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Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir

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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 Sara Björk.

Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir
Sara Björk in October 2017
Personal information
Full name Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir
Date of birth (1990-09-29) 29 September 1990 (age 33)
Place of birth Island
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Juventus
Number 77
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2008 Haukar 22 (18)
2008–2010 Breiðablik 41 (17)
2011–2016 FC Rosengård 110 (34)
2016–2020 VfL Wolfsburg 63 (12)
2020–2022 Olympique Lyonnais 17 (3)
2022– Juventus 4 (0)
International career‡
2007 Iceland U-17 4 (0)
2007–2008 Iceland U-19 13 (4)
2007– Island 139 (22)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 02 October 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 August 2022 (UTC)

Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir (born 29 September 1990) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Italian Serie A club Juventus FC and captains the Iceland women's national team.

Sara Björk has been part of the Iceland women's national football team since 2007 and represented her country at the 2009, 2013 2017 and 2022 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship. She is the only woman to have been named the Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year twice, in 2018[1] and 2020.[2] In August 2020, she became the first Icelander to win the UEFA Women's Champions League.[3]

Club career

Sara Björk joined local team Haukar at the age of six and remained until she was 18. After three subsequent seasons with Breiðablik, she left Iceland in 2011, to sign a three-year professional contract with Swedish club LdB FC Malmö.[4] She was an immediate success in Sweden, contributing 12 goals as Malmö won the Damallsvenskan title.[5] In August 2013 she announced the extension of her Malmö contract for another two and a half seasons via Twitter.[6]

In May 2016, Sara Björk announced that she would not extend her contract with Malmö (now known as FC Rosengård) and planned to leave Sweden after winning four Damallsvenskan titles in five years. At that stage she did not confirm speculation that she was heading for German club VfL Wolfsburg.[7] Shortly afterwards the transfer to Wolfsburg was made official, ahead of their 2016–17 season.[8] In her four seasons with Wolfsburg, the club won the Frauen-Bundesliga and the German Cup each year.[9]

On 1 July 2020, she joined Olympique Lyonnais.[10] On 9 August, she won her first title with the club when it defeated Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de France after penalties.[11] On 30 August, she scored one goal in Olympique Lyonnais' 3–1 win against her former club, Wolfsburg, in the UEFA Women's Champions League final.[12]

In December 2020, Sara was named the Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year, becoming the first woman to win it twice.[2] In April 2021, she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. She returned to the pitch in March 2022. In May the same year, she confirmed that she would leave Lyon at the end of the season.[13]

On 1 July 2022, Sara joined Juventus.[14]

International career

Sara Björk playing an international friendly against Sweden at Myresjöhus Arena in Växjö, 6 April 2013

Sara Björk was included in Iceland's senior national squad in August 2007, aged 16.[15] She had recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury after having to delay surgery because she was too young and her bones were not yet fused.[16]

Still a month short of her 17th birthday, she made her national team debut in a UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying match versus Slovenia in Dravograd. Sara Björk substituted in for Katrín Ómarsdóttir on 87 minutes.

Sara Björk scored twice in Iceland's 3–1 win over Norway at the 2009 Algarve Cup and was selected in the squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 finals in Finland.[17] She played in all three group matches as Iceland were eliminated in the first round.

Women's national team coach Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Sara Björk in the Iceland squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013,[18] where she played in all four matches including the 4–0 quarter-final defeat to hosts Sweden.

With Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir on maternity leave, incoming national coach Freyr Alexandersson appointed Sara Björk as Iceland's new team captain in 2014.[19]

Sara Björk limped out of the 2018 UEFA Women's Champions League Final with an injury. She was ruled out of Iceland's match with Slovenia in June 2018, which was the first national team fixture she had missed since 2009.[20]

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 7 March 2008 Municipal Stadium, Lagos, Portugal  Republic of Ireland 3–0 4–1 2008 Algarve Cup
2. 28 May 2008 Čika Dača Stadium, Kragujevac, Serbia  Serbien 2–0 4–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying
3. 26 June 2008 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Griechenland 1–0 7–0
4. 4 March 2009 Estádio José Arcanjo, Olhão, Portugal  Norwegen 1–0 3–1 2009 Algarve Cup
5. 2–1
6. 17 September 2009 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Estland 9–0 12–0 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
7. 19 June 2010  Northern Ireland 1–0 2–0
8. 25 August 2010 Rakvere Linnastaadion, Rakvere, Estonia  Estland 3–0 5–0
9. 5–0
10. 19 May 2011 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Bulgarien 2–0 6–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
11. 21 June 2012 Lovech Stadium, Lovech, Bulgaria  Bulgarien 2–0 10–0
12. 10–0
13. 13 March 2013 Stadium Bela Vista, Parchal, Portugal  Ungarn 1–0 4–1 2013 Algarve Cup
14. 13 September 2014 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Israel 3–0 3–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
15. 7 June 2016 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  North Macedonia 4–0 8–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying
16. 18 September 2017  Färöer Inseln 4–0 8–0 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
17. 4 March 2019 Bela Vista Municipal Stadium, Parchal, Portugal  Scotland 1–3 1–4 2019 Algarve Cup
18. 26 November 2020 NTC Senec, Senec, Slovakia  Slowakei 2–1 3–1 UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
19. 3–1
20. 2 September 2022 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Weißrussland 1–0 6–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
21. 2–0

Personal life

Sara Björk is married to fellow footballer Árni Vilhjálmsson; the couple have a son together.[21]

Honours

Club

Rosengård

VfL Wolfsburg

Olympique Lyonnais

Individual

References

  1. ^ Valur Páll Eiríksson (29 December 2018). "Sara Björk er íþróttamaður ársins 2018". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b Anton Ingi Leifsson (29 December 2020). "Sara Björk íþróttamaður ársins með fullt hús stiga". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  3. ^ Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (31 August 2020). "Forsætisráðherra sendi Söru hamingjuóskir: "Mögnuð íþróttakona og sannkallað afrek"". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. ^ Sigurdsson, Albert (27 March 2011). "Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir to LdB Malmö". Wsoccernews.com. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  5. ^ Steinarsson, Vilhjálmur (15 January 2012). "Lífið í atvinnumennskunni: Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir" (in Icelandic). Pressan.is. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Sara Björk framlengir við Malmö". Visir.is (in Icelandic). 365 (media corporation). 13 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  7. ^ Þórðarson, Tómas Þór (2 May 2016). "Sara Björk segir ekkert um Wolfsburg". Visir.is (in Icelandic). 365 (media corporation). Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Der perfekte Schritt für mich" (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. 9 July 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  9. ^ Haukur Harðarson (17 June 2020). "Sara Björk þýskur meistari fjórða árið í röð". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  10. ^ @OLfeminin (1 July 2020). "L'Olympique Lyonnais informe des arrivées des internationales Sara Gunnarsdottir et Lola Gallardo qui ont signé un contrat de deux ans avec l'OL, soit jusqu'en juin 2022" (Tweet) (in French) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Anton Ingi Leifsson (9 August 2020). "Fyrsti titill Söru í Frakklandi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon: Women's Champions League final report". UEFA.com. 30 August 2020.
  13. ^ Víðir Sigurðsson (16 May 2022). "Sara Björk yfirgefur Lyon í sumar". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  14. ^ "WELCOME TO JUVENTUS WOMEN, SARA!". Juventus.com. 24 June 2022.
  15. ^ Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (1 September 2020). "Sjáðu viðtal við Söru þegar hún var valin fyrst í íslenska landsliðið". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Tek strætó í skólann". MBL.is (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  17. ^ "Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir". UEFA.com. UEFA. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  18. ^ Stefánsson, Stefán (24 June 2013). "Familiar squad for Iceland". uefa.com. UEFA. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  19. ^ "Freyr Alexandersson í viðtali" (in Icelandic). Leiknir.com. 13 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  20. ^ Ýr Eggertsdóttir, Ástrós (30 August 2018). "Sara Björk er hundrað prósent tilbúin: "Skiptir engu máli hvað var, það snýst allt um laugardaginn"" (in Icelandic). Vísir.is. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  21. ^ Etoe, Catherine (26 June 2022). "Euro 2022: Iceland's Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir on being a mother and professional footballer". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
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