Eyleifur Hafsteinsson (born 31 May 1947) is an Icelandic former
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
who played as a
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
*Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Smal ...
. He won the
Icelandic championship in 1968, 1970 and 1974 and the
Icelandic Cup in 1966.
He was part of the
Iceland national team between 1964 and 1972, playing 26 matches and scoring 4 goals.
Career
After coming up through the junior teams of
Íþróttabandalag Akraness
Íþróttabandalag Akraness (, ), commonly known as ÍA, is an Icelandic sports club founded in 1946 and based in the town of Akranes, Iceland. Among the main sports its members can practice are basketball, Association football, football, golf, h ...
(ÍA), he debuted with the senior team in 1964. He became an instant hit, becoming the youngest player ever to score in the Icelandic
top-tier league when he did so three days before his 17th birthday. He finished the
1964 season as the league's top goal scorer with 10 goals.
The following year he spent three months in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, Scotland, where he trained with the
Glasgow Rangers
Rangers Football Club is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers, though this has never been it ...
. He returned to ÍA before the start of the
1965 season where he scored 7 goals. In 1966, he moved to
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
and joined
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur
Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur (, ), commonly abbreviated to KR, is an Icelandic football club based in the Vesturbær district of the capital, Reykjavík.
KR is the oldest and most successful club in Icelandic football, having won the Besta ...
where he played until 1969. In 1970, he returned to ÍA where he finished his career in 1975, at the age of 27.
[ ]
Career statistics
See also
*
List of Iceland international footballers
The Iceland national football team is the representative association football affiliated to FIFA. The team played its first match on 17 July 1946 against Denmark and played only friendly matches for the first eleven years of its existence before p ...
References
External links
*
Archived profileat
Íþróttabandalag Akraness
Íþróttabandalag Akraness (, ), commonly known as ÍA, is an Icelandic sports club founded in 1946 and based in the town of Akranes, Iceland. Among the main sports its members can practice are basketball, Association football, football, golf, h ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafsteinsson, Eyleifur
1947 births
Living people
Men's association football forwards
Eyleifur Hafsteinsson
Eyleifur Hafsteinsson
Eyleifur Hafsteinsson
Eyleifur Hafsteinsson
Eyleifur Hafsteinsson
20th-century Icelandic sportsmen