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.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 15 May 1975 | ||
| 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
editHe 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
editÓlafur 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
editOn 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
editNorway
editReferences
edit- ^ Olafur Orn Bjarnason set to leave Brann , News | Infobettor Archived 5 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ólafur Örn til liðs við Fram".
- ^ Ólafur Örn Bjarnason at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ Ólafur Örn Bjarnason ráðinn þjálfari Grindavíkur - Samkomulag í höfn við Brann
- ^ "Ólafur Örn hættur sem þjálfari Grindavíkur".
- ^ Ólafur Örn leggur skóna á hilluna, visir.is, 9 September 2013
- ^ Ólafur Örn warns Norwegian clubs against filling their teams with Icelanders, visir.is, 14 July 2014
- ^ Brann-helten har fått ny trenerjobb, aftenbladet.no, 25 November 2016
- ^ Olafur Ørn Bjarnason er engasjert som ny KA Trenerutvikling i NFF Agder, fotball.no, 17 September 2018
- ^ LYKKE TIL VIDERE, OLAFUR!, stabak.no, 12 July 2024
- ^ Olafur Bjarnason bliver Head of Coaching i AaB, aabsport.dk, 12 July 2024