Veigar Páll Gunnarsson

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Veigar Páll Gunnarsson

| image = Veigar Pall Gunnarsson 2006 06 06.jpg

| upright =

| caption =

| full_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|3|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = Reykjavík, Iceland

| height = 5 ft 9 in

| position = Forward

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1996–2000 | clubs1 = Stjarnan |caps1 = 58 |goals1 = 14

| years2 = 2001 | clubs2 = Strømsgodset |caps2 = 15 |goals2 = 2

| years3 = 2002–2003 | clubs3 = KR Reykjavík |caps3 = 30 |goals3 = 14

| years4 = 2004–2008 | clubs4 = Stabæk |caps4 = 120 |goals4 = 60

| years5 = 2009 | clubs5 = Nancy |caps5 = 5 |goals5 = 0

| years6 = 2009–2011 | clubs6 = Stabæk |caps6 = 40 |goals6 = 19

| years7 = 2011–2012 | clubs7 = Vålerenga |caps7 = 20 |goals7 = 3

| years8 = 2012 | clubs8 = Stabæk |caps8 = 10 |goals8 = 2

| years9 = 2013–2016 | clubs9 = Stjarnan |caps9 = 70 |goals9 = 16

| years10 = 2017 | clubs10 = FH Hafnarfjörður |caps10 = 1 |goals10 = 0

| years11 = 2017 | clubs11 = → Víkingur Reykjavík (loan) |caps11 = 7 |goals11 = 0

| years12 = 2018–2019 | clubs12 = KFG Garðabær |caps12 = 19 |goals12 = 8

| nationalyears1 = 1998

| nationalteam1 = Iceland U-19

| nationalcaps1 = 7

| nationalgoals1 = 3

| nationalyears2 = 2000–2001

| nationalteam2 = Iceland U-21

| nationalcaps2 = 11

| nationalgoals2 = 3

| nationalyears3 = 2001–2011

| nationalteam3 = Iceland

| nationalcaps3 = 34

| nationalgoals3 = 6

}}

Veigar Páll Gunnarsson (born 21 March 1980) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a forward.

His transfer in 2011 led to football clubs Stabæk and Vålerenga being nominated for fines of Norwegian kroner 500,000 and 350,000 respectively, by a committee (påtalenemd) of Football Association of Norway — and a police investigation that saw two persons arrested.{{cite news |last1=Strømnes |first1=Svein |title=Bøter til Stabæk og Vålerenga |url=https://www.nrk.no/sport/fotball/boter-til-stabaek-og-valerenga-1.7852599 |access-date=7 May 2020 |work=NRK |date=27 October 2011 |language=no}}

Club career

=Early years=

Veigar Páll made his debut for Stjarnan in the 1996 season, in which he only managed one=1 game as a substitute. He established himself as a regular in the side and started scoring goals, catching the eye of foreign teams. He then went abroad to Norway, where he played for Strømsgodset. He failed to establish himself in the first team so he returned to Iceland to play for KR Reykjavík. He quickly became popular with the fans and was the star player of the KR team that won the Icelandic Premier League in 2002 and 2003. In September 2003, he had a trial with Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bolton_wanderers/3096382.stm |title=Warhurst back at Bolton |publisher=BBC |date=11 September 2003 |access-date=27 September 2012}}

=Stabæk=

Veigar joined Stabæk in 2004 in the season they got relegated, after being placed third in the league the previous year. He flourished under new coach Jan Jönsson in 2005, alongside new signing Daniel Nannskog. Veigar was leading the attack with Nannskog, a partnership which was the most feared duo in the league, according to statistics (goals and assist). In the 2006 season, Nannskog became top scorer with 19 goals in Tippeligaen, the Norwegian top division, with Veigar finishing one goal behind.

In 2007, Stabæk finished second, just behind winners Brann. Veigar played well, and was the seasons assist leader with 17, and fourth on the scoring chart with 15.http://fotball.vg.no/bors/assist.php?sesong_id=383 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}

The following season he made another big contribution to the club, helping them winning the league. Again, he was the season's assist leader with 14, in addition to ten goals.

=Nancy=

In December 2008, he signed a contract with the French club Nancy of Ligue 1.

=Return to Stabæk=

On 30 November 2009, Stabæk confirmed that Veigar had signed a contract with his former club. Veigar himself stated that he felt that Nancy had destroyed his career by not letting him play, but that he was looking forward to returning "home" to Stabæk.

=Vålerenga=

On 30 July 2011, Stabæk and Vålerenga reached an agreement, which later led to controversies. Veigar signed a contract with Vålerenga until the end of 2014.

After another spell at Stabæk, Veigar returned to his youth-club Stjarnan in 2013, and signed a four-year contract with the club.{{cite web |url=http://www.visir.is/veigar--stjarnan-eina-felagid-sem-hafdi-samband/article/2012121209331 |language=is |title=Veigar: Stjarnan eina félagið sem hafði samband |work=visir.is |date=6 December 2012 |access-date=28 April 2013}}

International career

Veigar made his debut for Iceland in a January 2001 friendly match against Uruguay at the Millennium Super Soccer Cup in India. He has been capped 33 times since and has scored six goals.

Career statistics

{{updated|14 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ksi.is/mot/leikmadur/$PlayerDetails/Games/?leikmadur=7387&fra=01.01.1995&til=11.07.2020|title=Leikmaður - Veigar Páll Gunnarsson}}

rowspan="2"\|Season !rowspan="2"\|Club !colspan="3"\|League !colspan="2"\|Cup !colspan="2"\|Continental !colspan="2"\|Other !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
rowspan="6"\|Stjarnan \|1996 \|rowspan="2"\|Úrvalsdeild \|1	0	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	3	0
1997 \|10	0	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	12	0
1998 \|rowspan="2"\|1. deild karla \|14	4	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	16	4
1999 \|17	7	4	4	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	21	11
2000 \|Úrvalsdeild \|16	3	2	1	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	18	4
colspan="2"\|Total !58	14	12	5	0	0	0	0	70	19
Strømsgodset \|2001 \|Tippeligaen \|15	2	2	1	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	17	3
rowspan="4"\|KR Reykjavík \|2002 \|rowspan="3"\|Úrvalsdeild \|17	7	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	3	1	22	8
2003 \|13	7	3	2	2	0	8	3	26	12
2004 \|colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	2	3	2	3
colspan="2"\|Total !30	14	5	2	2	0	13	7	50	23
rowspan="6"\|Stabæk \|2004 \|Tippeligaen \|16	2	4	2	2	1	colspan="2"\|–	22	5
2005 \|1. divisjon \|28	13	5	4	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	33	17
2006 \|rowspan="3"\|Tippeligaen \|25	18	3	2	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	28	20
2007 \|25	15	5	4	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	30	19
2008 \|26	12	7	7	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	35	19
colspan="2"\|Total !120	60	24	19	4	1	0	0	148	80
Nancy \|2008–09 \|Ligue 1 \|5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
rowspan="3"\|Stabæk \|2010 \|rowspan="2"\|Tippeligaen \|24	10	2	2	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	26	12
2011 \|16	9	3	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	19	9
colspan="2"\|Total !40	19	5	2	0	0	0	0	45	21
rowspan="3"\|Vålerenga \|2011 \|rowspan="2"\|Tippeligaen \|13	3	0	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	13	3
2012 \|7	0	3	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	10	0
colspan="2"\|Total !20	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	23	3
Stabæk \|2012 \|Tippeligaen \|10	2	0	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	10	2
rowspan="5"\|Stjarnan \|2013 \|rowspan="4"\|Úrvalsdeild \|19	4	4	2	colspan="2"\|–	7	1	30	7
2014 \|17	6	2	0	6	1	7	6	32	13
2015 \|17	1	2	0	2	0	6	0	27	1
2016 \|17	5	2	0	colspan="2"\|–	5	3	24	8
colspan="2"\|Total !70	16	10	2	8	1	25	10	113	29
FH \|2017 \|Úrvalsdeild \|1	0	1	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	2	0
Víkingur Reykjavík (loan) \|2017 \|Úrvalsdeild \|7	0	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	colspan="2"\|–	7	0
rowspan="3"\|KFG Garðabær \|2018 \|3. deild karla \|13	8	1	0	colspan="2"\|–	3	1	17	9
2019 \|2. deild karla \|6	0	0	0	colspan="2"\|–	1	0	7	0
colspan="2"\|Total !19	8	1	0	0	0	4	1	24	9
colspan="3"\|Career total !395	138	63	31	14	1	43	18	515	188