Birkir Bjarnason

Birkir Bjarnason (born 27 May 1988) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Super Lig club Adana Demirspor and the Iceland national football team, where he is their all-time leader in appearances.

Club Career

Viking FK

Birkir started playing football with local clubs in his hometown of Akureyri. His family moved to Norway in 1999 and he joined the youth teams of Figgjo. In the summer of 2005 Birkir joined Viking. In the 2006 season he scored his first goal for Viking against Hamarkameratene. Following that he played consistently as a starter for Viking and was a key aspect in helping the club avoid relegation that year and helping them obtain a third-place finish in 2007 under trainer Uwe Rosler.

In 2008 Birkir had a successful loan spell at newly promoted Tippeligaen side Bodo/Glimt, playing a big part in them finishing fourth in the league. His performances brought the attention of bigger clubs such as Serie A club Reggina during January 2008, but he stayed at Viking until 2012. During this time he made 100 appearances for Viking in the Tippeligaen, scoring 16 league goals.

Standard Liege

On 12 January 2012, it was announced that Birkir would sign for Belgian Pro League side Standard Liege on a five-year deal. He played 16 league matches in the Belgium Pro League for Standard.

Pescara

After the end of the 2011–12 season, in July 2012, Birkir joined the newly promoted Serie A side Pescara on a season-long loan deal, for €300,000, with an option to sign for an additional €900,000. He scored his first goal for Pescara in a 5–1 away defeat at Napoli. After the 2012–13 season he stated that he was not interested in going down to Serie B with Pescara and, with two years remaining of his Standard Liege contract, he was unsure where he would be playing in the 2013–14 season.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Биркир Бьяднасон (russian)