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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Nacka Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mi ...

Club career

Valur

Birkir started his professional career with local team Valur in the

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 ...

, 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 with Valur.

Brann

In 2008, at age 23, he joined the Norwegian side SK Brann in Tippeligaen. Before signing for Brann, Sævarsson had a trial with Bryne FK. 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, 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 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 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 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, 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 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 ...

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. Following the conclusion of the 2024 Besta deild karla, Birkir retired from professional football.

Nacka

On 3 March 2025, Birkir signed for

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

. 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 association football, football ch ...

in France. In the second group stage game against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, 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 Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

at bay in a group stage draw, as well as neutralizing Raheem Sterling in Iceland's sensational 2–1 win against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the

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

. Birkir played all minutes for Iceland during the tournament, where his side ultimately got knocked out in the quarter-final following a 5–2 loss against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. 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 *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

* Icelandic Cup:

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 ...

* League Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links