Teitur Thordarson (, born 14 January 1952) is an Icelandic

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 ...

coach. He is the older brother of Ólafur Þórðarson.

Playing career

Club

Íþróttabandalag Akraness

Before coaching, Teitur playing as a striker for nearly two decades. He signed his first professional contract when he joined hometown club

Íþróttabandalag Akraness Íþróttabandalag Akraness (, ), commonly known as ÍA, is an Icelandic sports club founded in 1946 and based in the town of Akranes, Iceland. Among the main sports its members can practice are basketball, Association football, football, golf, h ...

in 1969. He scored 51 goals in 99 appearances, and won four championship titles with ÍA between 1969 and 1977.

Sweden

After a season with Swedish second division club

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

in 1977, Teitur helped Öster to three league championships in Sweden's top-flight

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

between 1978 and 1981.

France

In 1981, he moved to French club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

where he scored 19 goals during the 1981–82 Ligue 1 season, finishing fourth in scoring. At Lens he played for former

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, ...

. He then joined

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

where

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...

was an assistant coach.

Switzerland/Return to Sweden

Teitur then had a spell in Switzerland with Yverdon-Sport before returning to Sweden in 1985 to complete his playing career with Öster and

Skövde Skövde () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland, Västergötland (Western Gothland region) in central southern Sweden. Skövde is situated around 150 k ...

International

Teitur received 41 caps for Iceland between 1972 and 1985. He scored nine goals and captained the team in some of the matches.

Coaching career

Skövde

Teitur's coaching career extends over two decades starting in Sweden in 1987 with the last club he played for,

Norway

In 1988, he landed his first head-coaching role in Norway's top-flight

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

when he joined Brann. He led the Bergen club to the 1988 Norwegian Football Cup Final and spent the following two seasons at Brann before ending his first spell by moving to Lyn for two seasons in 1991. After a season with

Norwegian Second Division The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the ...

club Grei, Teitur took charge of Lillestrøm and led them to second- and fourth-placed Tippeligaen finishes in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

Estonia

In 1996, Teitur moved to

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

to become head coach of their

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and Estonian club Flora Tallinn. He led Flora Tallinn to 3

Meistriliiga Meistriliiga (), officially known as A. Le Coq Premium Liiga for sponsorship reasons, and commonly known as the Premium Liiga, is the highest division of the Estonian Football Association annual football championship. The league was founded i ...

championships in 1994–95, 1997–98 and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. He also led the club to the Estonian Cup and the Estonian SuperCup titles in 1998. Teitur helped the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

nation move up from 145th (January 1996) to 68th (November 1999) in the FIFA World Ranking. Though he was Estonia's first foreign coach since the country's independence in 1991, Teitur's efforts in developing Estonian football earned him the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (, also the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of the Estonian state. (The Latin name ''Terra Mariana'' ...

(4th class) from the

President of Estonia The president of the Republic of Estonia () is the head of state of the Estonia, Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid. Estonia is one of the few parliam ...

in February 2000.

Return to Norway

The turn of the millennium saw Teitur return to the Norwegian game for a second spell with Brann. He led the club to a second-place finish in the 2000 Tippeligaen season, and spent two more seasons with the Bergen outfit before making a return to another former club, Lyn in 2003. His final two years in Norway saw him coach second division club Ull/Kisa in 2004 and 2005.

KR Reykjavík

In 2006, Teitur returned to 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 ...

to coach KR Reykjavík to a second-place finish in Iceland's top-flight Landsbankadeild, as well as a spot in the 2006 Icelandic Cup

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Vancouver Whitecaps

With nearly four decades of experience in European football, Teitur became the sixth head coach in the history of the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

after signing a two-year deal with the club on 11 December 2007. He was at the helm when the Whitecaps claimed their second United Soccer League First Division championship in three seasons after a 2–1 victory over Puerto Rico Islanders on 12 October 2008. The following season Teitur made key changes to the Vancouver squad, replacing several veterans with young and experienced players. Though the Whitecaps struggled in the later part of the season, they finished in the final playoff spot and reached the final, where they faced the Montreal Impact home and away in a two-legged affair. It was the first time in USL history that two Canadian clubs would meet for the league championship. The Caps lost both fixtures, home and away, 6–3 on aggregate. On 30 November 2009 Teitur signed a one-year contract extension with the club. On 1 September 2010, the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

held a press conference where Teitur was named as the coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps' first season in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. After producing only one win in three months of action, Teitur was released from his contract on 30 May 2011 with Whitecaps Director of Operations Tom Soehn stepping in to replace him in the interim.

Barasat Euro Musketeers

On 15 January 2012, Cassius Management announced that Teitur would be one of six foreign coaches hired for the new league Bengal Premier League Soccer, with group stages beginning 15 March 2012. He was subsequently bought by Basarat, under the ownership of Uro Infra Reality India Ltd., for on 30 January 2012. After several delays due to lack of quality venues and government opposition, the project was cancelled in January 2013.

Honours

Player

Íþróttabandalag Akraness * Icelandic Championships:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Östers IF *

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 1976–77

Manager

Flora Tallinn *

: 1997–98,

* Estonian Cup: 1997–98 * Estonian SuperCup: 1998 Vancouver Whitecaps FC *

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Barasat Euro Musketeers * PLS:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thordarson, Teitur 1952 births Living people Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Men's association football forwards Teitur Thordarson Jönköpings Södra IF players Östers IF players RC Lens players AS Cannes players Yverdon-Sport FC players Skövde AIK players Teitur Thordarson Allsvenskan players Ligue 1 players Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Teitur Thordarson Skövde AIK managers SK Brann managers Lyn Fotball managers Lillestrøm SK managers Estonia national football team managers FC Flora managers Ullensaker/Kisa IL managers Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur managers Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) coaches Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coaches Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Teitur Thordarson Expatriate football managers in Sweden Expatriate football managers in Norway Expatriate football managers in Estonia Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Teitur Thordarson Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 4th Class Eliteserien managers