Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson (born 25 August 1999) is an Icelandic professional

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 for Danish club

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

and the Iceland national team as a defender or

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 ...

. He has played domestic football in Iceland, the Netherlands, England, Germany and Denmark. A product of the

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 ...

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, Kolbeinn began his senior career with the club and transferred to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

in 2015, with whom he progressed into the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. In 2018, he transferred to Brentford B, from whom he transferred to

Borussia Dortmund II Borussia Dortmund II are the reserve team of Borussia Dortmund. They play in the 3. Liga, at Stadion Rote Erde. Until 2005, the team played as Borussia Dortmund Amateure. History From Kreisliga to Oberliga (Until 1997) The second team of Boruss ...

in 2019. Kolbeinn was capped by Iceland at youth level and made his full international debut in 2019.

Club career

Fylkir

, Kolbeinn began his career in his native

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 ...

in the

. His progression was such that he became the club's youngest-ever player when he made his debut at age 14 years and 229 days in a 3–0 group stage

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory over Þróttur on 11 April 2014. Kolbeinn signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract on 2 May 2015, he became the youngest player in the club's history to start a Úrvalsdeild match, when he made a late substitute appearance in a 1–1 draw with

Fjölnir Fjölnir ( non, Fjǫlnir ) is a legendary king in Norse mythology said to have been the son of Freyr (Frey) and his consort Gerðr (Gertha). The name appears in a variety of forms, including Fiolnir, Fjölner, Fjolner, and Fjolne. He was claime ...

. Kolbeinn made 15 appearances during the 2015 season and departed the

Fylkisvöllur Fylkisvöllur () is a multi-use stadium in Reykjavík, Iceland. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''footba ...

in January 2016.

FC Groningen

On 27 October 2015, Kolbeinn moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to join

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

on a -year contract, effective 1 January 2016. The transfer made him the youngest player to sign a contract with the club. He began his time with the club in the U17 and U19 teams, before progressing into the U23 team, for whom he made 24

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

appearances during the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. Kolbeinn was released when his contract expired at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Brentford

On 8 June 2018, Kolbeinn moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to transfer to the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

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 ...

. He signed a two-year contract, with the option for a further year, effective 1 July 2018. After making his international debut for Iceland in January 2019, Kolbeinn became Brentford B's first ever player to win an international cap without having yet made a first-team appearance for the club. On 17 February 2019, he won his only first team call up for an

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 ...

fifth round match versus

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

and remained an unused substitute during the 4–1 defeat. Kolbeinn finished the B team season with 43 appearances and 9 goals and then returned to Úrvalsdeild club Fylkir on a two-month

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 ...

, which was subsequently extended by a further month. He made 15 appearances and scored two goals during his spell. After returning to

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

and playing with the B team in

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 ...

in early August, he departed the club.

Borussia Dortmund II

On 20 August 2019, Kolbeinn moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to transfer to the

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. After making 18 appearances during the truncated 2019–20 season, he made 28 appearances and scored four goals during the team's

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

championship-winning

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. During an injury-affected 2021–22

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

season, Kolbeinn made 19 appearances without scoring. Entering the final months of his contract, Kolbeinn signed a one-year extension in March 2022. Over the course of his time with the club, Kolbeinn was developed into a left-sided

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

. Following 78 appearances and four goals, Kolbeinn departed the club in January 2023.

Lyngby

On 25 January 2023, Kolbeinn transferred to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

club

and signed a -year contract. He made 48 appearances and scored three goals over the course of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

and 2023–24 seasons, in both of which the club narrowly avoided relegation.

International career

At youth international level, Kolbeinn was capped by the Iceland U16, U17, U19 and U21 teams. He was a part of the U16 squad which won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the

2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...

. Kolbeinn was a member of Iceland's 2021 UEFA European U21 Championship finals squad and he made three appearances prior to the team's group stage exit. Kolbeinn received his maiden call into the senior squad for a pair of

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

matches in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

in January 2019. He appeared in both, but was not called into the squad again until a pair of

Euro 2024 qualifiers The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament is an upcoming football competition that will be played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified host team Germany in ...

in September 2023. Kolbeinn appeared in both matches, which marked his competitive debut for the senior team.

Personal life

Kolbeinn is the son of retired international footballer

Finnur Kolbeinsson Finnur Kolbeinsson (born 21 March 1972) is a retired Icelandic semi-professional football midfielder who made over 200 appearances for Fylkir. He also played in Malta and Belgium and was capped by Iceland at international level. Club career ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Brentford B *

Middlesex Senior Cup The Middlesex Senior Cup is the most prestigious football cup competition in the historic county of Middlesex, England. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although league clubs have been known to enter the compe ...

: 2018–19 Borussia Dortmund II *

Iceland U16 *

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

Individual * Saint-Joseph International Tournament Player of the Tournament: 2017

References

External links

*
Kolbeinn Finnsson
at voetbalzone.nl
Kolbeinn Finnsson
at olympic.org * * *
Kolbeinn Finnsson
at lyngby-boldklub.dk {{DEFAULTSORT:Finnsson, Kolbeinn 1999 births Living people Kolbeinn Finnsson Brentford F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Kolbeinn Finnsson Kolbeinn Finnsson Jong Groningen players Kolbeinn Finnsson Kolbeinn Finnsson Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in England Kolbeinn Finnsson Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Kolbeinn Finnsson Derde Divisie players Kolbeinn Finnsson Borussia Dortmund II players Kolbeinn Finnsson Regionalliga players Footballers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics 3. Liga players Kolbeinn Finnsson Men's association football defenders Men's association football fullbacks Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Lyngby Boldklub players Danish Superliga players