Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir (born 2 October 1976) is an Icelandic

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 ...

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 ...

and former player. She managed Swedish

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

Kristianstads DFF Kristianstads DFF () is a women's association football club from Kristianstad, Sweden. The club is affiliated to the Scania Football Association. History Wä IF was founded in 1935 and their women team played from 1990 to 1994 and again in 199 ...

.Isländskan på blixtvisit - Sport - Kristianstadsbladet - Nyheter dygnet runt
/ref> Elísabet was the head coach of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna team Valur for five seasons from 2003 to 2008, during which her team won four league titles and one cup title. From 2009 to 2023, Elísabet was the manager of

in the Swedish

Playing career

Club

Elísabet started with Valur FC as a youth player and progressed to the senior team before moving to Stjarnan in 1995 and playing two seasons with the club. She then rejoined her mother club Valur FC in 1997 and played until 2001 when she decided to retire and take over IBV in the highest women´s league as the head coach. At the age of 24 years, Elísabet became the youngest ever female to work as a head coach in the highest division.

Coaching career

Youth teams

Elísabet got her start in coaching at the age of 16 when she joined the youth program at Valur FC as an assistant coach. For nine years she coached different age groups at the club and played a big part in building one of the most organized and successful youth programs on the women's side in Iceland. She won many national trophies with her youth teams and was named Iceland's 1999 youth team coach of the year.

Senior teams

In 2001 Elísabet left her mother club Valur FC for the opportunity of coaching ÍBV in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna. After one year with ÍBV she took over Breiðablik's under-19 team and guided them to the Icelandic championship. In 2003, she was hired by Valur as the senior team's head coach, winning the club's first league title in 15 years and being named the 2003 Coach of the Year. Elísabet remained Valur's head coach for five consecutive seasons, leading the team to four league titles and one cup title. She took the team all the way to the quarter finals of the

2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2005–06 was the fifth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament. It was won by Frankfurt in an all-German final against defending champions Turbine Potsdam for their second title in the competition. Teams ...

. Elísabet is known for making high-profile

transfers Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

for her teams and brought players like German world champion

Viola Odebrecht Viola Odebrecht (born 11 February 1983) is a retired German footballer who last played for VfL Wolfsburg. She also played for Germany. She played 49 international matches for the national team and became world champion in 2003 . Club career ...

and Scottish

Julie Fleeting Julie Stewart Order of the British Empire, MBE (; born 18 December 1980) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. She spent nine years at English club Arsenal L.F.C., Arsenal ...

to Iceland to play for her at Valur FC. 2013 damallsvenskan managers

Elísabet moved to Sweden in January 2009 to take over

of the Swedish

. Through her time at the club Kristiantads DFF has signed some big names including Icelandic stars Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir and

Sif Atladóttir Sif Atladóttir (born 15 July 1985) is an Icelanders, Icelandic former Association football, footballer and a former member of the Iceland women's national football team, Iceland women's national team. During her career, she won the Úrvalsdeil ...

, Danish international

Johanna Rasmussen Johanna Maria Baltensperger Rasmussen (born 2 July 1983) is a former Danish professional Association football, footballer who last played for Linköpings FC in the Damallsvenskan and the Denmark women's national football team. She was nominated ...

and Swedish stars

Hedvig Lindahl Rut Hedvig Lindahl (born 29 April 1983) is a retired Swedish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played club football in Sweden for Damallsvenskan clubs including Malmö FF, Linköpings FC, Kristianstads DFF, Kopparbergs/G� ...

(sold to Chelsea 2015),

Kosovare Asllani Kosovare Asllani (born 29 July 1989) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker or an attacking midfielder for Women's Championship club London City Lionesses and the Sweden national team. Asllani began her club career with ...

(sold to PSG 2012) and

Josefine Öqvist Anna Lenita Josefine Öqvist (born 23 July 1983) is a Swedish former footballer who played for Montpellier of the French Division 1 Féminine and the Swedish national team. She scored a critical goal at the 86' minute in the 2003 FIFA Wome ...

(sold to Montpellier 2013). In September 2012 Elísabet signed a new two-year contract with the club. In August 2014, Marija Banušić gave Kristianstads the lead in the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

() final, but Elísabet's team were defeated 2–1 by

Linköpings FC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

. In November 2023, she stepped down as the manager of Kristianstads after 15 years at the helm.

National teams

Elísabet served as an assistant to Jörundur Áki Sveinsson for the Icelandic women's national team and was also the head coach for the U-21 national team from 2005 til the end of 2006. She managed Iceland for two game sin 2006 when Jörundur was suspended. In January 2025 she became head coach of the Belgian national Women's team 'the red flames'. She signed until the worldcup in 2027. When

Freyr Alexandersson Freyr Alexandersson (born 18 November 1982) is an Icelandic association football, football Coach (sports), coach and former player who currently manages Eliteserien club SK Brann. He was the manager of the Iceland women's national football team ...

—Elísabet's former assistant and successor at Valur—was named Icelandic women's team coach in 2013, she agreed to scout opposition teams on his behalf. In 2025 she was named head coach of the Belgian Red Flames.

Honours

In 2024, she was awarded the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon () is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by Christian X of Denmark, King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. Nowaday ...

for her contributions to women's soccer and other sports.

Managerial honours

Valur * Icelandic Champions (4): 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 * Icelandic Cup: 2006

Individual

* Úrvalsdeild kvenna Coach of the year (4): 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 *

Coach of the year: 2017, 2020 ** ''Runner-up'': 2012 * Svenska Cupen Damer ''Runner-up'' (2): 2014, 2019

Personal life

In 2013, Elísabet appeared in the

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

documentary television series '' The Other Sport''.

References

Guðbjörg, Þóra og Elísabet tilnefndar - mbl.is
/ref>

External links

* *
Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir
at

Football Association of Iceland The Football Association of Iceland (, , KSÍ) is the governing body of football in Iceland. It was founded on 26 March 1947, joined FIFA the same year, and UEFA in 1954. It organises the football league, Úrvalsdeild, and the Iceland men's nat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnarsdottir, Elisabet 1976 births Living people Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Female association football managers Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Women's association football players not categorized by position Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Elisabet Gunnarsdottir Damallsvenskan managers Recipients of the Order of the Falcon