Bjarni Guðjónsson

Bjarni Guðjónsson
Personal information
Full name	Bjarni Eggerts Guðjónsson
Date of birth	26 February 1979 (age 45)
Place of birth	Akranes, Iceland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1995–1997	ÍA
1997–1998	Newcastle United
1998–2000	Genk
2000–2003	Stoke City
2003–2004	VfL Bochum
2004	→ Coventry City (loan)
2004	Coventry City
2004–2006	Plymouth Argyle
2006–2008	ÍA
2008–2013	KR
Total
International career
1994–1995	Iceland U17
1995–1997	Iceland U19
1996–2001	Iceland U21
1997–2010	Iceland
Managerial career
2013–2014	Fram
2014–2016	KR
2017	Víkingur R. (assistant)
2018–2021	KR (assistant)
2021-	IFK Norrköping (U19)
Medal record
ÍA
Genk
KR
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bjarni Eggerts Guðjónsson (born 26 February 1979) is an Icelandic former professional footballer, who was last manager of KR.

He has played in Belgium, England and Germany and has two brothers who have also played professional football, Þórður and Jóhannes. All three played together at Genk. He is also the son of former footballer and now manager Guðjón Þórðarson.^[3]

Club career

Bjarni was born in Akranes.^[1] He began his career at his hometown club ÍA, before moving to English club Newcastle United in 1997 for £500,000.^[4] He failed to break into the first team at the club and left a year later for Belgian club Genk before returning to England in 2000 with Stoke City in a £250,000 signing joining up with his father Guðjón Þórðarson who was manager.^[4] He became a regular in the first team and made 53 appearances in the 2000–01 season however he was transfer listed at the end of the season as his father felt Bjarni was struggling to deal with being the son of the manager.^[4] No transfer away from the club was forthcoming and Bjarni stayed for the 2001–02 season and this time played 54 matches as Stoke gained promotion via the play-offs.^[5] Despite gaining promotion his father was sacked by the board.^[6] Bjarni stayed at Stoke and helped the club to avoid relegation before he joined his brother Þórður Guðjónsson at VfL Bochum on a free transfer.

He struggled to cement a place in the first team at Bochum and was loaned out to Coventry City in 2004 where he excelled under the management of Eric Black.^[7] Coventry signed him on a free later that year however he struggled for game time under new manager Peter Reid and eventually fell out of favour.^[8] He was signed on a free by Plymouth Argyle who he stayed with for two years and was a popular character,^[9] scoring once against Everton in the FA Cup,^[10] before joining ÍA again in 2006.^[11] In his second spell at ÍA he stayed for two years, until he was sold to KR in 2008.

International career

Bjarni made his debut for Iceland as a substitute for Helgi Sigurðsson in a friendly match against Slovakia in April 1997 and has been capped 19 more times since, scoring once against Liechtenstein in a World Cup qualifier in 1997, as well as captaining his side in a 2008 fixture.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[12]^[13]
Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[a]		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
ÍA	1995	Úrvalsdeild	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	1996	Úrvalsdeild	17	13	5	4	0	0	1	0	23	17
	1997	Úrvalsdeild	6	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	3
	Total		26	15	5	4	0	0	2	1	33	20
Newcastle United	1997–98	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1998–99	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Genk	1998–99	Belgian First Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	1999–2000	Belgian First Division	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
	Total		26	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	26	0
Stoke City	1999–2000	Second Division	8	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	13	1
	2000–01	Second Division	42	6	2	0	5	2	5	2	54	10
	2001–02	Second Division	46	3	4	1	1	0	3	0	54	4
	2002–03	First Division	36	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	40	1
	Total		132	11	9	1	7	2	13	2	161	16
VfL Bochum	2003–04	Bundesliga	4	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	6	1
Coventry City	2003–04	First Division	18	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	20	3
	2004–05	Championship	10	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	13	0
	Total		28	3	2	0	3	0	0	0	33	3
Plymouth Argyle	2004–05	Championship	15	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	16	1
	2005–06	Championship	10	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	11	0
	Total		25	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	27	1
ÍA	2006	Úrvalsdeild	17	5	2	1	4	0	2	1	25	7
	2007	Úrvalsdeild	17	7	2	0	6	1	0	0	25	8
	2008	Úrvalsdeild	11	0	1	0	7	2	1	0	20	2
	Total		45	12	5	1	17	3	3	1	70	17
KR	2008	Úrvalsdeild	7	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
	2009	Úrvalsdeild	21	2	4	0	4	1	5	0	33	3
	2010	Úrvalsdeild	20	1	5	0	7	1	4	0	36	2
	2011	Úrvalsdeild	21	2	4	1	8	0	4	1	37	4
	2012	Úrvalsdeild	21	0	5	0	6	0	3	0	34	0
	2013	Úrvalsdeild	18	3	2	0	7	3	4	0	30	6
	Total		108	9	21	1	32	5	20	1	182	16
Career total			394	51	45	8	60	10	38	5	537	70

^ Appearances and goals in the Icelandic Super Cup, Football League play-offs, Football League Trophy, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[14]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Iceland	1997	4	1
	1998	2	0
	1999	1	0
	2000	1	0
	2002	4	0
	2004	3	0
	2005	2	0
	2008	3	0
	2010	3	0
Total		23	1

Honours

ÍA

Genk

Belgian First Division: 1998–99

Stoke City

Football League Trophy: 1999–2000^[15]
Football League Second Division play-offs: 2002

References

^ ^a ^b "Bjarni Guðjónsson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
^ "Bjarni Eggerts Gudjónsson". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
^ "Bjarni Eggerts Guðjónsson" (in Icelandic). KSÍ. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Bjarni Gudjonsson Transfer Listed". Stoke City F.C. Retrieved 2 March 2012.^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Stoke seal promotion". BBC Sport. 11 May 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "Stoke sack Thordarson". BBC Sport. 16 May 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "Coventry sign Gudjonsson". BBC Sport. 16 January 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "Plymouth seal deal for Gudjonsson". BBC Sport. 17 December 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "Green Barmy: Everton FA Cup tie was Gudjonsson's Argyle highlight". 30 March 2018.
^ "Plymouth 1–3 Everton". BBC Sport. 8 January 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
^ "Iceland's Gudjonsson exits Argyle". BBC Sport. 31 January 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
^ "The English National Football Archive". Enfa.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
^ The Football Association of Iceland
^ Guðjónsson, Bjarni at National-Football-Teams.com
^ Sidaway, Jon (7 December 2017). "Stoke City FC - Looking Back Down 'Wembley Way'". Stoke City FC. Retrieved 24 March 2024.

External links

Bjarni Guðjónsson at Soccerbase
Bjarni Guðjónsson at National-Football-Teams.com

[14] Appearances and goals in the Icelandic Super Cup, Football League play-offs, Football League Trophy, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

[Hugman-1] "Bjarni Guðjónsson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 December 2017.

[2] "Bjarni Eggerts Gudjónsson". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 5 August 2011.

[3] "Bjarni Eggerts Guðjónsson" (in Icelandic). KSÍ. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2013.

[Bjarni_Gudjonsson-4] "Bjarni Gudjonsson Transfer Listed". Stoke City F.C. Retrieved 2 March 2012.^{[dead link‍]}

[5] "Stoke seal promotion". BBC Sport. 11 May 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[6] "Stoke sack Thordarson". BBC Sport. 16 May 2002. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[7] "Coventry sign Gudjonsson". BBC Sport. 16 January 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[8] "Plymouth seal deal for Gudjonsson". BBC Sport. 17 December 2004. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[9] "Green Barmy: Everton FA Cup tie was Gudjonsson's Argyle highlight". 30 March 2018.

[10] "Plymouth 1–3 Everton". BBC Sport. 8 January 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2010.

[11] "Iceland's Gudjonsson exits Argyle". BBC Sport. 31 January 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[12] "The English National Football Archive". Enfa.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2022.

[13] The Football Association of Iceland

[15] Guðjónsson, Bjarni at National-Football-Teams.com

[16] Sidaway, Jon (7 December 2017). "Stoke City FC - Looking Back Down 'Wembley Way'". Stoke City FC. Retrieved 24 March 2024.

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