Hjörtur Hermannsson (; born 8 February 1995) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

and the Iceland national team.

Club career

Fylkir

Born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, Iceland, Hjörtur began his career at

Fylkir Íþróttafélagið Fylkir (, ) is a multi-sport club in Árbær, in the eastern part of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It features departments in football, handball, volleyball, gymnastics and karate. Kit The Fylkir official home kit is ...

, based in the Icelandic top division. After going through the ranks for the side, Hjörtur was involved in the first team, where he appeared in the first two matches of the season as an unused substitute. Weeks later, on 6 June 2011, Hjörtur made his Fylkir debut, where he came on as a late substitute, in a 3–1 loss against

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

. Soon after, Hjörtur became a first team regular and then scored his first goal for the club, as well as his first professional goal, in a 2–1 win over Víkingur. Hjörtur went on to make nine appearances in his first season for the side. Despite moving to PSV Eindhoven in the summer, Hjörtur then made three appearances for the side, adding his tally 12 games for Fylkir, with his first appearance came on 15 May 2012 against ÍA, which saw them lose 1–0.

PSV

After 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 ...

season came to an end, Hjörtur then went on a trial at

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

on 29 October 2011. After impressing at the trial, Hjörtur signed a three-year deal with PSV, where he will join the club on 1 July 2012. After years of development at the academy, Hjörtur made his professional debut as

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively fo ...

player in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

on 18 August 2013 against

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

in a 4–0 home win. He replaced

Jorrit Hendrix Jorrit Petrus Carolina Hendrix (born 6 February 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for 2. Bundesliga club Preußen Münster. Club career PSV Hendrix started playing youth football at hometown club SV ...

after 61 minutes. He made 25 league appearances during the 2013–14 season after a knee injury ended his season. In the 2014–15 season, Hjörtur continued to remain in the Jong PSV starting eleven despite suffering setback of injuries, which restricted him to 16 appearances. During the season, Hjörtur was called up to the senior team ahead of the match against

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

, but did not play, as PSV went on to win 2–0 on 3 February 2015. Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Hjörtur signed a contract with the club, keeping him until 2018. During the first half of the season, Hjörtur made 16 appearances for the team. On 16 February 2016, it was announced that he was loaned out to the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

until the summer. However, at the start of the season, Hjörtur suffered a hip injury while on international duty and was sidelined for weeks. After recovering, he then returned from injury and made his Göteborg debut on 2 May 2016, where he made his first start, in a 6–2 win over Gefle. From that moment on, Hjörtur became a first-team regular for the side throughout May and June until his loan spell expired in the summer.

Brøndby

After his loan spell at Göteborg came to an end, Hjörtur joined Danish side Brøndby for €300,000 and viewed as the replacement for

Daniel Agger Daniel Munthe Agger (; born 12 December 1984) is a Danish professional football coach and former player who is the assistant manager of the Danish national football team. As a player, he played as a centre-back for Brøndby and Liverpool and ca ...

, who retired at the end of the season. After missing out in the opening game of the season, Hjörtur made his Brøndby debut on 31 July 2016, where he made his first start and played the whole game, in a 2–2 draw against

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

. Weeks later after making his debut, Hjörtur then scored his first goal for the club on 14 August 2016, in a 4–0 win over

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

. From that moment on, Hjörtur became a first-team regular for the club. Hjörtur won the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

with Brøndby in the 2017–18 season, with the team also making a failed push for the Danish championship, losing a comfortable lead to

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

in the final matches of the season. With the Danish side, he also took part in

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

qualifiers, never making it to the group stage as they were knocked out to Panathinaikos (2016),

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

(2017),

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

(2018),

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

(2019). In the 2019–20 season, Hjörtur was utilised as the right-side centre-back in the 3–5–2 formation of head coach

Niels Frederiksen Niels Frederiksen (; born 5 November 1970) is a Danish professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager who is currently in charge of Polish Ekstraklasa club Lech Poznań. Frederiksen began his career as a head ...

, alongside

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

Andreas Maxsø Andreas Beyer Maxsø (; born 18 March 1994) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids and the Denmark national team. He is known for his strength, leadership and aerial ability. ...

and

Anthony Jung Anthony Jung (German pronunciation: ; born 3 November 1991) is a German professional footballer who plays as a left-back or centre-back for club Werder Bremen. Club career Early career Jung played youth football for multiple clubs in the Wiesba ...

. He was part of a revitalised defense during the season, as Brøndby finished fourth in the league table. Hjörtur made 31 appearances during the season. After five years in Brøndby, Hjörtur left the club at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Pisa

On 16 July 2021, Hjörtur joined Italian

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 ...

club

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

on a four-year contract. On 14 August, he made his debut for the club against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

in a 3–1 loss in the

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 made his Serie B debut eight days later on 22 August 2021 in a 1–0 win over

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

. Hjörtur scored his first goal for Pisa on 29 May 2022 in the play-off finals for promotion to the

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 ...

against

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

off a cross from Pietro Beruatto. Two goals in extra time by Monza won them the encounter 4–3 (6–4 on aggregate), to earn promotion to the

2022–23 Serie A The 2022–23 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 121st season of top-tier Italian football, the 91st in a round-robin tournament, and the 13th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie A ...

, with Hjörtur and Pisa missing out.

Carrarese

On 26 August 2024, Hjörtur signed a one-season deal with

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. The team plays in Serie B, second tier of Italian football, after promotion from Serie C in 2023–24. History The club was foun ...

Volos

On 7 January 2025, Hjörtur moved to

in Greece.

International career

While at the duty for Iceland U17 and Iceland U19 for the past three years, Hjörtur was named as one of the promising players by UEFA ahead of the

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

in Slovakia and scored once during the campaign against France U17. Following the end of the tournament, Hjörturwas named Team of the Tournament. The following year, Hjörtur was called up by Iceland U21 for the first time and made his Iceland U21 debut on 6 February 2013, where he played the whole game despite losing 3–0 against Wales U21. It wasn't until on 5 March 2014 when Hjörtur scored his first Iceland U21 goal, in a 3–2 loss against Kazakhstan U21. A year later, Hjörtur scored again on 5 September 2015, in a 3–2 win over France U21. In October 2016, Hjörtur captained Iceland U21 for the first time, which saw them win 2–0 against Scotland U21. Hjörtur got his first call up to the senior

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 ...

squad for friendlies against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in November 2015. It wasn't until on 31 January 2016 when he made his senior team debut, coming on as a substitute in the second half, in a 3–2 loss against

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He was selected for

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 ...

. However, Hjörtur did not make any appearance for Iceland throughout the UEFA Euro 2016, as they reached the quarter-final and lost to

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 ...

. Despite making no appearances, Hjörtur stated that being called up for the UEFA Euro 2016 was the best day of his life.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

Honours

Brøndby *

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2017–18

References

External links