Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson (born 18 February 1995) 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club man ...

, on loan from

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 ...

side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and the Iceland national team. He has also previously played for

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...

and

KR Reykjavik KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickoff ...

Family

Rúnar Alex is the son of

Rúnar Kristinsson Rúnar Kristinsson (born 5 September 1969) is an Icelandic former professional association football, footballer who played for K.S.C. Lokeren, Lokeren, Lillestrøm SK, Örgryte IS and Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, KR Reykjavík. He is the cur ...

, a former professional footballer.

Club career

Rúnar Alex was player of the season for

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

in the 2017–18 Danish Superliga. In June 2018, Rúnar Alex joined

on a four-year agreement.

Arsenal

On 21 September 2020, Rúnar Alex signed for

club

on a four-year deal. He chose the number 13 at the club. Rúnar Alex made his debut for the club on the 29th October 2020, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

win over

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

side

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

. After first choice goalkeeper

Bernd Leno Bernd Leno (born 4 March 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fulham and the Germany national team. Club career VfB Stuttgart Having progressed through the youth set up at VfB Stuttgart, in May 2011, L ...

was sent off against

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 ...

on 2 February 2021, Rúnar Alex made his Premier League debut as a substitute for

Thomas Partey Thomas Teye Partey (born 13 June 1993) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Arsenal and the Ghana national team. Partey began his professional career at Spanish club Atlético Madrid in 2013, going on loan t ...

in a 2–1 away defeat.

OH Leuven

On 31 August 2021, Rúnar Alex joined

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club OH Leuven on loan until the end of the season. On 27 October 2021, Rúnar Alex made his first appearance of the season for OH Leuven in their 2–1

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

win over

Lierse Kempenzonen Lierse Kempenzonen is a Belgian association football club located in Lier, in the province of Antwerp. The club, founded in 1943 as Oosterzonen in Oosterwijk, was relocated to Lier following the bankruptcy of Lierse in 2018. They compete in ...

, with his league debut coming one month later on 26 November 2021 in a 1–3 away win to league leaders Union SG.

Loan to Alanyaspor

On 15 August 2022,

announced that Rúnar Alex was loaned to

side

International career

Having previously represented his country at youth level, Rúnar Alex was called up to the senior Iceland squad for 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 ...

, where the team became the silver medalist He earned his first senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a friendly against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

on 9 November 2017. In May 2018, he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Runarsson, Runar 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Reykjavík Association football goalkeepers Runar Alex Runarsson Runar Alex Runarsson Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur players FC Nordsjælland players Dijon FCO players Arsenal F.C. players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Alanyaspor footballers Danish Superliga players Úrvalsdeild karla (football) players Ligue 1 players Belgian First Division A players Süper Lig players Iceland international footballers Runar Alex Runarsson 2018 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Belgium Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in France Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in England Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Premier League players