Hannes Þór Halldórsson (born 27 April 1984) is an Icelandic filmmaker and former professional

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 ...

. He was a member of the Iceland national team where he was capped 77 times and appeared at

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

and the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

Club career

Iceland

Hannes played club football in Iceland for Leiknir, Afturelding,

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

, Fram and KR. Hannes joined KR at the age of 5. He quit football at the age of 20 following a shoulder injury, before returning to the sport and joining third-tier Leiknir. Hannes started his career at Leiknir at a time when the team was in the fourth- and third tier of the Icelandic football league system. Hannes was let go from Leiknir in 2004 after making a number of serious mistakes in an important game that revolved around progressing to the second tier. During his time at Leiknir, Hannes sought to join Númi, which played in the Icelandic bottom tier, after struggling to get into the Leiknir first team, but the team rejected him. After leaving Leiknir, Hannes joined Afturelding, which played in the third tier. Early in his career, Hannes struggled with shoulder injuries. Hannes was known for poor kicking during his early career. In 2006, Hannes joined Stjarnan, which played in the second tier. He joined Fram, a first tier team, in 2007. Hannes said that at the time (in early 2005), he set a goal of becoming a goalkeeper for a team in the first tier in three years' time, and hoped to play abroad after that. He joined KR in 2011, winning the double with the team in his first season.

Out of Iceland

On 28 March 2012, Hannes joined Norwegian club

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 a short-term loan, as a cover for injured goalkeeper

Piotr Leciejewski Piotr Leciejewski (; born 23 March 1985) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Leciejewski impressed instantly with his explosive reflexes and was one of Sogndal's best players when he arrived. In the 201 ...

. In December 2013, Hannes joined Norwegian club

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

, having trained with the club in October 2013 as preparation for Iceland's World Cup playoff game against Croatia. He became a professional footballer in 2014. On 6 July 2015, Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

announced they had signed Hannes on a two-year contract. On 15 July 2016, Danish club

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional association football, football club based in Randers, East Jutland metropolitan area, East Jutland, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 200 ...

signed Hannes on a three-year contract. On 3 July 2018, Hannes signed a two-year contract with

Qarabağ FK Qarabağ Futbol Klubu () is an Azerbaijani professional football club that competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top flight of Azerbaijani football. The club originates from Aghdam in the Karabakh ( Azerbaijani: ''Qarabağ'') region, ...

. On 5 April 2019, he left Qarabağ by mutual consent. Hannes had at that point become the third-choice goalkeeper at Qarabag.

Return to Iceland

On 9 April 2019, Icelandic club Valur signed Hannes on a four-year contract. Hannes cited family reasons and the four-year contract as reasons to return to the Icelandic top flight division. He left Valur on 11 November 2021. On 16 March 2022, Hannes announced his retirement from football. In June 2022, Hannes agreed to join

Víkingur Reykjavík Víkingur can refer to: * The Icelandic and Faroese word for Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pira ...

as backup goalkeeper following the injuries of Víkingur goalkeepers

Ingvar Jónsson Ingvar Jónsson (born 18 October 1989) is an Icelandic football goalkeeper who plays for Víkingur Reykjavík and the Iceland national team. He made his senior debut in 2014, earning 8 caps for Iceland and was selected for Euro 2016 as an unu ...

and Uggi Auðunsson.

International career

FWC 2018 - Group D - ARG v ISL - Messi penalty kick

Hannes made his international debut for

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 ...

in 2011, keeping a clean sheet in a Euro 2012 qualifier against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. After appearing in all 12 2014 World Cup qualifiers for Iceland, he cemented his first-choice status. Hannes was selected for

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

, Iceland's first ever appearance in a major international football tournament. He made his first UEFA European Championship appearance in matchday 1 of

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant dif ...

versus

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

which ended in a 1–1 draw. Iceland eventually reached the

knockout phase A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

after finishing runner-up behind

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia. On 16 June 2018, Hannes saved a penalty kick from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

in Iceland's first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

match, which ended in a 1–1 draw and Hannes being named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

. On 8 September 2021, Hannes announced his retirement from the national team after his 77th match.

Personal life

Hannes has worked as a film director when not playing football. He directed, amongst other things, Iceland's video for their entry to the

2012 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki. It was the first time Azerbaijan ...

. His employer before leaving to Norway to become a fully professional footballer,

Sagafilm Sagafilm is an Icelandic production company for TV, commercials and feature films. It was founded in 1978 and is the oldest film production company in Iceland. Documentaries *Out of Thin Air (2017) * Raise the bar (2021) Films *Fish out of water ...

, has promised him his job back when he returns to Iceland after his expatriate footballing career. Hannes directed a

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, and his directional film debut '' Cop Secret''. In 2022, he directed an

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

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Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir (born 27 June 1995) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Iceland national team. She started her career with HK/ V� ...

Career statistics

International

References

External links