Ólafur Ingi Skúlason

Ólafur Ingi Skúlason (born 1 April 1983) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Iceland national under-19 football team and the Iceland national under-15 women's team.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Club career

Ólafur was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, where he played for Fylkir. After the Icelandic season had come to a close, he was looking for new employment, and found it with Arsenal on 1 July 2001.<ref name="arsenal">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ólafur was loaned back to Fylkir over a part of the 2003 season, and was voted the best young player in the Icelandic league 2003.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

His Arsenal debut came on 2 December 2003 in a 5–1 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers, replacing Justin Hoyte after 55 minutes of the match.<ref>Template:Soccerbase season</ref> Ólafur was released by Arsenal on 28 May 2005.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He signed for Brentford on 22 June 2005.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Upon his arrival at Brentford, the club's website quoted him as saying: "I look at this as a very important move for my career, knowing that manager Martin Allen had been interested in signing me for a while was a huge compliment for me."<ref name=":1" />

In the second game of the 2005–06 season, Ólafur suffered a cruciate and medial ligament injury resulting from a tackle with Chesterfield's Derek Niven, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.<ref name="Haynes">Template:Cite book</ref> He was passed fit for the start of the 2006–07 season and completed his comeback by scoring the winner in a 1–0 win over Blackpool, the first game of the season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He signed for Helsingborgs IF on 21 February 2007.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After three successful years in Helsingborg, Ólafur turned down a new contract offer and signed for Danish team SønderjyskE on 6 December 2009.Template:Citation needed

A year later Ólafur signed for Zulte Waregem in Belgium and stayed there for four years. He then plied his trade in Turkey for a few years before returning to Fylkir.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ólafur returned to former club Fylkir in 2018.<ref>Ólafur Ingi til Fylkis, ruv.is, 28 May 2018</ref>

International career

Ólafur earned his first cap for Iceland in a friendly against Mexico on 20 November 2003 as a substitute, replacing Veigar Páll Gunnarsson.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He has also captained their U21 team.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Although playing almost 30 international games for over ten years, Ólafur never quite managed to become a regular first team member of the Icelandic team.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was, however, a useful squad member and played three games as a substitute in Iceland's successful qualification for Euro 2016, including Iceland's famous win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was not selected for Iceland's Euro 2016 team.

In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career statistics

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Iceland	2003	1	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	1	0
	2006	1	0
	2007	2	0
	2008	1	0
	2009	3	1
	2010	5	0
	2011	1	0
	2012	1	0
	2013	4	0
	2014	3	0
	2015	2	0
	2016	1	0
	2017	5	0
	2018	4	0
Total		36	1

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

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 September 2009	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Template:Fb	2–0	3–1	Friendly

External links

• Template:NFT player
• Template:Soccerbase
• Template:FIFA player