur
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Gísli Laxdal gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Patrick Pedersen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valur will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bjarni Mark Duffield's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Samúel Kári Friðjónsson. Valur will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market2 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrick Pedersen signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
In brief
-
Squad
Markus Nakkim is training like a man with a point to make
-
Boardroom
The Valur board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Oct 2026
The view from the top for Valur
19 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Valur are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nobody at Valur will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lúkas Logi Heimisson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson signs something — a contract at Valur or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Gísli Laxdal has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gísli Laxdal has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gísli Laxdal in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Valur
Something was said to Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Aron Jóhannsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Valur have won it
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Jónatan Ingi Jónsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gísli Laxdal commits to Valur for another 4 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Valur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjarni Mark Duffield was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Gísli Laxdal
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Valur have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
Silverware for Valur
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Valur
A 1‑0 win over KR, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Sep 2026
19 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match26 Sep 2026
Valur cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Valur can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match26 Sep 2026
Three points for Valur, 2‑1 the final word against Stjarnan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
In brief
-
The terraces
Valur supporters have found a favourite in Lúkas Logi Heimisson
-
Squad
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
-
Squad
5 new faces, and Valur are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Sep 2026
Valur up to position 2
16 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Aron Jóhannsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.04 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Vikingur, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for Valur
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Valur did not have in the autumn.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for Valur
Stjarnan next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Leiknir, and it could have been more.
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valur, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.57, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 goals as Valur and Leiknir go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Valur and Leiknir, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match12 Sep 2026
Valur are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
55 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Valur
Markus Nakkim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Birkir Heimisson and Valur agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bjarni Mark Duffield falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market7 Sep 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Lúkas Logi Heimisson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valur.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Valur have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Patrick Pedersen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valur will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bjarni Mark Duffield's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market7 Sep 2026
Valur have let the market know Albin Skoglund can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Frederik Schram: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Valur through in the cup
A 2‑2 win over Vikingur, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Valur — 7.83
1 for Birkir Heimisson, marked 7.83, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AZ have kept their man, and Valur go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frederik Schram, and the manager let it.
Match26 Aug 2026
Valur caught on 85 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Vikingur scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Aug 2026
Valur through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Leiknir, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Keflavik, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.04, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Valur and Keflavik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.16, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 0 out at Valur
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$37.0K was the most the club would pay and Keflavik were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Patrick Pedersen scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to KR, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KR have kept their man, and Valur go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Valur
Ingimar Torbjörnsson Støle and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samúel Kári Friðjónsson commits to Valur for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Keflavik this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match8 Aug 2026
Three points for Valur, 2‑1 the final word against Breidablik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samúel Kári Friðjónsson, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gylfi Halldorsson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Valur say no — this time
The offer from Sliema Wanderers for Aron Jóhannsson was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Pedersen and Valur agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Valur asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match1 Aug 2026
Valur get the job done against Fylkir
A 2‑1 win over Fylkir, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Market
49 months and counting on Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson
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Squad
5 new faces, and Valur are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict