Ragna Lóa Stefánsdóttir (born 10 September 1966) is an Icelandic former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played for Úrvalsdeild kvenna clubs ÍA, Stjarnan,

Valur Valur may refer to: People * Birkir Valur Jónsson (born 1998), Icelandic football player * Björn Valur Gíslason (born 1959), Icelandic politician * Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 1979), Icelandic handball player * Guðni Valur Guðnason (born ...

and KR. Ragna Lóa won 35 caps and scored two goals for the

Iceland women's national football team The Iceland women's national football team represents Iceland in international women's football. They are currently ranked as the 17th best women's national team in the world by FIFA as of December 2019. On 30 October 2008, the national team ...

International career

Ragna Lóa made her debut 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 ...

in an August 1985 friendly match against

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 ...

. She scored in her second match, another friendly against the same opposition two days later. In a

1993 UEFA Women's Championship qualification The qualification for the UEFA Women's Euro 1993 was held between September 21, 1991 & November 14, 1992. The winner of the quarter-finals qualified. First round Group 1 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group 2 ---- ---- ---- ---- --- ...

match against

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 ...

in July 1992, Ragna Lóa scored her second international goal. On 2 September 1997, Ragna Lóa broke her leg in a

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The qualification process for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup saw 67 teams from the six FIFA confederations compete for the 16 places in the tournament's finals. The places were divided as follows: *Africa – represented by the CAF: 2 berths *A ...

match against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The injury was severe and required surgery. After the surgery she developed a life-threatening

fat embolism syndrome Fat embolism syndrome occurs when fat enters the blood stream (fat embolism) and results in symptoms. Symptoms generally begin within a day. This may include a petechial rash, decreased level of consciousness, and shortness of breath. Other sympto ...

which caused her lungs to shut down. She was put to a

medically induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

and kept on a ventilator for almost five days. She never fully recovered from the injury and retired from playing football following the 1998 season, except one match played in 2003.

Managerial career

Ragna Lóa was named the 1997 Icelandic women's football manager of the year after she guided KR to the Icelandic championship. The day that KR secured the title, Ragna Lóa was still in a medically induced coma following her broken leg in Iceland's game against Ukraine. The first thing she saw when she woke up was the Icelandic championship trophy by her bedside. She was the manager of Fylkir women's team from 2013 to 2014. In November 2018, Ragna Lóa was hired as an assistant coach to Bojana Kristín Besic at KR. In July 2019, she took over as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

of the team after Besic resigned and guided the team to two victories before being replaced with Jóhannes Karl Sigursteinsson.

Personal life

Ragna Lóa was married to fellow Icelander

Hermann Hreiðarsson Hermann Hreiðarsson (born 11 July 1974) is an Icelandic former professional football player and coach. He played as a defender and spent 15 seasons in England, gaining a total of 315 appearances in the Premier League. Hermann was relegated fr ...

, himself a football player. She has four children, including footballers Ída Marín Hermannsdóttir and Thelma Lóa Hermannsdóttir.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefansdottir, Ragna Loa 1966 births Living people Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Ragna Loa Stefansdottir Women's association football central defenders Ragna Loa Stefansdottir