Ragna Lóa Stefánsdóttir (born 10 September 1966) is an Icelandic former

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 who played for Úrvalsdeild kvenna clubs ÍA,

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 ...

, Valur and KR. Ragna Lóa won 35 caps and scored two goals for the

Iceland women's national football team The Iceland women's national football team () represents Iceland in international women's football. They are currently ranked as the 13th best women's national team in the world by FIFA as of March 2025. History The Iceland women's national fo ...

International career

Ragna Lóa made her 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 an August 1985 friendly match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She scored in her second match, another friendly against the same opposition two days later. In a 1993 UEFA Women's Championship qualification match against

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 ...

in July 1992, Ragna Lóa scored her second international goal. On 2 September 1997, Ragna Lóa broke her leg in a

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The qualification process for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 67 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 16 places in the tournament's finals. The places were divided as follows: *Africa – represented by the CAF: 2 berths *A ...

match against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The injury was severe and required surgery. After the surgery she developed a life-threatening fat embolism syndrome which caused her lungs to shut down. She was put to a

medically induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

and kept on a ventilator for almost five days. She never fully recovered from the injury and retired from playing football following the 1998 season, except one match played in 2003.

Managerial career

Ragna Lóa was named the 1997 Icelandic women's football manager of the year after she guided KR to the Icelandic championship. The day that KR secured the title, Ragna Lóa was still in a medically induced coma following her broken leg in Iceland's game against Ukraine. The first thing she saw when she woke up was the Icelandic championship trophy by her bedside. She was the manager of

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 ...

women's team from 2013 to 2014. In November 2018, Ragna Lóa was hired as an assistant coach to Bojana Kristín Besic at KR. In July 2019, she took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of the team after Besic resigned and guided the team to two victories before being replaced with Jóhannes Karl Sigursteinsson.

Personal life

Ragna Lóa was married to fellow Icelander Hermann Hreiðarsson, himself a football player. She has four children, including footballers Ída Marín Hermannsdóttir and Thelma Lóa Hermannsdóttir.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefansdottir, Ragna Loa 1966 births Living people Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Women's association football central defenders Ragna Loa Stefansdottir