Eggert Gunnþór Jónsson (born 18 August 1988) is an

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 ...

ic international

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 plays predominantly as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but is also capable of playing as a centre back or in both full back roles. He current plays for the Icelandic club FH. He joined

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side Hearts as a teenager and eventually established himself in the first-team where he displayed his versatility and even went on to captain the Edinburgh side on numerous occasions before moving to the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

in January 2012 when he signed for Wolves, with whom he made only seven appearances during an eighteen-month stay. He made his international debut at the age of 19 and is considered to be part of

's golden generation along with the likes of

Gylfi Sigurðsson Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson (; transliterated as Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson; born 8 September 1989) is an Icelandic professional footballer who last played as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Everton. Gylfi began his professional caree ...

and

Kolbeinn Sigþórsson Kolbeinn Sigþórsson (; born 14 March 1990) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a forward. Currently a free agent, he most recently played for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Before being signed by Ajax for a fee of €4.5&n ...

Club career

Eggert made his debut as a 15-year-old for Fjarðabyggð in Iceland. After that he trained with Þór Akureyri.

Hearts

In July 2005, he signed for Hearts, signing a professional contract soon after he turned 18. He made his debut for Hearts on 20 September 2006, appearing as a substitute in a 4–0 League Cup victory over

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a ...

. He made his league debut as a substitute in Hearts' 1–0 win over

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

at Tynecastle on 10 February 2007. His first experience of an

Edinburgh Derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...

came on 1 April 2007 as he appeared as a 66th-minute substitute in 1–0 victory at Easter Road. Eggert scored his first goal for the club against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

in a 5–1 friendly victory in July 2007. His first competitive goal came against St Mirren in 3–2 at Tynecastle on 19 April 2008. On 28 March 2008, Eggert signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

team. Having played mainly as a centre midfielder and occasionally a centre back for the first few years of his Hearts career Eggert began to display his versatility in the 2008–09 season. New manager Csaba László used Eggert almost exclusively as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the first few months of the season and during the course of the season he played across the midfield, as a centre back and as a left back. László praised Eggert for his consistent performances despite constantly changing position as well as his diligent attitude. Eggert himself expressed his desire to do his best for the team regardless of which position he played. Following the departure of Christophe Berra to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in January 2009, Eggert was given the number four shirt for the 2009–10 season. Perhaps the most memorable moment of his Hearts career came against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

as he scored an acrobatic

overhead kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

to give Hearts a 1–0 victory at Pittodrie on 27 February 2010. Due to the absence of

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 ...

Marius Žaliūkas Marius Žaliūkas (10 November 198331 October 2020) was a Lithuanian professional footballer who played primarily as a centre back, but also played as a defensive midfielder. Žaliūkas played in his homeland for Inkaras Kaunas, FBK Kaunas an ...

and

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

Lee Wallace, Eggert was made captain for the 3–0 defeat to Celtic F.C. at Parkhead on 11 September 2010. He would go on to take the captain's armband for numerous matches while with the ''Jambos'' due to the unavailability of Žaliūkas. One such occasion came on 7 May 2011 as he was sent off for a challenge on Nikica Jelavić in a 4–0 away loss against

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. During his Hearts career, Eggert made 153 appearances in all competitions and scored nine goals.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 21 December 2011, Eggert agreed to join

side

on a three-and-a half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £250,000 rising to £600,000. The deal was officially completed when the January 2012 transfer window opened. Jónsson made his debut for Wolves playing the full 90 minutes against

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 7 January, but this was one of only made five appearances in total during the remainder of the campaign during which the club suffered relegation. The player's first team prospects at Molineux failed to improve during

Stale Solbakken Staling, or "going stale", is a chemical and physical process in bread and similar foods that reduces their palatability - stale bread is dry and hard. Mechanism and effects Staling is not simply a drying-out process due to evaporation. One im ...

's tenure as manager, with Jónsson only featuring in one league game as a substitute. To gain playing time he joined fellow Championship club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on a one-month loan deal in November 2012. On 7 December 2012, he returned from his loan spell having made two appearances for the Addicks. He did not make any further appearances during the remainder of the 2012–13 season and on 12 July 2013, Wolves announced that an agreement had been reached to terminate his contract with two years remaining.

Belenenses

Within days of his release from Wolves, Jónsson joined Portuguese club

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Reste ...

. Late in the summer of 2014 Eggert mutually terminated his contract with the Portuguese side, returning to Iceland to recover from injury.

Fleetwood Town

In 2015,

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

signed Jónsson on a one year contract following expiration of his deal with

FC Vestsjælland FC Vestsjælland, also known as FCV Vikings, was a professional Danish association football club that played in the Danish 1st Division until its closure in 2015. They played their home matches at Harboe Arena Slagelse in Slagelse, which has a cap ...

. After making 63 appearances in all competitions for Fleetwood, in January 2017 he signed for Danish side

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...

SønderjyskE

After joining

in 2017, Jónsson played 43 times for the club. During the 2020 Covid-19 hiatus, his contract was extended until July 2020. Jónsson scored in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

game that relegated Silkeborg.

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar

In August 2020, Jonsson signed for Icelandic club

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar ( en, Hafnarfjörður Gymnastics Club), commonly referred to as FH, is an Icelandic multi-sports club based in Hafnarfjörður. The club competes in football, handball, athletics, and fencing. It was founded in 1929 ...

International career

Jónsson received his first call-up to the Iceland national team in November 2007 for the Euro 2008 qualifier against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

on 21 November. He made his debut as a 73-minute replacement for

Emil Hallfreðsson Emil Hallfreðsson (born 29 June 1984) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder or left winger for Italian club Virtus Verona and the Iceland national team. Club career Early career Primarily a left-sided midf ...

in the 3–0

Group F Group F may refer to: * A set of international motor racing regulations used in touring car racing * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2018 FIFA World Cup Group F ** 2014 FIF ...

defeat at the

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

. He was part of the Iceland under-21 team at the

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

, a squad which was considered to be the golden generation of Icelandic football. Iceland were eliminated from Group A by a three-way tie-breaker as they finished with an identical record to both

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and

, allowing Belarus to advance along with group winners

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Career statistics

''Updated 19 December 2014.''

Honours

SønderjyskE * Danish Cup: 2019–20

References

External links

*
Appearances
at londonhearts.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonsson, Eggert 1988 births Living people Eggert Jonsson Eggert Jonsson Eggert Jonsson Eggert Jonsson Eggert Jonsson Eggert Jonsson Association football utility players Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Portugal Eggert Jonsson Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players C.F. Os Belenenses players Primeira Liga players Association football defenders Association football midfielders