Eiður Guðjohnsen

Early career

After spending the 1994 season with Valur in Reykjavík, Eiður Smári played for PSV in the Netherlands from 1995. After a severe injury to his ankle in 1996, medics at PSV declared him unfit for professional football, which forced him to return to his native country where he played for KR Reykjavík.

Bolton Wanderers

Eiður Smári signed with English club Bolton Wanderers in 1998. He made his debut in September 1998 in a game against Birmingham City. By March the following year, Eiður Smári had become a regular member of the Bolton first team, and the following season, he scored 21 times in all competitions as the Trotters reached the Division One play-offs and the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup.

Chelsea

In 2000, he was signed by Chelsea for a fee of £4.5 million. Eiður Smári spent most of his first season in London being used as a substitute, but was still able to score 13 times. In his second season, he formed a partnership with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink which provided 52 goals for Chelsea in all competitions. Following the appointment of José Mourinho as manager, Eiður Smári eventually played in a more withdrawn role as he helped the club win two successive Premier League titles.

Early in 2003, he admitted to a gambling problem, confessing to having lost £400,000 in casinos over a five-month period.

Barcelona

On 14 June 2006, Eiður Smári was signed by La Liga club Barcelona in an £8 million transfer, as a replacement for Henrik Larsson. He was part of the Treble-winning side in 2008–09 as Barcelona won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.

Monaco

He later joined Ligue 1 club Monaco, on 31 August 2009. Eiður Smári signed a two-year deal for a £1.8 million fee.

Return to England

On 28 January 2010, Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp confirmed that Eiður Smári had joined the club on loan for the remainder of the 2009–10 season, despite undergoing a medical at West Ham United. The striker was offered identical deals by both clubs; however, Eiður Smári opted to join Spurs. On 31 August 2010, Eiður Smári signed for Stoke City on a one-year deal and made his debut for Stoke on 18 September in a 1–1 draw against West Ham. After only making five substitute appearances for Stoke, Eiður Smári left on the final day of the January transfer window to join Fulham on loan. On 31 January 2011, Eiður Smári signed on loan to Fulham until the end of the 2010–11 season. After an unsuccessful time at Stoke, he was released at the end of the 2010–11 season.

AEK Athens

On 19 July 2011, Eiður Smári signed a two-year deal with Greek club AEK Athens, keeping him at the club until 2013, despite further interest from English club West Ham as well as Welsh side Swansea City. He was greeted by over 2,500 AEK fans at Athens International Airport.

Shortly after signing a new two-year contract with AEK, Eiður Smári stated to the press after he was greeted by the AEK fans, "It was unbelievable, I have played and been in many countries but I have never seen anything like this before. It really made me feel welcomed. I was informed that I would have been greeted but this was not what I had in mind. I am a 100% sure I have made the right choice going to AEK. I have come for trophies and nothing else. The least thing I can do is help AEK achieve their expectations after the way I was greeted at the airport."

On 15 October 2011, in the derby match against Olympiakos, Eiður Smári was injured in the 44th minute following a collision with opposition goalkeeper Franco Costanzo. The diagnosis was a fractured tibia and fibula which kept him out for the remainder of the season.

Move to Belgium

On 2 October 2012, Eiður Smári signed with Belgian Pro League side Cercle Brugge, signing a contract until the end of the season. On 13 January 2013, after an impressive first half of the season with Cercle Brugge, Eiður Smári signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with city rivals Club Brugge for an estimated amount of €300,000.

Return to Bolton

After leaving Club Brugge at the end of his contract, Eiður Smári began training with former club Bolton Wanderers in November 2014. On 5 December, he signed for Bolton for the remainder of the 2014–15 season.

He made his second debut for the club as a second-half substitute for Darren Pratley in a goalless draw with Ipswich Town at the Macron Stadium on 13 December, the same opponents against whom Eiður Smári had made the last appearance of his previous Bolton spell against in May 2000.

On 4 April 2015, Bolton manager Neil Lennon said that that week was one of the best of Eiður Smári's career. He had returned and scored for Iceland after two years without a cap and six years without an international goal, equalised in stoppage time for Bolton against Blackpool and became a father for the fourth time in that week.

Shijiazhuang Ever Bright

On 5 July 2015, Chinese Super League club Shijiazhuang Ever Bright announced that they had signed Eiður Smári on an undisclosed contract.

Molde

On 12 February 2016, Eiður Smári signed for Norwegian Tippeligaen side Molde on a two-year contract. Guðjohnsen was released from his contract with Molde on 3 August 2016.

Chapecoense

On 4 December 2016, Eiður Smári released a statement on Twitter, "Out of respect i would play for @ChapecoenseReal if they have a place for me! If not just to play with @10Ronaldinho again #ForcaChape". This follows the tragic accident of LaMia Flight 2933 which took place on 28 November 2016, claiming the lives of 71 passengers. Only 6 survived; 3 of which were Chapecoense players.

International career

Eiður Smári made his debut for the Iceland under-17 national team in 1992 at the age of 14. He went on to score seven goals in 26 appearances for the team before progressing to the under-19 side in 1994. He netted twice in nine caps for the under-19s, before making his debut for the U-21 side later in the year. He represented the U-21s for four years, scoring a total of four goals in 11 caps.

On 24 April 1996, 17-year-old Eiður Smári and his 34-year-old father Arnór entered football history when playing in an international friendly for the senior Iceland team against Estonia in Tallinn. Arnór started the match, and Eiður Smári came on in the second half as a substitute for his father.

Both father and son have later expressed bitterness at the fact that they were not allowed to play together in that match. The then president of the Football Association of Iceland, Eggert Magnússon (later of West Ham United), gave the coach Logi Ólafsson an express order to not play them together because he wanted it to occur on home turf, when Iceland played Macedonia two months later in the first qualification round for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

As it happened, however, the two never got another chance because a month after the game in Estonia the younger Guðjohnsen broke his leg playing for the Icelandic U-18 team against the Republic of Ireland. He had difficulty coming back because of undiagnosed tendinitis in that leg. When he had recovered and was again available for selection for the national team, his father had retired.

On 2 September 2006, Eiður Smári scored in a 3–0 away victory over Northern Ireland in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, pulling him level with Ríkharður Jónsson's record of 17 international goals (the latter had held the record since his third goal in 1948, and totalled 17 in 33 matches from 1947 to 1965). On 13 October 2007, his 48th cap, Eiður Smári broke a six-match international drought with two goals in a 2–4 home qualifier defeat to Latvia to become Iceland's top scorer of all-time. He said that the record was made less important by the day's defeat.

Eiður Smári announced his possible retirement from international football after Iceland's 2–0 defeat against Croatia on 19 November 2013 in a play-off for a place at the 2014 World Cup.

On 28 March 2015, he made a goal-scoring return to the national team after 18 months away, opening a 3–0 win over Kazakhstan at the Astana Arena in Euro 2016 qualifying.

He was selected for Iceland's Euro 2016 squad at the age of 37. He appeared twice, both as a substitute. He came on late in their second group match against Hungary which ended 1–1. Iceland then surprised everyone by progressing into the last 16, where they caused another shock after defeating England 2–1. He came on and was given the captain's armband in the 82nd minute in their quarter-final match against tournament hosts France. They lost 5–2 and were eliminated, which was potentially his last international match.

Career statistics

¹Includes three First Division play-off matches.

²Includes one First Division play-off match.

³Includes one First Division play-off goal.

Honours