Hólmfríður "Fríða" Magnúsdóttir (born 20 September 1984) is an Icelandic

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

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. ...

or as an attacking

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 ...

. Hólmfríður was a part of Iceland's national team from 2003 to 2020 and represented her country at the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

editions of the UEFA Women's Championship.

Club career

At the 2009 WPS International Draft, Hólmfríður was picked fifth by the

Philadelphia Independence The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional association football, soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played ...

, one of two

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

s entering

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

(WPS). She was often deployed as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

by coach Paul Riley and made 31 appearances in two seasons with the Independence, scoring four goals. During her second season,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Hólmfríður struggled with fitness after being injured and was allowed to move back to Iceland with Valur. Philadelphia brought her back for 2012, but the league folded before the campaign began. Instead Hólmfríður accepted a contract from ambitious Norwegian club Avaldsnes IL, then languishing in the First Division. During her stay with Avaldsnes, she was sexually harassed and stalked by her coach, Tom Nordlie, which led to his firing. In November 2016, Hólmfríður rejoined her hometown club, KR. Hólmfríður sat out the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

season due to pregnancy. After contemplating retiring, she signed with Úrvalsdeild kvenna club Selfoss in April 2019, and started training five days before the 2019 Úrvalsdeild season started. On 17 August 2019, Hólmfríður scored in Selfoss' 2–1 victory against KR in the Icelandic Cup finals, securing the club's first major trophy. In September 2020, Hólmfríður returned to Norway and signed with Avaldsnes again. She finished the season with Avaldsnes, scoring one goal in four games, before returning to Selfoss in December 2020. She appeared in one game in the Icelandic Women's Football League Cup on 28 February 2021. On 16 March 2021, Hólmfríður announced her retirement from football. A month later, she reversed her decision and decided to return to Selfoss. She appeared in eleven matches, scoring three goals, before the club announced on 17 August that due to being pregnant with her second child she would be leaving the team. She returned in 2022, appearing in 4 games in the top-tier. After missing all of 2023 due to a life-threatening illness, Hólmfríður returned once again in May 2024.

International career

Hólmfríður made her senior international debut 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 ...

in a 1–0 friendly defeat to the

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on 16 February 2003. In Iceland's

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009 determined which 11 teams joined Finland women's national football team, Finland, the hosts of the 2009 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Preliminary round 20 teams were divided into 5 g ...

play-off against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, Hólmfríður scored in the first minute of the first leg in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. At the final tournament, she played in all three group matches as Iceland were eliminated in the first round. National team coach Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Hólmfríður in his Iceland squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

. Again she featured in all three group matches but collected two yellow cards and was suspended for Iceland's 4–0 quarter-final defeat to hosts

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In October 2020, Hólmfríður was selected to the national team squad for the first time in three years, replacing injured Dagný Brynjarsdóttir.

International goals

References

External links