Ari Freyr Skúlason (born 14 May 1987) is an Icelandic former 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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. 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 language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

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 Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

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

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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 professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

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 association football, football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollf� ...

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 (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

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. On 31 March 2021, Swedish club

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

, announced that they had signed Ari. After three seasons at the club, Ari initially announced his retirement on 2 November 2023, however, on 12 January 2024,

IF Sylvia IF Sylvia is a Swedish football club based in Norrköping. The club, formed on 19 May 1922, plays in the fourth tier of Swedish football, Division 2. The club is affiliated to the Östergötlands Fotbollförbund. In the early years, the club wa ...

, another Norrköping team who play in the Swedish fourth tier, announced 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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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 (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. 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 currently serves as an advisor for the Iceland national football team. Lagerbäck has managed a number of national teams prior to his curren ...

. 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 The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by ...

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

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 21st-century Icelandic sportsmen