Rúrik Gíslason (born 25 February 1988) 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

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 ...

Club career

Rúrik started his career with HK Kópavogur in his youth. Following a youth stint at

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

, the then-champions of Belgium, he made his senior debut with HK Kópavogur. At the end of August 2005, Rúrik signed for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, but failed to make an appearance for Charlton's first team. On 10 November 2020, Rúrik announced his retirement from football. He appeared on series 14 of the German TV programme '' Let’s Dance'' and won the competition.

International career

In 2011, Rúrik was chosen as part of the Iceland U21 squad to represent Iceland at the

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 18th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Denmark between 11 and 25 June 2011. The Danish bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 10 De ...

in Denmark. The striker was named on the bench for the opening game against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. In May 2018 he was named in

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 ...

's 23-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia.

Personal life

Rúrik was a candidate for the centre-right Independence Party in the

2016 Icelandic parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 29 October 2016. They were due to be held on or before 27 April 2017, but following the 2016 Icelandic anti-government protests, the ruling coalition announced that early elections would be held "i ...

and

2017 Icelandic parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 28 October 2017. On 15 September 2017, the three-party coalition government collapsed after the departure of Bright Future over a scandal involving Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson's fath ...

. After Iceland's 2018 FIFA World Cup game against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, Rúrik's

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profile went viral, as his followers increased by 250,000 after the game. His follower count was right over one million in June 2018, more than triple the size of Iceland's current population. In 2021, Rúrik appeared in the action-comedy film '' Cop Secret'', directed by Hannes Þór Halldórsson. He won Let's Dance in Germany with Renata Lusin.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Copenhagen *

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 ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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 ...

: 2014–15

References

External links

SV Sandhausen profile
*
'Rurik Gislason Fans'
1988 births Living people Rurik Gislason Rurik Gislason Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Rurik Gislason Rurik Gislason Rurik Gislason 2018 FIFA World Cup players Rurik Gislason Charlton Athletic F.C. players Viborg FF players Odense Boldklub players F.C. Copenhagen players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players SV Sandhausen players Rurik Gislason Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Rurik Gislason Expatriate men's footballers in England Rurik Gislason Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Rurik Gislason Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Rurik Gislason 21st-century Icelandic sportsmen {{Iceland-footy-bio-stub