Ríkharður Daðason (born 26 April 1972) 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 striker for

Fram Reykjavik Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a se ...

, KR,

Kalamata Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

and

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

Education

Daðason graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he played on the varsity football team, in 1996 and was inducted into Columbia's athletics hall of fame in 2010.

Club career

Daðason started his career in

, and later moved to KR where he became top goalscorer in 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 1996 with 14. His KR career was interrupted by an unsuccessful spell in Greek football with

. In 1998, he moved to Norwegian club

, and after scoring at least 15 goals three seasons in a row he was signed by English club

in the summer of 2000. Stoke were at the time under the control of an Icelandic board and Ríkharður was one of a number fellow countrymen at join up at the

Britannia Stadium The bet365 Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the cl ...

, Stoke had to wait until the Norwegian finished before Ríkharður could join them and he made a great start scoring the winning goal against

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 ...

with his first touch. He failed to build on such a good start and scored seven more goals in 2000–01 and became more used by

Guðjón Þórðarson Guðjón Þórðarson (; born 14 September 1955), known in the United Kingdom as Gudjon Thordarson, is an Icelandic football manager and former player. He has previously been manager of Iceland, Icelandic clubs ÍA, KA, KR, Keflavík, BÍ/Bo ...

as a substitute. He scored four goals in 13 matches in 2001–02 and was released by the club at the end of the season. He returned to Norway and played for

and

before ending his career with a return to Fram.

International career

Daðason made his 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 May 1991 friendly against

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 ...

as a substitute for Grétar Einarsson. He played his last international match in 2003, having been

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

ped 44 times and scoring 14 goals. Daðason scored a legendary goal against

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 ...

, then recent World Cup Champions, on 5 September 1998. The game ended with a 1–1 draw. He was the top goal scorer of the

2000–01 Nordic Football Championship The 2000–01 Nordic Football Championship was the fourteenth and final Nordic Football Championship staged. Six Nordic countries participated, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The tournament was partially played du ...

with 4 goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dadason, Rikhardur 1972 births Living people Rikhardur Dadason Men's association football forwards Rikhardur Dadason Rikhardur Dadason Rikhardur Dadason Viking FK players Stoke City F.C. players Lillestrøm SK players Fredrikstad FK players Kalamata F.C. players Rikhardur Dadason Rikhardur Dadason Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players English Football League players Super League Greece players Columbia Lions men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Rikhardur Dadason Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Rikhardur Dadason Expatriate men's footballers in England Rikhardur Dadason Rikhardur Dadason