Ari Freyr Skúlason (born 14 May 1987) 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 ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play thei ...

in Sweden. He previously played at senior level in Iceland and Belgium, and was also a youth player in the Netherlands. He made over 80 appearances for the Iceland national team.

Club career

Ari started his career at Valur. At sixteen, he went to

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

in the Netherlands where he spent two seasons. He was released at the end of 2005 when he could not make the first team. He returned to Valur where he played half a season before signing with Allsvenskan club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

. Although relegated to the Swedish second tier, the club competed in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

qualifiers the following year because of their

fair play ranking The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking was used by UEFA from 1995 to the 2015–16 season to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since that time it has granted a monetary prize to winning associations. Qualific ...

. Häcken managed to progress into the main competition after Ari scored the winning goal against Scottish club

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

Häcken failed to gain promotion, and he signed with Allsvenskan club

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...

at the end of the year. At the start of the 2012 season he became captain of the club. On 11 July 2013, it was revealed that Ari had signed a contract with

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 ye ...

club OB for the start of 2014 when his contract with Sundsvall expired. On 19 July it was announced that the clubs had reached an agreement for his semi-immediate transfer. On 27 July he played his last game for Sundsvall, scoring two free-kick goals in a 3–3 draw against GAIS. On 18 July 2016, Ari officially joined Belgian-side

K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (; often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren) was a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The club was founded in 1923 but cease ...

. On 31 March 2021, Swedish club

, announced that they had signed Ari.

International career

After being

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 ...

ped at various youth levels he got to make his debut for the Icelandic national team in 2009 against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. In 2012, he started getting more frequent callups from new national team manager

Lars Lagerbäck Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck (; born 16 July 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player, who is the technical director of the Iceland national football team. Lagerbäck has managed a number of national teams prior to his current pos ...

. Despite Ari having been playing as a midfielder for his club side he was nonetheless picked in the Iceland squad as a left-back and has been the first-choice left-back in the national team during most of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Consequently, Ari felt that he needed to change his position at club level and asked to be signed as a left-back when he was sold in July 2013, so he could play that position at club level to be able to hold his place as the first-choice left-back in the Iceland squad, despite the fact that he has been praised as a central playmaker of high quality. He was selected for

EURO 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

. He started in all of Iceland's five matches, helping the national team go to the quarter-finals in their very first European championship. In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Ari retired from the national team in November 2021. He played 83 games.

Playing position

Even though his most common position is in central midfield Ari can also play as a winger and played as a full-back with the Iceland national team. After transferring from Sweden to Denmark in 2013 he stated in an interview that he had asked to be signed as a left-back to cement his place as the starting left-back in the national team.

References

External links

Article at fotbolti.net
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archive
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"Ari Freyr SKÚLASON cittadino onorario di PIEVE""MLON13.com - A Pieve di Cento è pandemia per Ari Skulason"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skulason, Ari Freyr 1987 births Living people Ari Freyr Skulason Men's association football midfielders Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Úrvalsdeild karla (football) players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Danish Superliga players Belgian Pro League players Ari Freyr Skulason BK Häcken players GIF Sundsvall players Odense Boldklub players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players K.V. Oostende players IFK Norrköping players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason Ari Freyr Skulason