Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson (born 16 October 1975) is an Icelandic former

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 last played for KR as a midfielder. Brynjar had previously played for Nottingham Forest,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, Watford and Reading in England as well as

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

and

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

in Norway and Örgryte IS in

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 ...

. Gunnarsson is the current manager of HK in the Premier Division of Icelandic football, after helping them to a promotion in his first season with the team.

Club career

Brynjar was born in Reykjavík and started his career with local club KR, playing three seasons with their senior squad. Brynjar moved to Norway in 1998 to play for

and

Moss FK Moss Fotballklubb is a Norwegian football club, founded on 28 August 1906. They play in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. They played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937-1939, 1953-1954, 1 ...

before joining Swedish club Örgryte IS in 1999. After a season at the Gamla Ullevi English club

paid a club-record fee of £600,000 for Brynjar, with him becoming one of a number of Scandinavian players at Stoke following a take over by a group of Icelandic businessmen. He played 30 times for Stoke 1999–2000 as Stoke lost to Gillingham in the play-offs. He did play in the

2000 Football League Trophy Final The 2000 Football League Trophy Final (known as the Auto Windscreens Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Second and Third Division of the Football League. The match wa ...

as Stoke beat 2–1. In 2000–01 Brynjar missed just three matches as Stoke again failed in the play-offs this time to Walsall but Brynjar did win the player of the year. He struggled with injury in 2001–02 as Stoke gained promotion by beating

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

2–0 in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. He played in 45 games in 2002–03 as Stoke narrowly avoided relegation and at the end of the season he left for Nottingham Forest on a free transfer. He failed to make much of an impact at Forest and after making 14 appearances he re-joined Stoke on a short-term loan. He played three times for Stoke in 2003–04 until he was released by Forest at the end of the season. Brynjar signed for Watford in the summer of 2004, after being released by Forest. He made 43 appearances in an impressive first season. However, Ray Lewington's replacement as Watford manager,

Adrian Boothroyd Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...

, to some raised eyebrows from the Watford support, allowed Brynjar to leave for Reading for a nominal fee in the summer of 2005. He helped Reading win the Championship title in 2005–06 and stay in the Premier League in 2006–07 however relegation was suffered in 2007–08. He slowly drifted in and out of the Reading side and left the club having made 163 appearances for the club scoring ten goals. Brynjar moved to KR again after about 15 years abroad in March 2013. After a season in which Brynjar helped KR win the league he retired as a player to become the assistant manager at fellow Úrvalsdeild outfit Stjarnan.

International career

Brynjar made his debut for Iceland in a June 1997 World Cup qualifying match against

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

. He was capped more than 70 times for Iceland, scoring five goals.

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League play-offs, Football League Trophy,

Icelandic Super Cup The Icelandic Men's Super Cup (Icelandic: ''Meistarakeppni karla'') is an annual football game between the reigning champions of the Úrvalsdeild karla and the Icelandic Cup holders (or, if the same team holds both titles, between the title-holde ...

and the UEFA Europa League.

International

Source:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnarsson, Brynjar 1975 births Living people Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Brynjar Gunnarsson Vålerenga Fotball players Moss FK players Örgryte IS players Stoke City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Watford F.C. players Reading F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in England Brynjar Gunnarsson Premier League players Allsvenskan players Eliteserien players English Football League players Association football midfielders Stjarnan football managers Brynjar Gunnarsson