Samúel Kári Friðjónsson (born 22 February 1996) is an Icelandic professional footballer who most recently played as a midfielder for Greek Super League club Atromitos and the Iceland national team.

Samúel Friðjónsson
Personal information
Full name Samúel Kári Friðjónsson[1]
Date of birth (1996-02-22) 22 February 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth Reykjanesbær, Iceland[2]
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
0000–2013 Keflavík
2013–2016 Reading
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Keflavík 2 (0)
2013–2016 Reading 0 (0)
2016–2020 Vålerenga 28 (3)
2019Viking (loan) 28 (2)
2020 SC Paderborn 5 (0)
2020–2022 Viking 48 (7)
2022–2024 Atromitos 44 (3)
International career
2011–2012 Iceland U17 11 (2)
2013–2014 Iceland U19 20 (3)
2015–2018 Iceland U21 12 (1)
2018–2019 Iceland 8 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 January 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:31, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

Club career

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Reading

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Samúel joined Reading in March 2013 to train with the club before his two-year contract with the club began on 1 July 2013.[3] Samúel extended his contract with Reading for another year on 22 May 2015.[4] On 9 May 2016, Reading announced that Samúel's contract would not be renewed and that he would become a free agent at the end of his contract on 30 June 2016.[5]

Vålerenga

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On 16 June 2016, Samúel signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Vålerenga, to start on 1 July 2016 when his Reading contract expired.[6]

Samúel made his debut for Vålerenga on 2 July 2017, coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for Bård Finne in Vålerenga's 0–0 away draw against Brann.[7]

Viking (loan)

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On 30 January 2019, Samúel joined Viking on loan until the end of the 2019 season.[8]

SC Paderborn

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On 18 January 2020, SC Paderborn announced the signing of Samúel on a contract until 30 June 2022.[9]

Viking

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Samúel rejoined Viking in October 2020, having agreed the termination of his contract with SC Paderborn. He signed a contract until 2022.[10]

International career

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Samúel represented the Icelandic U-17 national team on 11 occasions between 2011 and 2012, scoring twice, with his debut coming on 2 August 2011, in a 3–1 win over Sweden U-17.[11] Samúel went on to represent the U-19 team twenty times between 2013 and 2014, scoring three times, with his debut coming in a 1–1 home draw against Denmark.[11] On 26 March 2015, Samúel made his debut for the U-21 team in their 3–0 defeat to Romania.[11] Samúel made his debut for Iceland on 11 January 2018 in an unofficial friendly against Indonesia Selection.[12]

Samúel was called up to Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on 11 May 2018.[13]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 25 August 2022
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Domestic Cup[a] League Cup Continental Total Ref.
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Keflavík 2012 Úrvalsdeild 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 [14]
2013 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 [14]
Total 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 0
Reading 2013–14 Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [15]
2014–15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [15]
2015–16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [15]
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Vålerenga 2016 Eliteserien 0 0 0 0 0 0 [16]
2017 11 2 2 0 13 2 [16]
2018 17 1 3 0 20 1 [16]
Total 28 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 33 3
Viking (loan) 2019 Eliteserien 28 2 5 2 33 4 [16]
SC Paderborn 2019–20 Bundesliga 5 0 0 0 5 0 [15]
Viking 2020 Eliteserien 7 1 0 0 7 1 [16]
2021 25 5 3 1 28 6 [16]
2022 16 1 5 1 6[b] 1 27 3 [16]
Total 48 7 8 2 0 0 6 1 62 10
Atromitos 2022–23 Superleague Greece 28 2 3 0 31 2 [16]
2023–24 9 1 0 0 9 1 [16]
Total 37 3 3 0 40 3
Career total 148 15 21 4 3 0 6 1 178 20
  1. ^ All appearances in the Norwegian Football Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International

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As of match played 17 November 2019[11]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Iceland 2018 5 0
2019 3 0
Total 8 0

Honours

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Viking

References

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  1. ^ a b "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia: List of players: Iceland" (PDF). FIFA. 10 June 2018. p. 13. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. ^ "Samuel Kari Fridjonsson Stats SOCCER Stats".
  3. ^ "Icelandic duo set to sign". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 20 March 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Fridjonsson delighted to pen new Royals deal". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Trio set to depart Royals ranks". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Vålerenga har signert islandsk U21-landslagsspiller fra Reading". vif-fotball.no (in Norwegian). Vålerenga Fotball. 16 June 2016. Archived from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Sterkt bortepoeng for Vålerenga i Bergen". vif-fotball.no (in Norwegian). Vålerenga Fotball. 2 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  8. ^ "Islandsk landslagspiller klar for Viking". www.vikingfotball.no (in Norwegian). Viking FK. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Samuel Kari Fridjonsson stärkt das Mittelfeld". scp07.de/ (in German). SC Paderborn 07. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Viking har hentet Fridjonsson tilbake". Aftenbladet (in Norwegian). 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d "Samuel Kari Friðjónsson". ksi.is. KSI. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  12. ^ "A karla - 6-0 sigur gegn Indónesíu". ksi.is (in Icelandic). KSI. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  13. ^ "A karla - Hópurinn sem fer á HM í Rússlandi". ksi.is (in Icelandic). Football Association of Iceland. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  14. ^ a b "Samúel Kári Friðjónsson". ksi.is (in Icelandic). KSI. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  15. ^ a b c d Samúel Friðjónsson at Soccerway. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i "NIFS - Norsk & Internasjonal Fotballstatistikk". Norsk & Internasjonal Fotballstatistikk (in Norwegian). Retrieved 30 August 2022.