Árni Gautur Arason
Árni with Odd Grenland in 2009
Personal information
Date of birth (1975-05-07) 7 May 1975
Place of birth Reykjavík, Iceland
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1996 ÍA 5 (0)
1997 Stjarnan 18 (0)
1998–2003 Rosenborg 81 (0)
2003–2004 Manchester City 1 (0)
2004–2007 Vålerenga 90 (0)
2008 Thanda Royal Zulu 6 (0)
2008–2010 Odd Grenland 62 (0)
2011 Lierse SK 2 (0)
International career
1990–1991 Iceland U-17 10 (0)
1992 Iceland U-19 3 (0)
1995–1997 Iceland U-21 11 (0)
1998–2010 Iceland 71 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Árni Gautur Arason (born 7 May 1975 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic former football goalkeeper. Árni is also an educated lawyer from the University of Iceland.

Club career

He played for Rosenborg between January 1998 and December 2003, also making several UEFA Champions League appearances for the club. After leaving Rosenborg, he had a brief spell at Manchester City in the spring of 2004, serving as understudy to David James, but only made two FA Cup appearances for the club.

In the first of these, against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, City found themselves 3–0 down at half time after an abject first half performance, and down to 10 men after Joey Barton had been sent off at the half time whistle. Following a Sylvain Distin header early in the second half, City were 3–1 down when Spurs won a free kick about 25 yards out. Christian Ziege had already beaten Árni from a similar distance in the first half, but this time Árni produced a stunning one handed tip onto the crossbar from a full stretch dive to his left, Gus Poyet could have headed the rebound into an open net, but Árni scrambled back to his right to save this effort too. A goal here would arguably have killed the game off but after the brilliant double save City went on to win 4–3 in what has been described as one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks of all time.[1][2]

He subsequently went on to join Vålerenga in 2004.

On 30 November 2007, Árni's contract expired and he left Vålerenga. In March 2008 he joined South African club Thanda Royal Zulu on a short contract, before moving back to Norway joining Odd Grenland in the summer the same year.

Árni retired in May 2012 after an operation on his elbow did not produce the results wanted.[3]

International career

He made his debut in an August 1998 friendly match against Latvia and was a regular for the Icelandic national team, earning in total 71 international caps.[4] He did not feature in competitive matches for the national team after leaving Norwegian club Vålerenga in 2007, his last seven matches were all friendlies, with the last match being a 1–1 home draw against Liechtenstein in August 2010.[5]

Personal life

In autumn 2005, Árni had a daughter with his girlfriend Solveig Thorarinsdottir.

Honours

Club

Rosenborg BK[6]
Vålerenga

Individual

Kniksen award as the Norwegian league's goalkeeper of the year in 2001 and 2005.

References

  1. ↑ "The ten best FA Cup comebacks (number 6)". The Independent. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "The greatest games of the decade". ESPN soccernet. 15 December 2009. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Árni Gautur leggur hanskana á hilluna – Vísir". Visir.is. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Iceland - Record International Players". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Árni Gautur Arason | Félagsmaður | Mótalisti | Mótamál | Knattspyrnusamband Íslands". Ksi.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  6. ↑ "Mestvinnende spillere" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
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