Thorleifur Úlfarsson (; born 27 December 2000) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Breiðablik.

Club career

Youth and domestic

Thorleifur began playing with Breiðablik at age 6. From 2016 to 2018, he joined the

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 ...

youth ranks, but returned to Breiðablik in 2018. Thorleifur spent time on loan at Augnablik during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, where he made 21 appearances and scored 10 goals in the 3. deild karla, the 4th tier of Icelandic football. He also was loaned to Víkingur Ólafsvík for parts of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, where he scored 2 goals in 11 appearances in the 1. deild karla. Thorleifur made 3 first team appearances for his boyhood club Breiðablik, 2 in the League Cup and 1 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 ...

before leaving for Duke.

College

In February 2021, Thorleifur joined the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

Blue Devils to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

in the United States. During one and a half seasons with the Blue Devils, he scored nineteen goals and had 2 assists in twenty five matches. Following his first half-season, he was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player and was named to the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) All-Freshman Team, All-ACC Academic Team, and ACC Academic Honor Roll. Following the 2021 season, he was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year, was a MAC Hermann Trophy semi-finalist, and was named Duke Most Valuable Offensive Player. He was also named to the

United Soccer Coaches The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

All-American First Team and All-ACC First Team. Following his second year at Duke, it was announced that Thorleifur had signed a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

contract with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

ahead of the 2022 MLS SuperDraft.

Professional

On 11 January 2022, Thorleifur was selected with the fourth overall pick by the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft. He made his Dynamo debut on 27 February 2022, coming off the bench in the 81st minute during a 0–0 draw against

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

in Houston's opening match of the season. He scored his first goal for the Dynamo on 22 May, helping Houston to a 3–0 win over the

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. Thorleifur finished his rookie season with 4 goals and 1 assist in 31 MLS appearances, 11 of them starts. It was a disappointing season for the Dynamo as a team, missing out on the playoffs after finishing 13th in the Western Conference.

Debrecen

On 21 January 2024, signed with Hungarian NB I side

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

Career statistics

Personal life

Thorleifur was 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 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 ...

to Úlfar Helgason and Gudfinna Kristofersdottir and was raised in the neighboring town of

Kópavogur Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second-largest municipality by population. It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. ...

. He has 2 brothers and 1 sister. Thorleifur is a fan of English club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, with

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

being his favorite player.

References

External links

* *
Duke Blue Devils profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Úlfarsson, Thorleifur 2000 births Living people Thorleifur Úlfarsson Thorleifur Úlfarsson Men's association football forwards Thorleifur Úlfarsson Thorleifur Úlfarsson All-American college men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Thorleifur Úlfarsson Duke Blue Devils men's soccer players Thorleifur Úlfarsson Thorleifur Úlfarsson Houston Dynamo FC players Houston Dynamo FC draft picks Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Debreceni VSC players