Þóra Björg Helgadóttir (born 5 May 1981), commonly

Anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Thora Helgadottir, is an Icelandic former

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 lea ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Trained at university level in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, she formerly played for four seasons with

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

's women's soccer team. She most recently played for

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

club

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

(FC Rosengård) and had previously represented clubs in

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 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Since making her debut for the

Iceland women's national football team The Iceland women's national football team () represents Iceland in international women's football. They are currently ranked as the 13th best women's national team in the world by FIFA as of March 2025. History The Iceland women's national fo ...

in 1998, Þóra has accrued over a

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. She was named in Iceland's squad for the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

. Þóra is the younger sister of

Ásthildur Helgadóttir Ásthildur Helgadóttir (born 9 May 1976) is an Icelandic former footballer who played club football in America and Sweden, as well as her native Iceland. She played as a forward, or midfielder. From 1993 until her retirement in 2007 she repres ...

, a former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the women's national football team. In May 2014 Þóra announced via Twitter that she was leaving

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård (), known as Malmö FF Dam () until 2007 and later LdB FC Malmö until 2013, is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons ...

and returning to Iceland.

Club career

Þóra made her debut in the domestic

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

league as a 14-year-old. Playing with Breiðablik and later with KR, she went on to win eight league titles and six

Icelandic Women's Cup The Icelandic Women's Football Cup () is the national women's football cup competition in Iceland. The first edition of the cup was played out in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: By team See also *Icelandic Men's Football Cup Refer ...

s. From 2000 until 2003 Þóra attended

, where she studied mathematics and history, and played

varsity soccer A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

. Þóra had already spent the 2004 season in Norway as

Bente Nordby Bente Dalum Nordby (born 23 July 1974) is a former Norwegian football goalkeeper. She played with the Norway women's national football team from 1991 to 2007. Career Nordby is the second-most capped player ever for Norway with 172 internatio ...

's understudy at Kolbotn, when in January 2007 the opportunity to move to Belgium came up through her career outside football. In August 2007 she left Anderlecht to join sister Ásthildur in Sweden at Malmö, who needed a goalkeeper due to

Caroline Jönsson Elin Hanna Caroline Jönsson (born 22 November 1977) is a Swedish former football goalkeeper who played for Malmö and Umeå IK of Damallsvenskan and Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She played 80 times for the Sweden wom ...

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

. In 2009 Þóra played for Kolbotn and was named

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

Player of the Year. She signed a three-year contract with Malmö in November 2009. Malmö secured their first Damallsvenskan championship since 1994 in the 2010 season. In the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

winter season, Þóra played on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

for

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

in the Australian W-League. Þóra was named Damallsvenskan goalkeeper of the year in 2012 and 2013 after keeping 14 "

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

s" as Malmö recaptured the league title from rivals

Tyresö FF Tyresö Fotbollsförening is a Swedish football club in Tyresö, a municipality in Stockholm County. The club was founded in 1971 and is primarily known for its main women's team, which competed in the top-tier league Damallsvenskan between 19 ...

. She announced that her final game for Malmö, who became FC Rosengård for

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, would be against

Piteå IF Piteå Idrottsförening (), commonly known as Piteå IF (), is a Swedish football club located in Piteå that currently competes in Sweden's top-division women's league, Damallsvenskan, which it won in 2018. History The sports club Piteå IF ...

on 2 July 2014. She agreed to join

Fylkir Íþróttafélagið Fylkir (, ) is a multi-sport club in Árbær, in the eastern part of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It features departments in football, handball, volleyball, gymnastics and karate. Kit The Fylkir official home kit is ...

of the Úrvalsdeild upon her return to Iceland. Þóra retired after the season with Fylkir in 2015 and is now assistant manager at Fylkir. She signed for

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in 2016.

International career

Five days after turning 17, Þóra made her senior international debut for

in a 1–0 friendly defeat to the

on 10 May 1998. 01 Helgadottir 130406 Sve-Isl 2-0 173450 9393

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

, Þóra played in two matches as Iceland were eliminated in the first round. National team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Þóra in the Iceland squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

, although she was recovering from a hamstring injury. Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir took the goalkeeping position at the final tournament, playing in the three group matches and the 4–0 quarter-final defeat to hosts

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Iceland beat

2–1 at the

2014 Algarve Cup The 2014 Algarve Cup was the 21st edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place between 5–12 March 2014. Format The twelve invited teams are split into three groups that played a ...

, as Þóra made her 100th national team appearance.

Personal life

Celebrity

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of the order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the w ...

Sigurwin, the

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

of the Iceland women's national football team, was released into Þóra's care after UEFA Women's Euro 2013. Sigurwin came to prominence during the tournament when Ludvig Lindström of Global Happiness Organization (GHO) publicly criticised the players for keeping him in a jar and making jokes about flushing him down the toilet.

References

External links