Eyjólfur Gjafar Sverrisson (born 3 August 1968) is an Icelandic former footballer and former coach of the Iceland national football team.
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eyjólfur Gjafar Sverrisson | ||
| Date of birth | 3 August 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Sauðárkrókur, Iceland | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender, midfielder, forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1985–1989 | UMF Tindastóll | 79 | (66) |
| 1989–1994 | VfB Stuttgart | 110 | (21) |
| 1994–1995 | Beşiktaş J.K. | 33 | (9) |
| 1995–2003 | Hertha BSC | 197 | (13) |
| Total | 419 | (109) | |
| International career | |||
| 1988–1989 | Iceland U21 | 5 | (5) |
| 1990–2001 | Iceland | 66 | (10) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2004–2005 | Iceland U-21 | ||
| 2005–2007 | Iceland | ||
| 2009–2018 | Iceland U-21 | ||
| 2011 | VfL Wolfsburg (assistant) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
He is the father of Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson,[1] also a professional footballer.
Football
editPlaying career
editClub career
editEyjólfur started his career as a striker at local team UMF Tindastóll and moved to VfB Stuttgart in 1989. He played for Stuttgart until 1994 and became a German champion in 1992. After five seasons, he moved to play in midfield for Beşiktaş J.K. in Turkey and became Turkish champion with the team in 1995. He left them at the end of that season and changed to Hertha BSC, where he helped securing promotion to the Bundesliga in 1997 and won the DFB-Ligapokal in 2001.[2] In his last couple of seasons he played as a defender.
During his Bundesliga career, Eyjólfur played 251 matches and scored 30 goals.
International career
editHe was capped 66 times[3] for Iceland, making his debut in a Euro 1992 qualifying match in May 1991 against Albania. During the 1990s he was one of the stars of the national team and also skippered them. His last international came in October 2001, in a World cup qualifier against Denmark which Iceland lost 0–6 away.
Coaching career
editIn October 2005 he was appointed the coach of the Iceland national football team, where he has struggled, only winning two of his first 14 competitive games. Eyjólfur was sacked on 27 October 2007.
While managing the Iceland U21 men's football team, he signed a short-term contract as assistant with VfL Wolfsburg on 10 February 2011.[4] He left the position as manager for Iceland U21 in the beginning of January 2019.[5]
Coaching career statistics
edit| Team | From | To | Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Iceland national football team | 2005 | 2007 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14.29 | |
| Total | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14.29 | |||
Basketball
edit| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Listed height | 186 cm (6 ft 1 in) |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1983–1989 |
| Position | Shooting guard |
| Number | 7 |
| Career history | |
| 1983–1989 | Tindastóll |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Club career
editEyjólfur started his basketball career with Tindastóll and was a key member of the team that won the Icelandic Division II in 1986.[6][7] He had a stellar first season in the Icelandic Division I with Tindastóll and averaged a league leading 26.4 points in 20 games.[8] The next season Eyjólfur upped his average to 32.8 points per game, including a season high 50 points against Skallagrímur,[9][10] again leading the league in scoring,[11] His performance helped the club win the Icelandic Division I and achieve promotion to the top-tier Icelandic Úrvalsdeild.[12] Eyjólfur was the second leading scorer of the Úrvalsdeild karla for the 1988–1989 season, averaging 24.2 points per game[13] and was selected to the Icelandic All-Star game in February 1989.[14] It was his final full season in basketball as the next season he moved to VfB Stuttgart to fully focus on his football career.
International career
editEyjólfur played 10 games for the Icelandic junior national teams.[15] In August 1989, he was selected to a 20-player training camp with the Icelandic national team but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts with Tindastóll's football games.[16]
References
edit- ^ "Feðgar númer tvö sem verða báðir meistarar utan Íslands" (in Icelandic). 26 October 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
- ^ "Ligapokal, 2001, Finale". dfb.de. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
- ^ Passo Alpuin, Luis Fernando; Nygård, Jostein (29 February 2012). "Iceland – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ "Sverrisson wird Co-Trainer beim VfL" [Sverrison becomes assistant manager at VfL] (in German). DFL. 10 February 2011. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
- ^ Arnar og Eiður Smári taka við U21, ruv.is, 4 January 2019
- ^ Tindastóll upp í fyrstu deild
- ^ Tindastóll á þröskuldi fyrstu deildar
- ^ 1986–87 statistics
- ^ "Stórsigur gegn Skallagrími - Eyjólfur með 50 stig". Feykir (in Icelandic). 24 February 1988. p. 6. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Tindastóll - Skallagrímur". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Association. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Frábær árangur Eyjólfs Sverrissonar
- ^ Tindastóll 1987–88 statistics
- ^ 1988–1989 Úrvalsdeild statistics
- ^ "Valur og Eyjólfur í stjörnuliði landsins". Dagur (in Icelandic). 10 February 1989. p. 15. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Unglinga- og drengjalandslið Íslands
- ^ "Eyjólfur tekur knattspyrnuna fram yfir körfuboltalandsliðið". Dagur (in Icelandic). 10 August 1989. p. 11. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
External links
edit- Eyjólfur Sverrisson at National-Football-Teams.com
- Úrvalsdeild statistics (basketball)
- Eyjólfur Sverrisson at the Football Association of Iceland (in Icelandic)