Sigurður Jónsson

Sigurður Jónsson (born 27 September 1966 in Akranes), also known as The Icelandic Beast (and his son as The Icelandic Beast JR), is an Icelandic former footballer player and coach.

In 2008, he featured in a ten-man shortlist for Iceland's greatest footballer of all time.

Sigurður announced his retirement in December 1991, having failed to appear in a competitive game for Arsenal since October 1990, due to a back injury. He came out of retirement to rejoin IA Akranes in 1992 and later played for Swedish club Örebro in the 1996 and 1997 Allsvenskan seasons. He signed for Scottish club Dundee United in November 1997, where again injury reduced his opportunities to play; he made 43 league appearances, scoring once against Motherwell. After having his contract terminated in April 2000, Sigurður signed for IA Akranes for the third time in his career the following month. He finally retired from playing in 2001.

International career Additionally, during his career Sigurður represented Iceland at international level 65 times, scoring three goals. He made his international debut in a Euro 84 qualifier against Malta on 5 June 1983, aged just 16 years and 251 days. He came on at half time in a 1–0 win. This made him the youngest player to have appeared in a European Championship qualifier, a record he held until it was taken by Martin Ødegaard of Norway in 2014. He played his last game for the national team on 9 September 1999 against Ukraine.

Coaching career As a coach, he had spells with FH, Vikingur and Grindavík, before being appointed Djurgården manager in November 2006. In 2010, he signed on as Enköping manager.

Honours FA Charity Shield: 1991 (shared) Årets Järnkamin: 2007