Bjarni Þór Viðarsson (born 5 March 1988) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He played in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark during his career and was also a full international.

Club career

Bjarni Viðarsson joined Everton from Icelandic side FH Hafnarfjörður in the summer of 2004. He has spent the majority of his time with the academy side and the reserves, before training with the first team. He was an unused substitute in the 2–0 defeat to Newcastle United at St. James' Park in late February 2006. One month later he signed his first professional contract at Everton, signing a two-year deal. On 5 February 2007 he joined

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

on loan for a month. Viðarsson was deployed not in his natural center midfield position, by manager Kevin Bond, but on the left of midfield. He scored one goal against Oldham Athletic in his spell with Bournemouth before he was recalled by Everton because of an injury to Tim Cahill. Bjarni made his senior debut for Everton on 20 December 2007 as a substitute 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 ...

, away to AZ. On 29 January 2008, it was announced that Bjarni Viðarsson would join Dutch side

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

on loan. On 14 May 2008, he signed for Twente on a permanent basis. In the summer of 2009, Bjarni Vidarsson signed a four-year deal to sign for Belgium Jupiler League Team

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

, making his debut in a 5–1 defeat to Gent. He once again transferred, this time to

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

in Summer 2010. On 3 August 2012, he signed a four-year deal with the Danish club, Silkeborg IF.

International

Bjarni Viðarsson made his international debut for the Iceland U17s in July 2003 and progressed through the youth setup. At only eighteen years of age, he played for the U21s in several qualifiers for the 2007 European Championships. He became a regular during qualification for the 2009 edition and eventually captained the U21s. In February 2008, he made his one and only appearance for

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 ...

at senior level, playing in a 2–0 loss to

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Personal life

Bjarni Viðarsson is from a footballing family; his brothers Arnar and Davíð have both represented Iceland internationally. Their father, Viðar Halldórsson was also a professional footballer.

References

External links

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Bjarni Vidarsson at Melar Sport homepage

Official homepage of Bjarni Vidarsson on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidarsson, Bjarni 1988 births Living people Bjarni Vidarsson Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players FC Twente players K.S.V. Roeselare players K.V. Mechelen players Silkeborg IF players Eredivisie players Belgian Pro League players Danish Superliga players Bjarni Vidarsson Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson Bjarni Vidarsson English Football League players 21st-century Icelandic sportsmen