Rakel Hönnudóttir (born 30 December 1988) is an Icelandic

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 as a striker for

Besta deild kvenna The Besta deild kvenna () is the top-tier women's football league in Iceland. It features 10 teams that play a double round robin to decide the champion, which qualifies for a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The 2022 season was the f ...

club Breiðablik and the Iceland national team. She represented her country at the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. Despite being a striker, she has seldom played as one for the national team, even featuring at

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Rakel was born and grew up in Akureyri, a city in North Iceland. Throughout her youth club career she played for Þór up until 2006 when the two biggest football teams in Akureyri decided to join their women's teams and call them

Þór/KA Þór/KA is an Icelandic women's football team based in Akureyri. It is a joint team fielded by Þór Akureyri and Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar and currently competes in the top tier Besta deild kvenna. They have won the Icelandic championship tw ...

. In January 2009 Rakel went on

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 ...

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

of the Danish

Elitedivisionen The Danish Women's League () is a professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed a ...

. She became the first foreign player at Brøndby's female section, who were the reigning national champions. She returned to Iceland in April and continued playing for Þór/KA in the

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 ...

. She played in the Champions League with Þór/KA. In November 2011, Rakel signed with Breiðablik where she remained for six seasons. At Breiðablik, Rakel scored a total of 46 goals in 103 league appearances. She spent the

2018 Damallsvenskan The 2018 Damallsvenskan was the 30th season of the Swedish Women's association football top division, Damallsvenskan. It began on 14 April 2018 and ended on 27 October the same year. Linköpings FC were the defending champions, having won the compe ...

season in Sweden with

IF Limhamn Bunkeflo IF Limhamn Bunkeflo may refer to * IF Limhamn Bunkeflo (men's) *IF Limhamn Bunkeflo (women's) IF Limhamn Bunkeflo 07, commonly known as LB07, is a football club based in Malmö, Sweden. It is the biggest football club from the Scania region. T ...

, before signing for English

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in January 2019. In December 2019, Rakel ended her 11-month spell with Reading and returned to Iceland with Breiðablik.

International career

09 Honnudottir 130406 Sve-Isl 2-0 161646 0015

Rakel made her senior 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 ...

at the

2008 Algarve Cup The 2008 Algarve Cup was the fifteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place between 5 and 12 March 2008 with the reigning champions the United States winning the event for ...

; in a 2–0 win over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. At

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

, Rakel featured in all three matches as Iceland were eliminated in the first round. Four years later, national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Rakel in the Iceland squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

. She retained her place in the national team squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

, but this time remained an unused substitute as Iceland exited at the group stage. At the time of her

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

to Reading in January 2019, Rakel had 94

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for Iceland and seven goals. On 2 September 2019, she made her 100th international appearance against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Honors and awards

Rakel was selected the most promising player of the year in the Icelandic

in 2007 where the coaches and captains of the teams got to cast their vote. In 2008 Rakel was named the player of the year by

women's team. That same year she was named the best female soccer player of the year by

Þór Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Beside ...

and Akureyri's athlete of the year.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Honnudottir, Rakel 1988 births Living people Rakel Honnudottir Rakel Honnudottir Rakel Honnudottir Expatriate women's footballers in Denmark Rakel Honnudottir Brøndby IF (women) players Rakel Honnudottir Rakel Honnudottir Women's association football forwards Rakel Honnudottir IF Limhamn Bunkeflo players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Damallsvenskan players Rakel Honnudottir Women's Super League players Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in England Reading F.C. Women players FIFA Women's Century Club Expatriate women's footballers in England UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players