Sandra Sigurðardóttir (born 2 October 1986) 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 ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Sandra has played for Iceland's national team and was a squad member 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 The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

. During her career, she won six Icelandic championships and four Icelandic Cups. She retired in 2023 as the

Besta deild kvenna The Besta deild kvenna () is the top-tier women's football league in Iceland. It features 10 teams that play a double round robin to decide the champion, which qualifies for a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League. The 2022 season was the f ...

's all-time leader in games played.

Club career

In 2011, Sandra signed for Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

team Jitex BK. A contract dispute followed and Sandra quickly left, but she was not allowed to play for

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 ...

again until

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

ruled in her favour. In 2016, Sandra signed for Valur. In June 2017, she became the Úrvalsdeild kvenna all-time leader in matches played, after breaking Sigurlín Jónsdóttir's 18-year-old record of 233 matches. In May 2021, she broke the 300 match barrier. In March 2023, she announced her retirement from football. In end of June, she returned to football and was sent on a loan to

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 ...

for two games. Following the loan, she returned to Valur's roster.

International career

Sandra made her senior Iceland debut in a 3–0 defeat by the

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 ...

in July 2005. She was seen as the national team's third choice goalkeeper behind

Þóra Björg Helgadóttir Þóra Björg Helgadóttir (born 5 May 1981), commonly Anglicised as Thora Helgadottir, is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Trained at university level in the United States, she formerly played for four seasons with D ...

and Guðbjörg Gunnarsdóttir and collected five more

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

during the next five years. National team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Sandra in the 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 ...

in Sweden. In September 2023, she was selected again to the national team after initially having retired from football in March the same year.

Private life

Sandra was married to Icelandic sport manager Hafdís Inga Hinriksdóttir, they got divorced 2021. They have two children together.

References

External links

* 1986 births Living people Sandra Sigurdardottir Sandra Sigurdardottir Sandra Sigurdardottir Sandra Sigurdardottir Jitex BK players Women's association football goalkeepers Sandra Sigurdardottir Damallsvenskan players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players Sandra Sigurdardottir Icelandic LGBTQ footballers Lesbian sportswomen Sandra Sigurdardottir Sandra Sigurdardottir UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players {{Iceland-women-footy-bio-stub