Árni Gautur Arason (born 7 May 1975 in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. Árni is also an educated lawyer from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

Club career

He played for Rosenborg between January 1998 and December 2003, also making several

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

appearances for the club. After leaving Rosenborg, he had a brief spell at

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the spring of 2004, serving as understudy to David James, but only made two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

appearances for the club. In the first of these, against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, City found themselves 3–0 down at half time after an abject first half performance, and down to 10 men after

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Barton made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City; he was most recentl ...

had been sent off at the half time whistle. Following a

Sylvain Distin Sylvain Distin (born 16 December 1977) is a French former professional association football, footballer. He is left-footed and played as a centre-back, and was also capable of playing at Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Dist ...

header early in the second half, City were 3–1 down when Spurs won a free kick about 25 yards out. Christian Ziege had already beaten Árni from a similar distance in the first half, but this time Árni produced a stunning one handed tip onto the crossbar from a full stretch dive to his left,

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer who is the manager of K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his career with s ...

could have headed the rebound into an open net, but Árni scrambled back to his right to save this effort too. A goal here would arguably have killed the game off but after the brilliant double save City went on to win 4–3 in what has been described as one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks of all time. He subsequently went on to join

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

in 2004. On 30 November 2007, Árni's contract expired and he left Vålerenga. In March 2008 he joined

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n club Thanda Royal Zulu on a short contract, before moving back to Norway joining Odd Grenland in the summer the same year. Árni retired in May 2012 after an operation on his elbow did not produce the results wanted.

International career

He made his debut in an August 1998 friendly match against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and was a regular for the Icelandic national team, earning in total 71 international caps. He did not feature in competitive matches for the national team after leaving Norwegian club

in 2007, his last seven matches were all friendlies, with the last match being a 1–1 home draw against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

in August 2010.

Personal life

In autumn 2005, Árni had a daughter with his girlfriend Solveig Thorarinsdottir.

Honours

Club

;

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien (football), Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles ...

* Norwegian Premier League Champion:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Norwegian Football Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () 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 football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

Win:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

;

* Norwegian Premier League Champion:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Individual

Kniksen award as the Norwegian league's goalkeeper of the year in

and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arason, Arni Gautur Arni Gautur Arason Arni Gautur Arason Arni Gautur Arason Arni Gautur Arason Arni Gautur Arason Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Arni Gautur Arason Men's association football goalkeepers Arni Gautur Arason Eliteserien players Manchester City F.C. players Odds BK players Rosenborg BK players Vålerenga Fotball players Kniksen Award winners Arni Gautur Arason 1975 births Living people Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. players Stjarnan players