Birkir Bjarnason
|
Birkir playing for Iceland in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Birkir Bjarnason | ||
| Date of birth | 27 May 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Akureyri, Iceland | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Central midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | FC Basel | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| KA Akureyri | |||
| Austrått | |||
| Figgjo | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2011 | Viking | 102 | (16) |
| 2008 | → Bodø/Glimt (loan) | 22 | (5) |
| 2012–2013 | Standard Liège | 16 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | → Pescara (loan) | 24 | (2) |
| 2013 | Pescara | 1 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Sampdoria | 14 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | Pescara | 35 | (10) |
| 2015– | FC Basel | 39 | (13) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004 | Iceland U17 | 7 | (2) |
| 2005–2007 | Iceland U19 | 14 | (3) |
| 2006–2011 | Iceland U21 | 25 | (3) |
| 2010– | Iceland | 57 | (8) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 October 2016. | |||
Birkir Bjarnason (born 27 May 1988) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Swiss club FC Basel in the Swiss Super League and the Iceland national football team.[2] In his homeland he is nicknamed Thor.[3]
Club career
Viking FK
Birkir started playing football with local clubs in his hometown of Akureyri. His family moved to Norway in 1999 and he joined the youth teams of Figgjo. In the summer of 2005 Birkir joined Viking. In the 2006 season he scored his first goal for Viking against Hamarkameratene. Following that he played consistently as a starter for Viking and was a key aspect in helping the club avoid relegation that year and helping them obtain a third-place finish in 2007 under trainer Uwe Rösler.
In 2008 Birkir had a successful loan spell at newly promoted Tippeligaen side Bodø/Glimt,[4] playing a big part in them finishing fourth in the league. His impressive performances brought the attention of bigger clubs such as Serie A club Reggina during January 2008, but he stayed at Viking until 2012. During this time he made 100 appearances for Viking in the Tippeligaen, scoring 16 league goals.
Standard Liège
On 12 January 2012 it was announced that Birkir would sign for Belgian side Standard Liège on a five-year deal.[5][6] He played 16 league games in the Belgium Pro League for Standard.
Pescara
After the end of the 2011–12 season, in July 2012, Birkir joined the newly promoted Serie A side Pescara on a season-long loan deal. He scored his first goal for Pescara in a 5–1 away defeat at Napoli. After the 2012–13 season he stated that he was not interested in going down to Serie B with Pescara and, with two years remaining of his Standard Liège contract, he was unsure where he would be playing in the 2013–14 season.[7]
Pescara bought Birkir from Standard Liège in mid-June 2013 on a permanent transfer for a previously agreed fee,[8] with the aim of selling him for a higher amount that summer with interest being reported from clubs in the top leagues in England, Italy and Germany.[9]
Sampdoria
On 2 September 2013, it was confirmed that Serie A side Sampdoria had signed Birkir on a co-ownership deal.[10] In total he made 14 Serie A appearances during the 2013–14 season for Sampdoria.
Return to Pescara
On 20 June 2014 it was announced that Birkir would sign again for Pescara on 1 July 2014, after the club won the co-ownership bidding for the player from Sampdoria.[11] Upon signing, he was appointed the captain for the 2014–15 season.
He scored 12 goals in 38 Serie B games to help guide Pescara to a seventh-place finish and qualifying for the Serie B playoffs. Pescara beat Perugia 2–1 to qualify for the playoff semifinal. They beat Vicenza Calcio 3–2 over two legs in the semi finals, with Birkir scoring the crucial match winning aggregate goal for Pescara on 2 June 2015 to help them qualify for the Serie B playoff final against Bologna.[12] However, with a 1–1 aggregate score after two legs Bologna, being the highest-placed team, were promoted.[13][13]
On 27 June 2015, Pescara announced they had accepted an offer of €1 million for Birkir from Serie A side Torino.[14] It was later revealed in July, that the move had seemingly stalled as Birkir had been unable to agree personal terms with the club.[15]
Basel
On 7 July 2015 it was announced that Birkir had signed a three-year contract with Swiss Super League club FC Basel.[16] He made his first team league debut on 25 July 2015 in the 3–2 away win against Grasshoppers.[17] In the Champions League third qualifying round on 5 August he scored his first goal for his new club during the 1–0 home win against Lech Poznań. He scored his first league goal for Basel on 26 September during the 3–1 home win against Lugano.[18] Under manager Urs Fischer Birkir won the Swiss Super League championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season. For the club it was the seventh title in a row and their 19th championship title in total.[19]
International career
Birkir made his debut for the senior Iceland national side in 2010. He has also represented them at Iceland U-21, Under 19 and Under 17 levels.
He scored his first goal for Iceland against France on 27 May 2012 in a 3–2 defeat. He also followed this up with goals for Iceland in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification with goals against Albania on 12 October 2012, Slovenia on 7 June 2013 and then against Albania again on 10 September 2013 in a 2–1 victory. Birkir's goals and performances played a crucial role in the qualifiers helping guide Iceland to the World Cup playoff's, however in November 2013 they lost 2–0 on aggregate over two legs to Croatia.[20]
He was called up to the national team again for UEFA Euro 2016 and achieved the honor of getting his country's first ever goal in a major tournament when he scored the equalizer against Portugal in their first group match.[21][22]
International goals
Current as of 3 July 2016. Iceland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bjarnason goal:[23]
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
27 May 2012 | Stade du Hainaut, Valenciennes, France |  France | 1–0 | 2–3 | Friendly |
2 |
12 October 2012 | Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana, Albania |  Albania | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification |
3 |
7 June 2013 | Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland |  Slovenia | 1–1 | 2–4 | |
4 |
10 September 2013 | Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland | Albania | 1–1 | 2–1 | |
5 |
28 March 2015 | Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan |  Kazakhstan | 2–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying |
6 |
3–0 | |||||
7 |
14 June 2016 | Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne, France |  Portugal | 1–1 | 1–1 | UEFA Euro 2016 |
8 |
3 July 2016 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France | France | 2–5 | 2–5 |
Honours
FC Basel
References
- ↑ UEFA.com. "UEFA EURO 2016 - Birkir Bjarnason - UEFA.com".
- ↑ "Birkir Bjarnason". KSI. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ↑ "Five things to know about Birkir Bjarnason - the Thor of football". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ↑ "Birkir Bjarnason leigður frá Viking til Bodö/Glimt (Staðfest)". Fotbolti.net. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ↑ "Birkir BJARNASON". Sudpresse. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ↑ "Birkir samdi við Standard Liege". MBL. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
- ↑ "Ég er opinn fyrir öllu". Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ↑ "Pescara keypti Birki af Standard". Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ↑ "Félög í Englandi, Ítalíu og Þýskalandi vilja Birki". Morgunblaðið. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ↑ "Sampdoria complete signing of Pescara midfielder". forzaitalianfootball. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ↑ "Buste, Bjarnason torna al Pescara". Gianluca Di Marzio. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ↑ "The transcripts of Pescara - Bjarnason the best, well Sansovini". Tutto Mercatto. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- 1 2 "Bologna promoted to Serie A under bizarre rule that sees them triumph over Pescara in play-off despite 1-1 draw over two legs". Daily Mail. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ↑ "Official: Bjarnason to Torino". Football Italia. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
- ↑ "Torino hit Bjarnason breaks". Football Italia. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ↑ FC Basel 1893 (2015). "Birkir Bjarnason wechselt zum FC Basel 1893". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
- ↑ Marti, Caspar (2015). "Birkir Bjarnason wechselt zum FC Basel 1893 mit 3:2". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
- ↑ Marti, Caspar (2015). "Nie gefährdeter 3:1-Heimsieg gegen Lugano". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
- ↑ Marti, Casper (2016). "Es ist vollbracht ! Der FCB ist zum 19. Mal Meister". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
- ↑ "Croatia end Iceland's World Cup dream". UEFA. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ↑ "A karla – Lokahópur fyrir EM 2016" (in Icelandic). Knattspyrnusamband Íslands. 9 May 2016. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ↑ "Portugal 1 Iceland 1". Guardian. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ↑ "KSI profile". KSI. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
External links
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