Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir

Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir (born 25 July 1986) is an Icelandic former footballer who played in the striker position. She is the all-time top goalscorer of Iceland's national team and competed for her country at the UEFA Women's Championships in 2009 and 2013. In a club career sometimes disrupted by injury, Margrét Lára represented ÍBV and Valur of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild, Duisburg and Turbine Potsdam of the German Bundesliga, and Linköpings and Kristianstads DFF of the Swedish Damallsvenskan.

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Margrét Lára.
Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir
Margrét Lára in April 2015
Personal information
Full name Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir
Date of birth (1986-07-25) 25 July 1986
Place of birth Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Týr
ÍBV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2004 ÍBV 40 (48)
2005–2006 Valur 28 (57)
2006–2007 FCR Duisburg 0 (0)
2007–2008 Valur 34 (70)
2009 Linköpings FC 12 (2)
2009–2011 Kristianstads DFF 51 (27)
2012 Turbine Potsdam 7 (1)
2012–2015 Kristianstads DFF 50 (21)
2016–2019 Valur 41 (32)
National team‡
2001–2003 Iceland U-17 15 (6)
2001–2004 Iceland U-19 15 (13)
2003–2006 Iceland U-21 13 (11)
2003–2019 Iceland 124 (79)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 October 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 8 October 2019

Margrét Lára is the elder sister of Elísa Viðarsdóttir, who also played for Iceland's national team.

Early life

Margrét Lára was born in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland to Viðar Elíasson and his wife Guðmunda Bjarnadóttir. Viðar had played football for ÍBV and later became chairman of the club. As well as Margrét Lára, both her brothers Bjarni Geir Viðarsson and Sindri Viðarsson played football for ÍBV, as did her only sister Elísa.[1]

Career

Club

Making her Úrvalsdeild kvenna debut as a 15-year-old, Margrét Lára developed into a prolific striker at ÍBV. In 2004, she switched to rivals Valur of Reykjavík and continued to score regularly. She won a league and cup double with Valur in 2006.

Margrét Lára's goalscoring record in Iceland meant that several leading clubs in Europe and America pursued her transfer. The Germans FCR 2001 Duisburg won the race for her signature and in October 2006 she scored twice in Duisburg's 3–2 win at holders Turbine Potsdam in the Frauen DFB Pokal. Margrét Lára failed to settle in Germany and returned to Valur in January 2007, citing homesickness.[2]

A record-breaking season in 2007 saw Margrét Lára hit 38 goals in 16 league matches for Valur. She was also named Iceland's Sports Personality of the Year,[3] ahead of the male footballer Eiður Guðjohnsen. As well as her scoring feats at domestic level, she thrived in the UEFA Women's Cup, finishing as overall top goalscorer in 2005–06, 2007–08 and 2008–09.[4]

In the 2008 WPS International Draft, Margrét Lára was selected by the Los Angeles Sol but decided not to join the Women's Professional Soccer team. Instead she moved to Sweden and signed for Linköpings FC, remarking: "I will absolutely try to play in USA [sic] some time, but where I am career wise right now it feels better to play in Sweden."[5]

At Linköpings Margrét Lára struggled to replicate her earlier form and started four of her 12 matches in the first half of the season, scoring twice. She wanted more playing time ahead of the 2009 European Championships so moved to Kristianstads DFF during the mid-season break. Although Kristianstads were a lower ranked team, she was happy to move in order to reunite with Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir – who had been her coach at Valur.[6]

Margrét Lára (right) congratulated after scoring for Kristianstads at Tyresö FF in June 2013

She won the Damallsvenskan top scorer award in 2011, tied at 16 goals with Manon Melis of LdB FC Malmö.[7] In October 2011 she signed for German champions Turbine Potsdam.[8] Transferring outside the transfer window meant she was ineligible for league and Champions League matches until 1 January 2012.

A persistent hamstring injury marred Margrét Lára's second spell in German football. After scoring one league goal she was allowed to rejoin Kristianstads at the end of the season.[9]

In September 2012 a Norwegian doctor diagnosed Margrét Lára's longstanding thigh injury as compartment syndrome. She immediately scheduled surgery to fix the issue which had inhibited her training for several seasons and caused her to operate at 70% of her true level.[10]

Before the 2013 Damallsvenskan season, Kristianstads gave a trial to Margrét Lára's visiting sister Elísa in a pre-season friendly, but had no immediate plans to sign the younger Viðarsdóttir to a contract. Margrét Lára remained sidelined for several more weeks following her thigh operation.[11] She scored 13 goals in 22 Damallsvenskan appearances in 2013, but announced her pregnancy in December which ruled her out of Kristianstads' 2014 campaign.[12]

Following the birth of her first child, Margrét Lára returned to training with Kristianstads in December 2014.[13] After playing in the 2015 Damallsvenskan season she made the decision to leave Kristianstads and returned to Iceland.[14]

In November 2015, she completed her move back to Iceland by signing a two-year contract for a second spell with Valur.[15] On 30 July 2019, she became the second player – after Olga Færseth – to score 200 goals in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna.[16]

On 26 November 2019, Margrét Lára announced her retirement from football.[17]

International career

Margrét Lára made her first appearance for the senior Iceland women's national football team on 14 June 2003, in a 2005 UEFA Women's Championship qualification match against Hungary at Laugardalsvöllur. She scored four minutes after entering play as a 66th-minute substitute in Iceland's 4–1 win.

Lining up for Iceland in October 2012

In qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009, Margrét Lára was the competition's top scorer with 12 goals. She scored the only goal in a home win over France as Iceland reached their first major international tournament at any level. At the final tournament in Finland, she played in all three group games as Iceland made a first round exit.[18]

Four years later, national team coach Siggi Eyjólfsson selected Margrét Lára in the Iceland squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013.[19] She had contributed 11 goals during qualifying,[20] including goals in both legs of the play-off win over Ukraine.

In Iceland's opening match in Kalmar, Margrét Lára struck a late penalty to secure a 1–1 draw with Norway which gave Iceland their first ever point in a European Championship finals.[21] It was her 70th goal in her 89th cap.[22] The team qualified for the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 4–0 by hosts Sweden.

With Margrét Lára on maternity leave, incoming national coach Freyr Alexandersson appointed Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir as the new team captain in 2014.[23] After the birth of her first child Margrét Lára was swiftly recalled to Iceland's squad for the 2015 Algarve Cup.[24]

Her last international game came on 8 October 2019 where she scored one goal in Iceland's 6–0 victory against Latvia.[25]

International performance

Statistics accurate as of match played on 8 October 2019.[26]

Margrét Lára (9) after scoring for Iceland in 2009
Iceland national team
YearAppsGoals
200355
200496
200542
200688
200798
20081114
2009148
201084
201198
201296
201382
201400
201584
2016102
201750
201972
Total12479

International goals

Honours

References
  1. "Hún vildi alltaf vera inni í herbergi með vinkonum mínum" (in Icelandic). Visir.is. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  2. "Islands Vidarsdottir im Deutschland-Dilemma". DFB.de (in German). German Football Association. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  3. "2007 - Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir" (in Icelandic). Samtök íþróttafréttamanna. 1 January 2005. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  4. "Margrét Lára Vidarsdóttir". EUFA. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  5. "Nya stjärnan: "Linköping blir perfekt"". Corren.se (in Swedish). Östgöta Correspondenten. 26 November 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  6. Bergsten, Per (1 July 2009). "Vidarsdottir byter LFC mot Kristianstad". NT.se (in Swedish). Norrköpings Tidningar. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  7. "Potsdam signs Viðarsdóttir" (in German). womensoccer.de. 16 October 2011. Archived from the original on 10 June 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  8. "Potsdam sign Vidarsdòttir, keep Kemme". EUFA. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  9. Junelind, Hector (6 June 2012). "Skyttedrottningen åtetvänder till KDFF" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  10. Nilsson, Robin (11 September 2012). "Vidarsdottir tvingas till operation" (in Swedish). Kristianstadsbladet. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  11. Persson, Patrik (19 March 2013). "Lillasyster Vidarsdottir i KDFF" (in Swedish). Kristianstadsbladet. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  12. "Kristianstad tappar toppspelare" (in Swedish). Damfotboll.com. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  13. "Margrét Lára aftur til Kristianstad" (in Icelandic). RÚV. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  14. "Margret Lára lämnar Kristianstads DFF" (in Swedish). Damfotboll.com. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  15. "Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir signs a two-year contract with Valur" (in Icelandic). Valur. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  16. Valur Páll Eiríksson (30 July 2019). "Tek hatt minn ofan fyrir Olgu Færseth". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  17. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (26 November 2019). "Margrét Lára leggur skóna á hilluna". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. "Margrét Lára Vidarsdóttir". EUFA. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  19. Stefánsson, Stefán (24 June 2013). "Familiar squad for Iceland". EUFA. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  20. "Iceland aiming to make most of rare opportunity". FIFA. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  21. Haylett, Trevor (11 July 2013). "Iceland strike late to hold Norway to draw". EUFA. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  22. "Margrét Lára komin með 70 mörk". MBL.is (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  23. "Freyr Alexandersson í viðtali" (in Icelandic). Leiknir.com. 13 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  24. "Margrét Lára í landsliðinu á Algarve" (in Icelandic). RÚV. 23 February 2015.
  25. Valur Páll Eiríksson (26 November 2019). "Vildi ekki taka athyglina frá öðrum". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  26. "Félagsmaður – Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir". KSI.is (in Icelandic). Football Association of Iceland. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  27. "Rus tops scorers' table". EUFA. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
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