Kjartan Henry Finnbogason (born 9 July 1986) is an Icelandic 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 as a striker. He has represented

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 ...

at international level.

Club career

Kjartan was born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, Iceland. He was signed by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in December 2004. Although signing for the club as a member of their youth academy, he was loaned to Queen's Park in the 2005–06 season to gain first team experience, but he suffered a broken foot and soon returned to

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

. Despite scoring 28 goals in 20 reserve appearances for the Glasgow club, he failed to make a single first team appearance and left after less than two years. It was reported in the Scottish press that Kjartan was unhappy with the way he was treated. Sources claimed he was disenchanted with the lack of first team opportunities given to him by manager

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

. Celtic were initially going to offer him a contract, but due to notable disagreements Kjartan handed in a transfer request. He had several trial offers from English clubs and he made public his intention to play in the

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 Foo ...

. Kjartan accepted a trial from

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

at the start of the 2007–08 season and went on the clubs Latvian tour against

Skonto FC Skonto FC was a Latvian football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the core of the Latvia ...

and

FK Žalgiris Vilnius FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

, but did not impress sufficiently and was released after the tour. He made a good impression at

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

after scoring in the 2–1 defeat of

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

on 5 August 2009 as a trialist attacker in a friendly. In August 2009, Kjartan signed a six-month loan deal at Falkirk, with an option of a permanent deal. He scored on his debut, against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

on 29 August 2009. He signed for

Sandefjord Fotball Sandefjord Fotball, commonly known simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club, founded on 10 September 1998. The club currently competes in Eliteserien, the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. Their home ground ...

in January 2010. Kjartan then signed for KR Reykjavik in 2010 making a two-year contract. Playing in shirt number 6 he scored 9 goals in all competitions. During the 2011 season, Kjartan played in shirt number 10. After 18 league games, KR Reykjavik was at the top of the table and Kjartan had scored 12 goals in the league. Kjartan broke a club record for KR Reykjavik scoring his seventh goal against MŠK Žilina in nine UEFA Cup appearances in 2011, making him the highest goal scorer in the clubs UEFA Cup history.

Ferencváros

He scored a hat-trick in the second round proper of the 2018–19 Magyar Kupa season against

Sárvári FC Sárvári Futball Club is a professional football club based in Sárvár, Vas County, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság III, the third tier of Hungarian football The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-v� ...

. He was the top scorer of the 2018-19 Magyar Kupa season.

Vejle

On 20 January 2019, Kjartan signed for

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

Return to Horsens

After terminating his deal with Vejle, Finnbogason returned to AC Horsens on 6 October 2020, signing a deal until June 2021. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in January 2021 due to personal reasons, with Kjartan expressing an interest in returning to Iceland.

Esbjerg

On 1 February 2021, Kjartan signed a six-month contract with second-tier

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

. Efter two goals in seven league games, Finnbogason's deal was terminated by mutual agreement on 11 May 2021, one day after the club's head coach,

Ólafur Kristjánsson Ólafur Helgi Kristjánsson (born 20 May 1968) is an Icelandic football manager and former player, who most recently managed Danish club Esbjerg fB. Playing career Kristjánsson started his playing career at FH Hafnarfjörður, before moving t ...

, was fired.Finnbogason stopper i EfB nu
efb.dk, 11 May 2021

International career

Kjartan scored his first ever international goal against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the

2017 China Cup The 2017 Gree China Cup International Football Championship () was the inaugural edition of the China Cup, an international football tournament. It was held from 10 to 15 January 2017 in Nanning, Guangxi, China. The tournament was hosted by t ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Iceland's goal tally first.''

References

External links