Eiður Guðjohnsen

Club career Early career After spending the 1994 season with Valur in Reykjavík, Eiður played for PSV in the Netherlands from 1995, playing alongside Ronaldo. Following a serious ankle injury, he returned home to play for KR Reykjavík. He made his debut in September 1998 in a match against Birmingham City. He spent most of his first season in London being used as a substitute, but was still able to score 13 times.

Following the appointment of José Mourinho as manager, Eiður eventually played in a more withdrawn role as he helped the club win two successive Premier League titles.

Barcelona

On 14 June 2006, Eiður was signed by La Liga club Barcelona in an £8 million transfer on a four-year contract, as a replacement for Henrik Larsson.

He made his debut on 20 August in the second leg of the 2006 Supercopa de España, as a half-time substitute in a 3–0 win at the Camp Nou against Espanyol (4–0 aggregate). Eight days later in his league debut away to Celta Vigo, he replaced Ludovic Giuly with 16 minutes remaining and scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory.

He was part of the Treble-winning side in 2008–09 as Barcelona won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. signing a two-year deal for a £1.8 million fee.

On 28 January 2010, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp confirmed that Eiður had joined the club on loan for the remainder of the 2009–10 season, despite undergoing a medical at West Ham United. The striker was offered identical deals by both clubs; however, Eiður opted to join Spurs. On 31 August 2010, Eiður signed for Stoke City on a one-year deal and made his debut for Stoke on 18 September in a 1–1 draw against West Ham. After only making five substitute appearances for Stoke, Eiður left on the final day of the January transfer window to join Fulham on loan. On 31 January 2011, Eiður signed on loan to Fulham until the end of the 2010–11 season. After an unsuccessful time at Stoke, he was released at the end of the 2010–11 season.

AEK Athens On 19 July 2011, Eiður signed a two-year deal with Greek club AEK Athens, keeping him at the club until 2013, despite further interest from English club West Ham as well as Welsh side Swansea City. He was greeted by over 2,500 AEK fans at Athens International Airport.

Shortly after signing a new two-year contract with AEK, Eiður stated to the press after he was greeted by the AEK fans: "It was unbelievable, I have played and been in many countries but I have never seen anything like this before. It really made me feel welcomed. I was informed that I would have been greeted but this was not what I had in mind. I am a 100% sure I have made the right choice going to AEK. I have come for trophies and nothing else. The least thing I can do is help AEK achieve their expectations after the way I was greeted at the airport."

On 15 October 2011, in the derby match against Olympiakos, Eiður was injured in the 44th minute following a collision with opposition goalkeeper Franco Costanzo. The diagnosis was a fractured tibia and fibula which kept him out for the remainder of the season.

Move to Belgium

Eiður traveled to the United States in September 2012 for a trial with Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders. He played one match for their reserve team against Chivas USA's reserves and scored a goal.

On 2 October 2012, Eiður joined Belgian side Cercle Brugge of the Pro League, signing a contract until the end of the season. On 13 January 2013, after an impressive first half of the season with Cercle Brugge, Eiður signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with city rivals Club Brugge for an estimated amount of €300,000.

Return to Bolton After leaving Club Brugge at the end of his contract, Eiður began training with former club Bolton Wanderers in November 2014. On 5 December, he signed for Bolton for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.

He made his second debut for the club as a second-half substitute for Darren Pratley in a goalless draw with Ipswich Town at the Macron Stadium on 13 December, the same opponents against whom Eiður had made the last appearance of his previous Bolton spell against in May 2000.

On 4 April 2015, Bolton manager Neil Lennon said that the week had been one of the best of Eiður's career, as he had returned and scored for Iceland after two years without a cap and six years without an international goal, equalised in stoppage time for Bolton against Blackpool and became a father for the fourth time in that week.

Later career Eiður joined Chinese Super League club Shijiazhuang Ever Bright in July 2015 on an undisclosed contract. In February the following year he signed for Norwegian Tippeligaen side Molde on a two-year contract. He was released from his contract with Molde in August 2016, In 2016, he signed for Indian Super League outfit Pune City as a marquee foreigner but, after the sudden injury, he was ruled out of the entire season. In September 2017, he retired from professional football.

International career Eiður made his debut for the Iceland under-17 national team in 1992 at the age of 14. He went on to score seven goals in 26 appearances for the team before progressing to the under-19 side in 1994. He netted twice in nine caps for the under-19s, before making his debut for the U-21 side later in the year. He represented the U-21s for four years, scoring a total of four goals in 11 caps.

On 24 April 1996, 17-year-old Eiður and his 34-year-old father Arnór entered football history when playing in an international friendly for the senior Iceland team against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Eiður came on in the second half as a substitute for his father. Both father and son have later expressed bitterness at the fact that they were not allowed to play together in that match. The then president of the Football Association of Iceland, Eggert Magnússon, gave the coach Logi Ólafsson an express order to not play them together because he wanted it to occur on home turf, when Iceland played Macedonia two months later in the first qualification round for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Eiður announced his possible retirement from international football after Iceland's 2–0 defeat against Croatia on 19 November 2013 in a play-off for a place at the 2014 World Cup.

On 28 March 2015, he made a goal-scoring return to the national team after 18 months away, opening a 3–0 win over Kazakhstan at the Astana Arena in Euro 2016 qualifying.

He was selected for Iceland's Euro 2016 squad at the age of 37. He appeared twice, both as a substitute. He came on late in their second group match against Hungary which ended 1–1. Iceland then surprised everyone by progressing into the last 16, where they caused another shock after defeating England 2–1. He came on and was given the captain's armband in the 82nd minute in their quarter-final match against tournament hosts France. They lost 5–2 and were eliminated, which was his last international match.

Style of play Guðjohnsen was known for possessing a good touch, link-up play, and composure in front of goal, which made him capable of both creating and scoring goals. His qualities as an assist-provider once led his Chelsea manager José Mourinho to dub him "the blond Maradona."

Personal life In September 2001, Eiður, Chelsea teammates John Terry, Frank Lampard and Jody Morris, and Leicester City's Frank Sinclair, were drunk and unruly in a Heathrow Airport hotel containing many Americans left stranded by the September 11 attacks. The Chelsea quartet were each fined two weeks' wages, totalling around £100,000, which was donated to the 9/11 relief efforts. In January 2003, Eiður admitted to a gambling problem, confessing to having lost £400,000 in casinos over a five-month period.

Eiður's half-brother, named Arnór like their father, signed for Swansea City in July 2017, at the age of 16. Eiður has three sons, all of whom are professional footballers and Iceland internationals: Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen (born 1998), Andri Guðjohnsen (born 2002), and Daníel Guðjohnsen (born 2006).

Coaching career In January 2019, Eiður was hired as the assistant manager for the Iceland national under-21 football team under newly appointed manager Arnar Viðarsson.

On 16 July 2020, Eiður took over as manager of FH, along with Logi Ólafsson.

After initially signing a contract extension with FH for the 2021 season, Eiður left the team in December 2020, and took over as an assistant manager of the Iceland men's national team.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Iceland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Guðjohnsen goal.

Honours Chelsea Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06 Football League Cup: 2004–05 FA Charity/Community Shield: 2000, 2005 FA Cup runner-up: 2001–02

Barcelona La Liga: 2008–09 Copa del Rey: 2008–09 Supercopa de España: 2006, 2009 UEFA Champions League: 2008–09 UEFA Super Cup: 2009 FIFA Club World Cup runner-up: 2006

Individual Icelandic Footballer of the Year: 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009