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Brynjar Gunnarsson

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This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Brynjar.
Brynjar Gunnarsson
Personal information
Full name Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson
Date of birth (1975-10-16) 16 October 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Reykjavík, Iceland
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Defensive Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Örgryte (Manager)
Youth career
KR
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 KR 50 (1)
1998 Vålerenga 4 (0)
1998 → Moss (loan) 5 (2)
1999 Örgryte 24 (1)
1999–2003 Stoke City 131 (15)
2003–2004 Nottingham Forest 13 (0)
2003–2004 → Stoke City (loan) 3 (0)
2004–2005 Watford 36 (3)
2005–2013 Reading 142 (9)
2013 KR 16 (2)
Total 424 (33)
International career
1993–1994 Iceland U19 11 (3)
1995–1997 Iceland U21 8 (1)
1997–2009 Iceland 74 (5)
Managerial career
2017 Stjarnan (assistant)
2018–2022 HK
2022 Örgryte
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson (born 16 October 1975) is an Icelandic former footballer who last played for KR as a midfielder. Brynjar had previously played for Nottingham Forest, Stoke City, Watford and Reading in England, as well as Vålerenga and Moss in Norway and Örgryte in Sweden. Gunnarsson is the current manager of HK in the Premier Division of Icelandic football, after helping them to a promotion in his first season with the team.

Club career

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Brynjar was born in Reykjavík and started his career with local club KR, playing three seasons with their senior squad. Brynjar moved to Norway in 1998 to play for Vålerenga and Moss, before joining Swedish club Örgryte in 1999. After a season at the Gamla Ullevi, English club Stoke City paid a club-record fee of £600,000 for Brynjar, with him becoming one of a number of Scandinavian players at Stoke following a take over by a group of Icelandic businessmen. He played 30 times for Stoke 1999–2000 as Stoke lost to Gillingham in the play-offs. He did play in the 2000 Football League Trophy Final as Stoke beat 2–1.[1] In 2000–01, Brynjar missed just three matches, as Stoke again failed in the play-offs this time to Walsall, but Brynjar did win the player of the year. He struggled with injury in 2001–02, as Stoke gained promotion by beating Brentford 2–0 in the play-off final. He played in 45 games in 2002–03, as Stoke narrowly avoided relegation; at the end of the season, he left for Nottingham Forest on a free transfer.[2]

He failed to make much of an impact at Forest and, after making just 14 appearances, he re-joined Stoke on a short-term loan.[3] He played three times for Stoke in 2003–04 until he was released by Forest at the end of the season.[4]

Brynjar signed for Watford in the summer of 2004, after being released by Forest.[5] He made 43 appearances in an impressive first season. However, Ray Lewington's replacement as Watford manager, Adrian Boothroyd, to some raised eyebrows from the Watford support, allowed Brynjar to leave for Reading for a nominal fee in the summer of 2005.[6] He helped Reading win the Championship title in 2005–06 and stay in the Premier League; in 2006–07, however, they were relegated in 2007–08.[7] He slowly drifted in and out of the Reading side and left the club having made 163 appearances for the club scoring ten goals.

Brynjar moved to KR again, after about 15 years abroad, in March 2013.[8] After a season in which Brynjar helped KR win the league, he retired as a player to become the assistant manager at fellow Úrvalsdeild outfit Stjarnan.[9][10]

International career

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Brynjar made his debut for Iceland in a June 1997 World Cup qualifying match against Macedonia. He was capped more than 70 times for Iceland, scoring five goals.[11][12]

Career statistics

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Club

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Source:[13]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
KR[14] 1995 Úrvalsdeild 16 1 1 0 – – 17 1
1996 Úrvalsdeild 18 0 1 0 – – 19 0
1997 Úrvalsdeild 16 0 0 0 – – 16 0
Total 50 1 2 0 – – 52 1
Vålerenga 1998 Tippeligaen 4 0 0 0 – – 4 0
Moss (loan) 1998 Tippeligaen 5 2 0 0 – – 5 2
Örgryte 1999 Allsvenskan 24 1 0 0 – – 24 1
Stoke City 1999–2000 Second Division 22 1 0 0 0 0 8 1 30 2
2000–01 Second Division 46 5 1 0 6 1 4 0 57 6
2001–02 Second Division 23 5 3 2 0 0 1 0 27 7
2002–03 First Division 40 5 3 0 1 0 0 0 44 5
Total 131 16 7 2 7 1 13 1 158 20
Nottingham Forest 2003–04 First Division 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
Stoke City (loan) 2003–04 First Division 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Watford 2004–05 Championship 36 3 2 0 5 0 0 0 43 3
Reading 2005–06 Championship 29 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 34 4
2006–07 Premier League 23 3 2 1 2 0 0 0 27 4
2007–08 Premier League 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0
2008–09 Championship 27 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 30 2
2009–10 Championship 26 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 32 0
2010–11 Championship 12 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 15 0
2011–12 Championship 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
2012–13 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 142 9 13 1 6 0 2 0 163 10
KR 2013 Úrvalsdeild 16 2 1 0 4 0 3 0 24 2
Career Total 424 34 26 3 22 1 18 1 490 39
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League play-offs, Football League Trophy, Icelandic Super Cup and the UEFA Europa League.

International

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Source:[15]

National team Year Apps Goals
Iceland 1997 8 2
1998 4 0
1999 9 1
2000 4 0
2001 5 0
2002 4 0
2003 5 0
2004 7 0
2005 8 1
2006 4 0
2007 7 1
2008 2 0
2009 7 0
Total 74 5

Honours

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Stoke City

References

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  1. ^ "Wembley glory for Stoke City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Forest bring in duo". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Stoke try for Gunnarsson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Potters players in talks". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Gunnarsson joins Watford". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Gunnarsson secures Reading switch". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  7. ^ "Gunnarsson confident of survival". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  8. ^ "Brynjar Gunnarsson's greatest Reading FC moments". Get Reading. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  9. ^ "KR staðfestir brotthvarf Brynjars" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Brynjar Björn ráðinn til Stjörnunnar" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  11. ^ Iceland – Record International Players Archived 14 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine – RSSSF
  12. ^ Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson international statistics Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Icelandic). Football Association of Iceland.
  13. ^ "Brynjar Gunnarsson". Soccerbase. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Brynjar Björn Gunnarsson". KSI. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  15. ^ Gunnarsson, Brynjar at National-Football-Teams.com
  16. ^ Sidaway, Jon (7 December 2017). "Stoke City FC - Looking Back Down 'Wembley Way'". Stoke City FC. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
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