Gylfi Einarsson (born 27 October 1978, in

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 ...

) is a retired

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

He started his career at

Fylkir Íþróttafélagið Fylkir (, ) is a multi-sport club in Árbær, in the eastern part of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It features departments in football, handball, volleyball, gymnastics and karate. Kit The Fylkir official home kit is ...

but moved to Norwegian club

Lillestrøm SK Lillestrøm Sportsklubb is a Norwegian professional football club based in the city of Lillestrøm, just outside of the capital Oslo. Lillestrøm SK is a Norwegian football club based in Lillestrøm, playing in Eliteserien. The club was founde ...

in 2000. In the 2004 season he scored 13 goals in 26 matches. When his contract expired, he was snapped up by

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, who had to wait until January 2005 to sign him. Gylfi, who was originally seen as a player in the Gary Speed mould, had never been more than a bit-player at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

. This was mainly due to the injury problems that he sustained during his time at the club. On 6 September 2006, Gylfi had a hip operation to remove floating bone and was out of contention for the squad for eight weeks. In January 2007, Gylfi was subject to interest from Norwegian team,

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

. Gylfi left Leeds United on the final day of the summer transfer window in the 2007/08 campaign, with his contract being terminated. He scored one league goal during his stay at Leeds, in a 1–0 win at Burnley. Gylfi signed with the reigning Norwegian champions,

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second most of any club. They play their hom ...

, on 25 January 2008, after a short try-out.

International career

Gylfi made his debut for

in a July 2000 friendly match against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

as a sub for

Helgi Kolviðsson Helgi Kolviðsson (born 13 September 1971) is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a defender. He is currently the Head of Sport and Organisation at SC Pfullendorf. Club career He started his career with now defunct side ÍK in 198 ...

. He has earned 24 caps so far and scored his only goal in a friendly against Italy when Iceland won a famous 2–0 victory in front of a record crowd of 20.204 at

Laugardalsvöllur Laugardalsvöllur (, or more precisely 'Laugardalur Stadium') is Iceland's national stadium, national football stadium and the home venue for the Iceland national football team located in Reykjavík. It has a seating capacity of 9,500 and about ...

References

External links

Sporting Heroes Player Info - Gylfi Einarsson
* 1978 births Living people Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson Lillestrøm SK players Leeds United F.C. players SK Brann players Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in England Eliteserien players Gylfi Einarsson Gylfi Einarsson Men's association football midfielders English Football League players {{Iceland-footy-bio-stub