Stefán Gíslason (born 15 March 1980 in

Fjarðabyggð Fjarðabyggð () is a municipality located in eastern Iceland, in the Eastern Region. History The municipality was formed in 1998 with the union of the former municipalities of Eskifjörður, Neskaupstaður and Reyðarfjörður. Austurbyggð, Fá ...

) is an

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 ...

ic retired

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 ...

and manager who last played for Breiðablik in the Icelandic Premier League as a

defensive 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 is currently managing

Søgne Søgne is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 2020 when it was merged with the municipalities of Songdalen and Kristiansand into the "new" Kristiansand municipality in what is now ...

in the

Norwegian Fourth Division The Norwegian Fourth Division, also called 4. divisjon, is the fifth highest division of the men's football league in Norway. Like the rest of the Norwegian football league system, the season runs from spring to autumn, running approximately from ...

. As a player, Gíslason was renowned for coupling physical power with great technique and is the younger brother of fellow international player

Valur Gíslason Valur Fannar Gíslason (born 8 September 1977) is an Icelandic former footballer who played for a defender and midfielder. Club career Born in Reykjavík, Valur played for Fram, Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion, Strømsgodset, Fylkir, Valur, ...

. In 2017, Gíslason starting his career as manager at

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

, where he resigned at the end of the season.

Club career

As a youngster he was on the roster of English giants

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 ...

, but limited playing time saw him returning to

KR Reykjavík 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 ...

on a loan deal. He later played for Strømsgodset,

Grazer AK Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletiksport Klub (in Austria the abbreviation GAK is more common), is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria (''Steiermark''). The football section used to be on ...

and

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

before joining Lyn in 2005. Stefán immediately made an impression, and was eventually made vice captain. While at Lyn he played 62 league games out of a possible 65, scoring eight goals. He was sold to Brøndby in July 2007 and in February 2008 replaced

Per Nielsen Per Lundgren Nielsen (; born 15 October 1973) is a Danish former professional footballer who played in the central defense of Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga for his entire club career. With Brøndby, Nielsen won five Danish championships ...

as captain. On 3 July 2009 Stefán was informed that he would no longer captain the side and that he would be free to leave the club at the end of the season. In recent time, Stefán has been linked to the Norwegian club

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, having won 8 ...

, were the former Norwegian national team coach

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football manager and player, currently managing Malmö FF as the interim manager. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich ...

is coaching. He played on loan for Viking in early 2010. His situation in Brøndby had not become better, resulting in Stefán wishing to leave the club in the next transfer season. On 4 February 2011, Brøndby and Stefán agreed to cancel his contract with the club with immediate effect. The timing of that release effectively leaves Stefán in

limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...

because other clubs are unable to sign him until the summer of 2011 due to the

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

rules.

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

manager Craig Brown stated on 21 February that he had been interested in signing Stefán until it was discovered he was ineligible to sign. On 16 March 2011, Stefán was presented as the main event at the seasonal kick-off of

Lillestrøm SK Lillestrøm Sportsklubb is a Norwegian professional football club from the city of Lillestrøm, just outside of the capital Oslo. Lillestrøm SK is a Norwegian football club based in Lillestrøm, playing in Eliteserien. The club was founded in 1 ...

, signing a contract expiring on 1 August. However, after enduring a terrible run of five goalless losses,

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

decided to bring him back 29 September for the remainder of the 2011 season. On 10 January 2012, he signed for Belgian team

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

. In February 2014, Stefán signed a 3-year contract with Icelandic club Breiðablik. However, on 13 February 2015, he announced his retirement from professional football.

Managerial career

In 2017, Stefán was appointed the manager of

Career statistics

International career

Gíslason made his debut for

in a January 2002 friendly match against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

as a substitute for Helgi Sigurðsson. He has in total been capped 32 times for the Icelandic national team.

References

External links

Lyn profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gislason, Stefan 1980 births Living people Stefan Gislason Stefan Gislason Stefan Gislason Stefan Gislason Arsenal F.C. players Stefan Gislason Strømsgodset Toppfotball players Grazer AK players Stefan Gislason Lyn Fotball players Brøndby IF players Danish Superliga players Belgian Pro League players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Stefan Gislason Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Stefan Gislason Expatriate footballers in England Stefan Gislason Expatriate footballers in Norway Stefan Gislason Expatriate footballers in Austria Stefan Gislason Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Stefan Gislason Expatriate footballers in Belgium Stefan Gislason Association football midfielders Stefan Gislason Stefan Gislason Lommel S.K. managers