Teitur Thordarson ( is, Teitur Þórðarson, born 14 January 1952) is an Icelandic

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

coach. He is the older brother of Ólafur Þórðarson.

Playing career

Club

Íþróttabandalag Akraness

Before coaching, Teitur playing as a striker for nearly two decades. He signed his first professional contract when he joined hometown club

Íþróttabandalag Akraness Íþróttabandalag Akraness (abbreviated ÍA), is an Icelandic sports club founded in 1946 and based in the town of Akranes, west Iceland. Among the main sports its members can practice are basketball, football, golf, horsemanship, gymnastics, v ...

in 1969. He scored 51 goals in 99 appearances, and won four championship titles with ÍA between 1969 and 1977.

Sweden

After a season with Swedish second division club

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipal ...

in 1977, Teitur helped Öster to three league championships in Sweden's top-flight

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

between 1978 and 1981.

France

In 1981, he moved to French club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

where he scored 19 goals during the 1981–82 Ligue 1 season, finishing fourth in scoring. At Lens he played for former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

, and France manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, ...

. He then joined

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

where

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former football manager and player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. He was the manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018, where he was the ...

was an assistant coach.

Switzerland/Return to Sweden

Teitur then had a spell in Switzerland with Yverdon-Sport before returning to Sweden in 1985 to complete his playing career with Öster and

Skövde Skövde () is a locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland (Western Gothland region) in central Southern Sweden. Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sw ...

International

Teitur received 41 caps for Iceland between 1972 and 1985. He scored nine goals and captained the team in some of the matches.

Coaching career

Skövde

Teitur's coaching career extends over two decades starting in Sweden in 1987 with the last club he played for,

Norway

In 1988, he landed his first head-coaching role in Norway's top-flight

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

when he joined Brann. He led the Bergen club to the 1988 Norwegian Football Cup Final and spent the following two seasons at Brann before ending his first spell by moving to Lyn for two seasons in 1991. After a season with Norwegian Second Division club Grei, Teitur took charge of

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger b ...

and led them to second- and fourth-placed Tippeligaen finishes in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

Estonia

In 1996, Teitur moved to

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and ...

to become head coach of their

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and Estonian club Flora Tallinn. He led Flora Tallinn to 3

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (, known as the A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded in 1992, and was initially semi-professional with ...

championships in 1994–95, 1997–98 and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. He also led the club to the

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

and the Estonian SuperCup titles in 1998. Teitur helped the Baltic nation move up from 145th (January 1996) to 68th (November 1999) in the

FIFA World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

. Though he was Estonia's first foreign coach since the country's independence in 1991, Teitur's efforts in developing Estonian football earned him the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of t ...

(4th class) from the

President of Estonia The president of the Republic of Estonia ( et, Eesti Vabariigi President) is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid. Estonia is o ...

in February 2000.

Return to Norway

The turn of the millennium saw Teitur return to the Norwegian game for a second spell with Brann. He led the club to a second-place finish in the 2000 Tippeligaen season, and spent two more seasons with the Bergen outfit before making a return to another former club, Lyn in 2003. His final two years in Norway saw him coach second division club Ull/Kisa in 2004 and 2005.

KR Reykjavík

In 2006, Teitur returned to his native

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

to coach KR Reykjavík to a second-place finish in Iceland's top-flight Landsbankadeild, as well as a spot in the 2006 Icelandic Cup

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Vancouver Whitecaps

With nearly four decades of experience in European football, Teitur became the sixth head coach in the history of the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

after signing a two-year deal with the club on 11 December 2007. He was at the helm when the Whitecaps claimed their second United Soccer League First Division championship in three seasons after a 2–1 victory over

Puerto Rico Islanders Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

on 12 October 2008. The following season Teitur made key changes to the Vancouver squad, replacing several veterans with young and experienced players. Though the Whitecaps struggled in the later part of the season, they finished in the final playoff spot and reached the final, where they faced the Montreal Impact home and away in a two-legged affair. It was the first time in USL history that two Canadian clubs would meet for the league championship. The Caps lost both fixtures, home and away, 6-3 on aggregate. On 30 November 2009 Teitur signed a one-year contract extension with the club. On 1 September 2010, the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

held a press conference where Teitur was named as the coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps' first season in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. After producing only one win in three months of action, Teitur was released from his contract on 30 May 2011 with Whitecaps Director of Operations

Tom Soehn Tom Soehn (born April 15, 1966) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach of USL Championship club Birmingham Legion. A former player, his career as a defender spanned seven clubs across 12 seasons, both indoors and outdoors. Playing ...

stepping in to replace him in the interim.

Barasat Euro Musketeers

On 15 January 2012, Cassius Management announced that Teitur would be one of six foreign coaches hired for the new league Bengal Premier League Soccer, with group stages beginning 15 March 2012. He was subsequently bought by Basarat, under the ownership of Uro Infra Reality India Ltd., for on 30 January 2012. After several delays due to lack of quality venues and government opposition, the project was cancelled in January 2013.

Honours

Player

Íþróttabandalag Akraness * Icelandic Championships:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...

Östers IF *

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...

, 1980,

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams comp ...

: 1976–77

Manager

Flora Tallinn *

: 1997–98,

: 1997–98 * Estonian SuperCup: 1998 Vancouver Whitecaps FC *

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

: 2008 Barasat Euro Musketeers * PLS:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gath ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thordarson, Teitur 1952 births Living people Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Association football forwards Teitur Thordarson Jönköpings Södra IF players Östers IF players RC Lens players AS Cannes players Yverdon-Sport FC players Skövde AIK players Teitur Thordarson Allsvenskan players Ligue 1 players Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Teitur Thordarson Skövde AIK managers SK Brann managers Lyn Fotball managers Lillestrøm SK managers Estonia national football team managers FC Flora managers Ullensaker/Kisa IL managers Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur managers Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) coaches Vancouver Whitecaps FC coaches Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Expatriate football managers in Sweden Expatriate football managers in Norway Expatriate football managers in Estonia Expatriate soccer managers in Canada Teitur Thordarson Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 4th Class