Birkir Már Sævarsson (born 11 November 1984) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a defender for Úrvalsdeild side Valur.

Club career

Valur

Birkir started his professional career with local team Valur in the Úrvalsdeild, where he made his senior debut in 2003. He went on to play 66 competitive league games for the club, scoring twice, across five seasons. He won the

2007 Úrvalsdeild The 2007 season of Úrvalsdeild karla was the 96th season of top tier football in Iceland. Title contenders were considered to be KR, FH, ÍA and Valur. HK were playing for the first time in Landsbankadeild. The league was expanded from 10 ...

with Valur.

Brann

In 2008, at age 23, he joined the Norwegian side SK Brann in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

. Before signing for Brann, Sævarsson had a trial with

Bryne FK Bryne Fotballklubb () is a professional football club in Bryne, Norway, that competes in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of Norwegian football. History Bryne has played a total of 17 seasons in the top flight of Norwegian football since the ...

. Being known as a versatile defender, he was originally planned as a right back at Brann, but played almost all the 2009 season on the left back. He was often praised for his stamina, pace, and ability to contribute to the attacking play from his wing-back position. Birkir soon also became known for his scoring ability. In 2011, his side reached the final in the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest footba ...

, where Birkir played the whole game as Brann lost 1–2 to Aalesunds FK. Birkir played all minutes in every competitive game during the 2012 and 2013 seasons as right back. Birkir signed a four-year contract extension with Brann in May 2013. During the reign of Swedish manager

Rikard Norling Rikard Olof Norling (; born 4 June 1971) is a Swedish football manager. Forced to retire early from his professional playing career due to an injury, Rikard Norling started a coaching career at the age of 22. In his early managerial career, Nor ...

, Birkir however lost his place as a regular starter at Brann. In 2014, Norling opted to play the homegrown youngster Andreas Vindheim instead of the Icelandic international. The season ultimately went horrible for Brann, who got relegated to the second tier after losing against

Mjøndalen Mjøndalen is a built up area in Drammen municipality in Viken county (formerly Buskerud county), Norway. It is situated south of the Drammenselva River opposite of Krokstadelva. History Mjøndalen has traditionally been a railway site most ...

in qualification play. The relegation also put an end to Birkir's 6.5-year spell at Brann, who transferred to the Swedish top-tier club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

in December 2014. He reportedly left Brann on a free transfer.

Hammarby

At Hammarby he began the 2015 season as a centre-back, but eventually moved back to his natural position on the right flank after the arrival of Richard Magyar. After putting on impressive performances on both positions, he was voted as the "newcomer of the year" by the supporters. Birkir played 28 league games for his side, scoring twice, as Hammarby finished 11th in Allsvenskan. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, Sævarsson played 27 competitive games, scoring once. Birkir kept his place as a key player at Hammarby in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, as the club placed 9th in Allsvenskan, while providing five assists in 29 appearances. At the end of the year, Birkir sought to leave Hammarby at the expiration of his contract, seeking a new club ahead of the

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

Return to Valur

Before the 2018 season, Birkir moved back to his native country and first professional club Valur. He signed a three-year deal with the reigning champions of Iceland. Birkir teamed up with his younger brother Aron Elí Sævarsson, born in 1997, in the squad.

International career

Birkir made his debut for the Iceland national team on 2 August 2007, in a 1–1 draw against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

. Nine years later, on 6 June 2016, he scored his first national goal against the same opposition. Birkir slotted home a volley strike from far distance as Iceland won 4–0 in a friendly. He played his first tournament at age 31, being selected for the

UEFA 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 ...

in France. In the second group stage game against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, he scored an own goal resulting in a 1–1 draw. Birkir was praised for keeping the Portuguese winger

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...

at bay in a group stage draw, as well as neutralizing

Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for club Chelsea. Born in Jamaica, he represents the England national team. Born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, S ...

in Iceland's sensational 2–1 win 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 ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Birkir played all minutes for Iceland during the tournament, where his side ultimately got knocked out in the

quarter-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

following a 5–2 loss against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the

in Russia. Birkir played his last game for the national team against North Macedonia on 14 November 2021.

Coaching career

On 15 April 2019, it was announced that Birkir was appointed as an assistant coach to 3. deild karla club Knattspyrnufélagið Hlíðarendi.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Iceland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Birkir goal.''

Honours

Valur * Úrvalsdeild:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

* Icelandic Cup:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

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 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

References

External links