Samúel Friðjónsson

Samúel Friðjónsson
Personal information
Full name	Samúel Kári Friðjónsson
Date of birth	22 February 1996 (age 28)
Place of birth	Reykjanesbær, Iceland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Atromitos
Number	8
Youth career
0000–2013	Keflavík
2013–2016	Reading
Senior career*
Years	Team
2012–2013	Keflavík
2013–2016	Reading
2016–2020	Vålerenga
2019	→ Viking (loan)
2020	SC Paderborn
2020–2022	Viking
2022–	Atromitos
International career‡
2011–2012	Iceland U17
2013–2014	Iceland U19
2015–2018	Iceland U21
2018–2019	Iceland
	*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)

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

Club career

Reading

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

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)

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

SC Paderborn

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

Viking

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

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

Club

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.
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Ref.
Keflavík	2012	Úrvalsdeild	0	0	0	0	1	0	–		1	0	^[14]
	2013	Úrvalsdeild	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	Superleague Greece	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	–

^ All appearances in the Norwegian Football Cup
^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International

As of match played 17 November 2019^[11]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps
Iceland	2018	5
Iceland	2019	3
Total		8

Honours

Viking

Norwegian Football Cup: 2019

References

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