Ólafur Örn Bjarnason

Ólafur Örn Bjarnason (born 15 May 1975) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is currently the Head of Coaching at Danish Superliga side AaB.

Ólafur Örn Bjarnason
Personal information
Date of birth (1975-05-15) 15 May 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Grindavík, Iceland
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
AaB (Head of Coaching)
Youth career
1994 Grindavík
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1997 Grindavík 63 (2)
1998–2000 Malmö FF 23 (2)
2000–2003 Grindavík 72 (16)
2004–2010 Brann 151 (11)
2010–2012 Grindavík 51 (1)
2013 Fram 13 (0)
International career
1996–1997 Iceland U-21 4 (1)
1998–2007 Iceland 27 (0)
Managerial career
2010–2011 Grindavík (player-manager)
2014–2016 Fyllingsdalen
2017–2018 Egersund
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 28 September 2013

Club career

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He started his career in Grindavík, and returned there after two years in Swedish club Malmö FF. In 2004, he moved from Grindavík to SK Brann in Bergen, Norway. His first season was successful, and he played every league match. In 2006, he formed one of Norway's strongest centre back duo with his countryman, Kristján Örn Sigurðsson, together named Örneredet (en: eagles nest).[1]

He returned to Grindavík in August 2010 in a player/manager role. With 213 official matches for Brann, he's the most capped foreign player, and 11th most capped player in the club's history. Before the 2013 season he signed for Fram.[2]

International career

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Ólafur has been capped 27 times for Iceland.[3] He made his début in a friendly match in June 1998 against South Africa as a substitute for Sverrir Sverrisson.

Coaching career

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On 24 June 2010 returned to Grindavík and was named as their new head coach, he replaced Milan Stefán Jankovic.[4] After the 2011 season he quit as manager, but decided nonetheless to play for them in the 2012 season.[5] On September 9, 2013, Ólafur confirmed that he was hanging up his boots.[6]

In early 2014, Ólafur became manager of the Norwegian club FK Fyllingsdalen.[7] He held this position until the end of 2016, when he became manager of Egersunds IK from New Year 2017.[8] Ólafur retired from Egersund in the summer of 2018 and shortly after got a job in the Norwegian Football Federation in the Agder region, in a role as KA Coach Development.[9] He held this role until May 2023.

In the winter of 2023, Ólafur started working as Head of Academy at Stabæk.[10] He left that position in July 2024 when he accepted a job as Head of Coaching at Danish club AaB.[11]

Honours

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Norway

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References

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  1. ^ Olafur Orn Bjarnason set to leave Brann , News | Infobettor Archived 5 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Ólafur Örn til liðs við Fram".
  3. ^ Ólafur Örn Bjarnason at National-Football-Teams.com
  4. ^ Ólafur Örn Bjarnason ráðinn þjálfari Grindavíkur - Samkomulag í höfn við Brann
  5. ^ "Ólafur Örn hættur sem þjálfari Grindavíkur".
  6. ^ Ólafur Örn leggur skóna á hilluna, visir.is, 9 September 2013
  7. ^ Ólafur Örn warns Norwegian clubs against filling their teams with Icelanders, visir.is, 14 July 2014
  8. ^ Brann-helten har fått ny trenerjobb, aftenbladet.no, 25 November 2016
  9. ^ Olafur Ørn Bjarnason er engasjert som ny KA Trenerutvikling i NFF Agder, fotball.no, 17 September 2018
  10. ^ LYKKE TIL VIDERE, OLAFUR!, stabak.no, 12 July 2024
  11. ^ Olafur Bjarnason bliver Head of Coaching i AaB, aabsport.dk, 12 July 2024