Arnar Viðarsson

Arnar Viðarsson

File:Arnar Viðarsson.jpg Viðarsson at De Graafschap.
Personal information
Full name	Arnar Þór Viðarsson
Date of birth	(1978-03-15) 15 March 1978
Place of birth	Reykjavík, Iceland
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Cercle Brugge (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	FH	22	(3)
1997–2006	Lokeren	235	(6)
1997	→ Lillestrøm (loan)	6	(0)
1998	→ FH (loan)	4	(0)
1998	→ Genk (trial)	0	(0)
2006–2008	Twente	11	(0)
2007–2008	→ De Graafschap (loan)	32	(1)
2008–2014	Cercle Brugge	157	(0)
Total		467	(10)
International career‡
1998–2007	Iceland	52	(2)
Managerial career
2014	Cercle Brugge (assistant)
2014–2015	Cercle Brugge
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 Octobre 2012 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 June 2010

Arnar Viðarsson (born 15 March 1978) is a retired Icelandic footballer, his playing position is midfielder. He last played for Belgian Pro League side Cercle Brugge, where he was also employed as head coach.

Club career

He started his career in FH, and moved to Belgium to play for Sporting Lokeren early in his career. He returned to FH for a short period, but apart from a loan spell at Lillestrøm SK and a trial at Genk, he has played for Lokeren from October 1998 until 2006. Since then, Lokeren has signed many Icelandic players, for instance midfielder Rúnar Kristinsson who holds the Icelandic record for most international caps.

In 2006 he transferred to FC Twente, where he signed a contract until 2009. For the 2007-08 he was loaned out to newly promoted De Graafschap, before eventually returning to Belgium, playing for Cercle Brugge, where he ended his career as a player in the summer of 2014, becoming assistant under head coach Lorenzo Staelens. Following the sacking of Staelens on October of that same year, Viðarsson was appointed head coach.

International career

Viðarsson has been capped 51 times for Iceland, scoring 2 goals, as well as 41 times at youth level. He made his debut for the seniors in a June 1998 friendly match against South Africa.

Trivia

• Arnar is the brother of Mechelen midfielder Bjarni Viðarsson and former Iceland Under-21 midfielder David Viðarsson.
• He is son of Icelandic footballer Vidar Halldorsson
• In the summer of 1998, Viðarsson was on trial at Genk. Although he eventually did not get signed and remained with Lokeren, he did appear in an official match for Genk, namely the Belgian Supercup. The final was lost 2-1 to Club Brugge.

External links

• Profile at VI.nl
• Arnar Viðarsson at National-Football-Teams.com