Þóra Björg Helgadóttir (born 5 May 1981), commonly

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Thora Helgadottir, 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Trained at university level in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, she formerly played for four seasons with

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

's women's soccer team. She most recently played for

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

club

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

(FC Rosengård) and had previously represented clubs in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Since making her debut 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 17th best women's national team in the world by FIFA as of December 2019. On 30 October 2008, the national team q ...

in 1998, Þóra has accrued over a

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

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 ...

. She was named in Iceland's squad for the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

. Þóra is the younger sister of Ásthildur Helgadóttir, former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the women's national team. In May 2014 Þóra announced via Twitter that she was leaving

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård, formerly Malmö FF Dam (1970–2007) and LdB FC Malmö (2007–2013), is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons in th ...

and returning to Iceland.

Club career

Þóra made her debut in the domestic Úrvalsdeild league as a 14-year-old. Playing with Breiðablik and later with KR, she went on to win eight league titles and six

Icelandic Women's Cup The Icelandic Women's Football Cup ( is, Bikarkeppni kvenna í knattspyrnu) is the national women's football cup competition in Iceland. The first edition of the cup was played out in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: By team See al ...

s. From 2000 until 2003 Þóra attended

, where she studied mathematics and history, and played varsity soccer. Þóra had already spent the 2004 season in Norway as

Bente Nordby Bente Dalum Nordby (born 23 July 1974) is a former Norwegian football goalkeeper, who last played for Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France. She played with the Norway women's national football team from 1991 to 2007. Career Nordby is the se ...

's understudy at Kolbotn, when in January 2007 the opportunity to move to Belgium came up through her career outside football. In August 2007 she left Anderlecht to join sister Ásthildur in Sweden at Malmö, who needed a goalkeeper due to

Caroline Jönsson Elin Hanna Caroline Jönsson (born 22 November 1977) is a Swedish former football goalkeeper who played for Malmö and Umeå IK of Damallsvenskan and Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She played 80 times for the Sweden wo ...

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

. In 2009 Þóra played for Kolbotn and was named

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...

Player of the Year. She signed a three-year contract with Malmö in November 2009. Malmö secured their first Damallsvenskan championship since 1994 in the 2010 season. In the 2012–13 winter season, Þóra played on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

in the Australian W-League. Þóra was named Damallsvenskan goalkeeper of the year in 2012 and 2013 after keeping 14 "

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s" as Malmö recaptured the league title from rivals

Tyresö FF Tyresö Fotbollsförening is a Sweden, Swedish association football, football club in Tyresö, a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Stockholm County. The club was founded in 1971 and is primarily known for its main women's team, which compe ...

. She announced that her final game for Malmö, who became FC Rosengård for

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, would be against

Piteå IF Piteå Idrottsförening, commonly known as Piteå IF, is a Swedish football club located in Piteå that currently competes in Sweden's top-division women's league, Damallsvenskan. In 2018, they won the Swedish national Championship for the fi ...

on 2 July 2014. She agreed to join

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 combi ...

of the Úrvalsdeild upon her return to Iceland. Þóra retired after the season with Fylkir in 2015 and is now assistant manager at Fylkir. She signed for

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan, commonly known as Stjarnan, is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær.and in the top 10 in the World and they have won the League ...

in 2016.

International career

Five days after turning 17, Þóra made her senior international debut for

in a 1–0 friendly defeat to the

on 10 May 1998. 01 Helgadottir 130406 Sve-Isl 2-0 173450 9393

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 ...

, Þóra played in two matches as Iceland were eliminated in the first round. 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 * Co ...

Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Þóra 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 ...

, although she was recovering from a hamstring injury. Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir took the goalkeeping position at the final tournament, playing in the three group matches and the 4–0 quarter-final defeat to hosts

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Iceland beat

2–1 at the 2014 Algarve Cup, as Þóra made her 100th national team appearance.

Personal life

Celebrity

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

Sigurwin, the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the Iceland women's national football team, was released into Þóra's care after UEFA Women's Euro 2013. Sigurwin came to prominence during the tournament when Ludvig Lindström of Global Happiness Organization (GHO) publicly criticised the players for keeping him in a jar and making jokes about flushing him down the toilet.

References

External links