Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson (born 25 August 1999) is an Icelandic 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 ...

who plays for club

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

and the Iceland national team as a defender or

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 ...

. He has played domestic football in Iceland, the Netherlands, England, Germany and Denmark. A product of the

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 ...

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, Kolbeinn began his senior career with the club and transferred to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

in 2015, with whom he progressed into the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

. In 2018, he transferred to Brentford B, from whom he transferred to

Borussia Dortmund II Borussia Dortmund II are the reserve team of Borussia Dortmund, currently playing in the 3. Liga, at Stadion Rote Erde. Until 2005, the team played as Borussia Dortmund Amateure. The team won the Regionalliga West in 2009 and became the second ...

in 2019. Kolbeinn's break into top-tier football came with Danish club

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish language, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping stre ...

in 2023. Kolbeinn was capped by Iceland at youth level and made his full international debut in 2019.

Club career

Fylkir

, Kolbeinn began his career in his native

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 the

. His progression was such that he became the club's youngest-ever player when he made his debut at age 14 years and 229 days in a 3–0 group stage League Cup victory over Þróttur on 11 April 2014. Kolbeinn signed a new -year contract on 2 May 2015, he became the youngest player in the club's history to start a

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

match, when he made a late substitute appearance in a 1–1 draw with

Fjölnir Fjölnir ( ) is a List of legendary kings of Sweden, legendary king in Norse mythology said to have been the son of Freyr (Frey) and his consort Gerðr (Gertha). The name appears in a variety of forms, including Fiolnir, Fjölner, Fjolner, and F ...

. Kolbeinn made 15 appearances during the 2015 season and departed the

Fylkisvöllur Fylkisvöllur (, or more precisely 'Fylkir Stadium') is a multi-use stadium in Reykjavík, Iceland. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a ...

in January 2016.

FC Groningen

On 27 October 2015, Kolbeinn moved to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to join

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

on a -year contract, effective 1 January 2016. The transfer made him the youngest player to sign a contract with the club. He began his time with the club in the U17 and U19 teams, before progressing into the U23 team, for whom he made 24

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

appearances during the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. Kolbeinn was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Brentford

On 8 June 2018, Kolbeinn moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to transfer to the B team at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. He signed a two-year contract, with the option for a further year, effective 1 July 2018. After making his international debut for Iceland in January 2019, Kolbeinn became Brentford B's first ever player to win an international cap without having yet made a first-team appearance for the club. On 17 February 2019, he won his only first team call up for an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

fifth round match versus

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

and remained an unused substitute during the 4–1 defeat. Kolbeinn finished the B team season with 43 appearances and 9 goals and then returned to Úrvalsdeild club Fylkir on a two-month

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

, which was subsequently extended by a further month. He made 15 appearances and scored two goals during his spell. After returning to

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

and playing with the B team in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in early August, he departed the club.

Borussia Dortmund II

On 20 August 2019, Kolbeinn moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to transfer to the

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. After making 18 appearances during the truncated 2019–20 season, he made 28 appearances and scored four goals during the team's

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

championship-winning

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. During an injury-affected 2021–22

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

season, Kolbeinn made 19 appearances without scoring. Entering the final months of his contract, Kolbeinn signed a one-year extension in March 2022. Over the course of his time with the club, Kolbeinn was developed into a left-sided

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

. Following 78 appearances and four goals, Kolbeinn departed the club in January 2023.

Lyngby

On 25 January 2023, Kolbeinn transferred to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

and signed a -year contract. He made 48 appearances and scored three goals over the course of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

and 2023–24 seasons, in both of which the club narrowly avoided relegation. After five early 2024–25 season appearances, Kolbeinn transferred out of the club.

Utrecht

On 21 August 2024, Kolbeinn transferred to Eredivisie club

and signed a three-year contract, with the option of a further year, for an undisclosed fee. Despite being a regular member of the matchday squad, he made just eight appearances during the 2024–25 season, in which the club qualified for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

International career

At youth international level, Kolbeinn was capped by the Iceland U16,

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

, U19 and U21 teams. He was a part of the U16 squad which won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Youth Olympic Games, Summer Youth Olympic Games, an ...

. Kolbeinn was a member of Iceland's 2021 UEFA European U21 Championship finals squad and he made three appearances prior to the team's group stage exit. Kolbeinn received his maiden call into the senior squad for a pair of friendly matches in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

in January 2019. He appeared in both, but was not called into the squad again until a pair of

Euro 2024 qualifiers The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

in September 2023. Kolbeinn appeared in both matches, which marked his competitive debut for the senior team.

Personal life

Kolbeinn is the son of retired international footballer

Finnur Kolbeinsson Finnur Kolbeinsson (born 21 March 1972) is a retired Icelandic semi-professional football midfielder who made over 200 appearances for Fylkir. He also played in Malta and Belgium and was capped by Iceland at international level. Club career ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Brentford B *

Middlesex Senior Cup The Middlesex Senior Cup is the most prestigious football cup competition in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex, England. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although league clubs have ...

: 2018–19 Borussia Dortmund II *

Iceland U16 *

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Individual * Saint-Joseph International Tournament Player of the Tournament: 2017

References

External links

*
Kolbeinn Finnsson
at voetbalzone.nl
Kolbeinn Finnsson
at olympic.org * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Finnsson, Kolbeinn 1999 births Kolbeinn Finnsson Living people Kolbeinn Finnsson Men's association football defenders Men's association football fullbacks Kolbeinn Finnsson Kolbeinn Finnsson Kolbeinn Finnsson Men's association football midfielders Kolbeinn Finnsson Jong Groningen players Brentford F.C. players Borussia Dortmund II players Lyngby Boldklub players FC Utrecht players Kolbeinn Finnsson Derde Divisie players Regionalliga players 3. Liga players Danish Superliga players Footballers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in England Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Kolbeinn Finnsson 21st-century Icelandic sportsmen