Emil Hallfreðsson (born 29 June, 1984) 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 played as a

central 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 ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Early career

Primarily a left-sided

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 ...

, Emil was brought to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

by then Sporting Director

Frank Arnesen Frank Arnesen (born 30 September 1956) is a former Danish footballer and sporting director at Dutch football club Feyenoord. Arnesen was the director of football at English football clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, and was sporting directo ...

in December 2004, having spent his formative years at FH Hafnarfjarðar of 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 ...

in Iceland. Emil became a regular starter for the Tottenham Hotspur Reserves, and played a key part in the Spurs' 2005–06 Premier League Southern Reserve title win. He was then loaned out to Swedish side

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

,. He enjoyed some success with Malmö, starting a majority of the games in the 2006 season, with a total of 24 appearances and eight goals. He then returned to England in the fall, after Malmö unsuccessfully tried to convince him to stay. His aim had then been to make the Spurs first team, but in his remaining months at the club he was not selected for a single game. In July 2007, he was sold to Norwegian club Lyn, where he was slated to stay until 2010. His first match for the club was a friendly against Ham-Kam, followed by a 20-minute substitution in a league game away against

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

. His first and only 90-minute appearance was against Bodø/Glimt in the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

, in which he delivered a fine cross to Dylan Macallister for the 1–0 goal and the win. Three days later, the club surprisingly announced that Emil would be leaving for Italy and Reggina.

Reggina

Emil played his first Serie A match on 26 August 2007 a 1–1 draw with

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. In his first season, he played a regular role in Reggina's team, but in the second season he played less. In April 2009 he did, however, score a spectacular goal against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

; he scored the 2–1 goal for his team but the match ended 2–2.

Barnsley

Having not been selected to play for Reggina first match of the 2009–10 season at

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, he completed a one-year loan to

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

side

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

on 14 August 2009. He scored his first goal for Barnsley against Plymouth Argyle on 28 November 2009. However, the game was later abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch. His first goal did come two weeks later however, in the home game with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, slamming home a Daniel Bogdanović cross from six yards. Emil's goal made it 1–1 in an eventual 2–2 draw.

Verona

On 31 August 2010, Reggina loaned him to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. His first season with Verona he was a regular starter and a decisive player in achieving promotion to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

. At the end of the season, Emil won the Mastino del Bentegodi award as the team's player of the year. Looking ahead to the upcoming Serie B season, on 22 June 2011, three days after winning the First Division play-off, Verona outbid Reggina to purchase his contract.

Udinese

On 30 January 2016, Emil joined Udinese, signing a contract until June 2018.

Frosinone

On 31 July 2018, Emil signed with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

Return to Udinese

On 1 March 2019, Emil signed for the second time to Udinese after the first half of the season to Frosinone.

Padova

On 4 January 2020, he signed with

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 16 September 2020, he signed a new contract with Padova for the 2020–21 season.

Virtus Verona

On 6 October 2021, Emil signed a one-year contract for Serie C side Virtus Verona as a free transfer.

International career

Emil was selected for EURO 2016 by the Iceland national team. In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Iceland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each goal Emil scored.''

Honours

FH * Besta deild karla:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallfredsson, Emil 1984 births Living people Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson Men's association football midfielders Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson English Football League players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Allsvenskan players Malmö FF players Eliteserien players Lyn Fotball players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players AS Reggina 1914 players Hellas Verona FC players Udinese Calcio players Frosinone Calcio players Calcio Padova players Virtus Verona players Emil Hallfredsson Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson Emil Hallfredsson