Ari Freyr Skúlason

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Ari.

Ari Skúlason

File:2014-05-30 Austria - Iceland football match, Ari Freyr Skúlason 0460.jpg Ari in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Ari Freyr Skúlason
Date of birth	(1987-05-14) 14 May 1987
Place of birth	Reykjavík, Iceland
Height
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder/Left-back
Team information
Current team	OB
Number	22
Youth career
	Valur
2003–2005	SC Heerenveen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006	Valur	11	(1)
2006–2007	BK Häcken	28	(2)
2008–2013	GIF Sundsvall	149	(29)
2013–	OB	74	(6)
International career‡
2003–2004	Iceland U17	9	(0)
2005	Iceland U19	6	(0)
2006–2008	Iceland U21	10	(0)
2009–	Iceland	28	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 November 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 31 March 2015

File:2014-05-30 Austria - Iceland football match, Ari Freyr Skúlason 0493.jpg

Ari playing in the national team against Austria in 2014

Ari Freyr Skúlason (born 14 May 1987) is an Icelandic international football player who plays for OB in Denmark after having previously played at senior level in Iceland and Sweden, having also been a youth player in the Netherlands.

Position

Even though his most common position is in central midfield he can also play as a winger and has been playing as a fullback with the Iceland national football team. After transferring from Sweden to Denmark in 2013 he stated in an interview that he'd asked to be bought as a left-back to cement his place as the starting left-back in the national team. He will consequently be playing as a left-back in Denmark.

Club career

Ari started his career at Valur. He then went to the Netherlands as a sixteen-year-old and spent two seasons with SC Heerenveen before being released at the end of 2005 after not being able to make the first team. He returned to his old club Valur where he played half a season before signing with Allsvenskan club BK Häcken. The club was relegated but even though they were a second tier team they were still able to compete in the UEFA Cup qualifiers the following year because of their fair play ranking. Häcken managed to progress into the main competition after Ari scored the winning goal against Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic F.C.. After the club failed to get promoted he signed with Allsvenskan club GIF Sundsvall at the end of the year. At the start of the 2012 season he became captain of the club.

On 11 July 2013 it was revealed that Ari had signed a contract with Danish Superliga club OB as of the start of 2014 (when his contract with Sundsvall expired). On 19 July it was announced that the clubs had reached an agreement for his semi-immediate transfer. On 27 July he played his last game for Sundsvall, scoring two free-kick goals in a 3-3 draw against GAIS.

International career

After being capped at various youth levels he got to make his debut for the Icelandic national team in 2009 against Iran. In 2012 he started getting more frequent callups from new national team manager Lars Lagerbäck. Despite Ari having been playing as a midfielder for his club side he was nonetheless picked in the Iceland squad as a left-back and has been the first-choice left-back in the national team during most of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Consequently Ari felt that he needed to change his position at club level and asked to be bought as a left-back when he was sold in July 2013, so he could play that position at club level to be able to hold his place as the first-choice left-back in the Iceland squad.

External links

• Article at fotbolti.net (Icelandic)
• Swedish FA profile
• Eliteprospects profile
• Ari Freyr Skúlason on Soccerway