Eyjólfur Gjafar Sverrisson (born 3 August 1968) 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 ...

and former coach of the

Iceland national football team The Iceland national football team (in ) represents Iceland in men's international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Iceland, and have been a FIFA member since 1947 and an UEFA member since 1957. The team's nickn ...

. He is the father of

Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson (born 6 August 1990) is an Icelandic association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Úrvalsdeild karla (football), Úrvalsdeild karla club Valur (men's football), Valur and the Iceland national football ...

, also a professional footballer.

Football

Playing career

Club career

Eyjólfur started his career as a striker at local team UMF Tindastóll and moved to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

in 1989. He played for Stuttgart until 1994 and became a German champion in 1992. After five seasons, he moved to play in midfield for Beşiktaş J.K. in Turkey and became Turkish champion with the team in 1995. He left them at the end of that season and changed to Hertha BSC, where he helped securing promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

in 1997 and won the

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

in 2001. In his last couple of seasons he played as a defender. During his Bundesliga career, Eyjólfur played 251 matches and scored 30 goals.

International career

He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

66 times for

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 ...

, making his debut in a Euro 1992 qualifying match in May 1991 against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. During the 1990s he was one of the stars of the national team and also skippered them. His last international came in October 2001, in a World cup 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

which Iceland lost 0–6 away.

Coaching career

In October 2005 he was appointed the coach of the Iceland national football team, where he has struggled, only winning two of his first 14 competitive games. Eyjólfur was sacked on 27 October 2007. While managing the Iceland U21 men's football team, he signed a short-term contract as assistant with

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

on 10 February 2011. He left the position as manager for Iceland U21 in the beginning of January 2019.

Coaching career statistics

Basketball

Club career

Eyjólfur started his basketball career with Tindastóll and was a key member of the team that won the Icelandic Division II in 1986. He had a stellar first season in the Icelandic Division I with Tindastóll and averaged a league leading 26.4 points in 20 games. The next season Eyjólfur upped his average to 32.8 points per game, including a season high 50 points against Skallagrímur, again leading the league in scoring, His performance helped the club win the Icelandic Division I and achieve promotion to the top-tier Icelandic Úrvalsdeild. Eyjólfur was the second leading scorer of the Úrvalsdeild karla for the 1988–1989 season, averaging 24.2 points per game and was selected to the Icelandic All-Star game in February 1989. It was his final full season in basketball as the next season he moved to

to fully focus on his football career.

International career

Eyjólfur played 10 games for the Icelandic junior national teams. In August 1989, he was selected to a 20-player training camp with the Icelandic national team but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts with Tindastóll's football games.

References

External links

*
Úrvalsdeild statistics (basketball)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyjolfur Sverrisson Sverrisson, Eyjolfur 2. Bundesliga players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Turkey Hertha BSC players Iceland men's international footballers Iceland national football team managers Icelandic football managers Icelandic expatriate footballers Icelandic footballers Icelandic men's basketball players Sverrisson, Eyjolfur People from Sauðárkrókur Süper Lig players VfB Stuttgart players Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards Men's association football utility players Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players Ungmennafélagið Tindastóll men's basketball players Shooting guards Tindastóll men's football players