Ivan Delgado, member of the sports army and player of Etzella Ettelbruck, will start his professional career in Iceland next season.
In fact, Delgado will play in the North of the country for UMF Sindri Hofn, a team in the second league. „The club has the ambitions to move up to the first league“, says Ivan who knows and says with a laugh that the weather conditions and the fact that it can be dark during the day and bright during the night „will be very difficult for me ».
One of the main reasons for Delgado to choose this club is the Spanish coach Israel Martín Concepción. „He said that I will play both guard positions. I had offers and talks with other teams/clubs, also with teams from stronger leagues, but I took the decision to go to Iceland because I feel it is the right place to develop as a player, especially on the point guard position. Playing and developing my point guard skills will be a main focus for me in my first season as a pro. »
After Delgado suffered an injury during the semi-finals in the Total League, he used the last months to recover and at the moment, he is preparing to play with the men’s national team against Portugal and Sweden in a few days. „We are highly motivated and our mindset is the same as always: we are the underdog and want to show that we can compete. Playing against Portugal and Sweden will be a great chance to learn and gain experience. »
Pictures of « HOFN » in Iceland.
Iceland has a very high sports culture in its country, something Iceland’s national team head-coach Craig Pedersen also talked about in an exclusive interview on our website a few months ago –> Interview with Iceland’s head-coach Craig Pedersen: Luxembourg’s team chemistry is exceptional
Delgado is the 5th full professional player of our men’s national team. Clancy Rugg (Basket Esch), Thomas Grün (Trier, Germany), Alex Laurent (Kortrijk, Belgium) and Ben Kovac (Den Helder Suns, Netherlands) are playing professional basketball next season. Oliver Vujakovic (Tirol, Austria last season) has not made a decision yet where he will play next season.
Delgado talks to Ben „every day » and regularly to Alex, he asks them „questions all the time and both of them give me tips what I can and should do as a professional player and that helps me a lot. »
Ken Diederich gave his opinion on what’s next for our professional players a week ago –> What will be next for our (future) professional players? Ken Diederich shares his thoughts
