Top 10 Icelandic Players Who Have Played in the Premier League

 

Iceland Football Squad

Most of you probably know Eidur Gudjohnsen and Gylfi Sigurdsson, but what other Icelandic players have graced the pitch in the Premier League?

Iceland is a small country which many people only know for glaciers and volcanoes which they can't pronounce. Also, how 50 years ago all our football pitches were still made of concrete or gravel. Who would've thought that we would play in the World Cup playoffs and have multiple players in some of the world's best leagues? Well, we do! And what players got us so far? Here is a list of some Icelanders that have played in the English top flight over the years.

 

Johannes Karl "Joey" Gudjonsson

10. Johannes Karl "Joey" Gudjonsson

Central midfielder Joey Gudjonsson, or "Jói Kalli" as he is known is Iceland, played in England for a total of 10 years. Of these 10 years, two and a half were spent in the Premier League. He first arrived in England when he was loaned to Villa Park from Real Betis in January 2003. Things started very well for him as he scored in his debut game when he came on against Boro and contributed in a 5-2 victory. He played a total of 11 times for Villa, netting twice in the process.



Brynjar Bjorn Gunnarsson

9. Brynjar Bjorn Gunnarsson

Defensive midfielder Brynjar Gunnarsson arrived in England in 1999 at Stoke City. At that time, Gudjon Thordarson, a fellow Icelander, was the manager at the Britannia and quite a few Icelanders played there. He spent most of his career with Reading, playing with them from 2005-2013 and is one of three Reading players in this list. Of those seasons, three were in the Premier League. He was part of the Reading team that surprised everyone and finished 8th in 2006-07, playing 23 games and scoring three goals. Unfortunately, Reading weren't half as good in the season that followed and got narrowly relegated, finishing in 18th place. In that season, Brynjar played 20 games without scoring a goal.

Ivar Ingimarsson

8. Ivar Ingimarsson

Centre-back Ivar Ingimarsson is notorious for never giving up and always throwing himself into every tackle, no matter who it is (as illustrated in the picture on the right). He first came to England in 1999 when he was loaned from IBV (where keeper David James spent this summer) to Torquay United. He never came back and the following season he changed for Brentford on a permanent transfer. In 2003, Ivar joined Reading as new manager's Steve Coppell's first signing. He stayed there until 2011, playing over 250 games and scoring 11 goals. He was vice-captain of the club in that amazing 2007-08 season, playing every single game and scoring two goals. In the following season he played 34 games, again scoring two goals.

Aron Einar Gunnarsson

7.Aron Einar Gunnarsson
One of only two Icelandic players currently playing in the Premier League, defensive midfielder Aron Gunnarsson was born and raised in Akureyri in northern Iceland. He moved to the Netherlands to AZ Alkmaar in 2006 when he was only 17 years old. He moved to England in 2008 to join Coventry. After being voted player of the year for the club in 2011, he earned himself a move over the border to the Welsh team Cardiff City. Aron then scored the first Cardiff Premier League goal in over 50 years when the team surprised everyone and beat Man City 3-2 in August. Aron Einar is also the captain of the Icelandic national team. He was a very important part of the team which almost qualified for the 2014 World Cup, but has yet to score a goal in the blue jersey.

Gretar Rafn Steinsson

6.Gretar Rafn Steinsson

Bolton has even more players than Reading in this list, with a total of four. Right-back Gretar Rafn is the first of those players and also the most recent player to put on the Bolton shirt. He played four and a half seasons at Reebok Stadium from 2008-12. In that time he played 126 games and scored five goals. The first of those five goals was spectacular though. In a game against Stoke, Gretar had what looked like a powerful cross from 30 yards out. However, it blasted past the players in the box and went off the post and inside the goal. Gretar didn't score often, but the goal mentioned above isn't the only goal Bolton supporters remember. In the second last game of the 2010-11 season, Gretar secured Bolton's survival in the Premier League with a goal in a 1-1 draw against Hull.

 

Heidar Helguson

5.Heidar Helguson

Striker Heidar Helguson is a natural goal-scorer and had a very successful career in England which spanned from 1999-2013. He started his career at his home club Dalvik before moving to the capital of Reykjavik to play with the team Throttur. His goal-scoring abilities there earned him a move to Norway from where he proceeded to Watford in 1999. At that time, Watford were playing in the Premier League. He spent six seasons with Watford. Only the first one was in the Premier League while the remaining five were in the Championship. He then returned to the top flight in 2005 when he arrived at Fulham. He played 57 games in two seasons, scoring 14 goals.

Gudni Bergsson

 

4.Gudni Bergsson

Defender Gudni Bergsson is a well known name in English football. Gudni first arrived in England in 1988 when he moved over to Tottenham from Valur. He never really broke into the team but still stayed there for six years. In those six years, he played 72 games and scored two goals. After that, he went home to Iceland to play with Valur for one year before he moved to Bolton in 1995. It was there that Gudni really made a name for himself, playing 270 games and scoring 22 goals. Five of the eight seasons he spent at Reebok Stadium were in the Premier League. He also played 80 times for the national team which was a record at that time. Most of those games he played as captain.

 



Hermann Hreidarsson

3.Hermann Hreidarsson


Defender Hermann Hreidarsson is a mad man and he's proud of it. Always giving 110%, fans of the teams he played with always loved him! Starting his career with local club IBV in 1993, it wasn't until 1997 when scouts from Premier League-newcomers Crystal Palace found Hermann and brought him to England. He immediately started playing for the club and had to adjust quickly from playing in front of an average attendance of 800 to an average attendance of 35,000. He handled the pressure though and played 37 games with Palace in that first season, scoring two goals. That season, Hermann was relegated for the first, but certainly not last time.

Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson

2.Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson
Gylfi is the other Icelandic player currently playing in the Premier League and is probably also the best known Icelander playing in a big league right now. He first arrived in England at the age of 16 when Reading signed him in 2005. He got his first chance with the senior team in 2008 and has never looked back since. After a fantastic 2009-10 season in the Championship, Bundesliga club Hoffenheim signed Gylfi for 6.5 million pounds in the summer. That not only made him Iceland's most expensive player ever, but also broke Reading's transfer record. He started well for Hoffenheim, but soon he was put on the bench and only played 36 games in his one and a half seasons with the club. In January 2012, he was loaned to Premier League rookies Swansea. There he really made his mark, scoring seven goals and making just as many assists. That impressive run of form earned him a Player of the Month award in March 2012.Tottenham signed him for 8.8 million in the following summer, again smashing the Icelandic transfer record. His first season didn't go as well as expected. He played 33 games, which isn't too bad, but still he only started around 10 of those. His first league goal finally came in February against West Ham where Gareth Bale famously smashed in a late 3-2 winner. He finished the season with only three goals.Gylfi has started very well this season though and has already got as many goals as last year, scoring three goals in nine games.

 

Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen

1.Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen

Eidur is without doubt the best known Icelander to have played the game and one of the most skilled too, along with 'White Pearl' Albert Gudmundsson and Stuttgart legend Asgeir Sigurvinsson. Eidur started his professional career with PSV Eindhoven, partnering up front with none other than Brazilian Ronaldo. His career took a turn for the worse in 1997 though, when he had a very bad injury which meant he had to go back to Iceland and recover. In 1998, he was ready to play again and was snapped up by Bolton Wanderers. After two successful seasons with them in the Championship, Chelsea came in and signed him for four million pounds. It was at Chelsea that Eidur was really able to shine along with Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink. 186 games and 54 goals is not bad at all, especially considering around 30% of those games are off the bench. He won two Premier League titles with Chelsea before leaving for Barcelona in 2006. There he won everything he could win, including the Champions League medal in 2009. He has since returned to the Premier League a few times, playing for Tottenham, Stoke and Fulham. His time at Spurs in 2009-10 can be argued to be quite successful as he played 11 games, scoring one goal and helped Spurs to their first season in the Champions League. His stint with Stoke a year later wasn't nearly as successful and he only got four chances under Tony Pulis. He then went to Fulham on loan and played 10 games.