Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson (born 1 April 1982), commonly

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson, 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 ...

manager and former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Club career

Born in

Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

, Iceland, Gunnar started his career at ÍBV. After establishing himself as the best striker in the Icelandic Premier League, he was transferred to

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and app ...

in Sweden in 2004. Here, he only narrowly missed out on the league title in his first year and won the Swedish golden boot in the following season (with 16 goals). He also featured in the club's

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 ...

campaign of 2005–06, scoring a vital goal in the qualifying round victory over Sporting. This brought him to the attention of several clubs from around Europe, before he eventually opted to move to German side

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

in March 2006 on a three-year deal. His time in Germany however was blighted by persistent injuries; he only managed to make seven appearances and scored no goals. In August 2007, after only 17 months with Hannover, he was loaned to

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

. In summer 2008, he was sold to Danish club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

. For the latter part of the 2009–10 season, Gunnar was on loan at the English

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

Reading F.C. Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. They compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Select Car Leasing Sta ...

Gunnar joined Norwegian side Fredrikstad FK on loan for the rest of the Norwegian 2010 season. On 17 March 2011, Gunnar signed a three-year contract with IFK Norrköping. After a prolific spell in the top Swedish league Gunnar signed a two-year contract with Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

side

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

on 5 August 2013. In July 2015, Gunnar signed back with ÍBV. He retired from football following the 2018 season. In his last game, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in ÍBV's 5–2 victory against

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

. It was the fourth hat-trick of his career in the Icelandic top-tier league.

International career

He made his international debut on 30 March 2005, as a last minute substitute in a goalless friendly draw with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in Padova. His first international goal came in a 4–1 World Cup qualifying victory over

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

on 8 June 2005.

Managerial career

Gunnar started his manager career with KFS in 2021, leading them to promotion to

3. deild karla 3. deild karla (e. Men's Third division) is a football league in Iceland. It is the fourth level in the Icelandic football league system. The league was reformed into a 10-team double round-robin tournament for the 2013 season, with the introduc ...

. In March 2022, he was hired as the manager of 1. deild karla club Vestri.

Personal life

His cousin is former

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

defender

Ívar Ingimarsson Ívar Ingimarsson (born 20 August 1977) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He began his career in Iceland with Valur and ÍBV before moving to England where, after an initial loan spell with Torquay Un ...

. His sister is international footballer

Berglind Björg Þorvaldsdóttir Berglind Björg Þorvaldsdóttir (born 18 January 1992), commonly anglicised as Berglind Björg Thorvalsdottir, is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a forward for Besta deild kvenna club Valur and the Iceland national team. ...

Honours

Individual *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football."Sweden - List of ...

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 ...

References

External links