Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson

Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson (born 8 August 1979) is an Icelandic retired handball player and current coach of VfL Gummersbach.

Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson
Guðjón with Gummersbach in 2007
Personal information
Born (1979-08-08) 8 August 1979
Reykjavík, Iceland
Nationality Icelandic
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Left wing
Club information
Current club VfL Gummersbach (Manager)
Senior clubs
Years Team
1998–2001
 KA Akureyri
2001–2005
 TUSEM Essen
2005–2008
 VfL Gummersbach
2008–2011
 Rhein-Neckar Löwen
2011–2012
 AG København
2012–2014
 THW Kiel
2014–2016
 FC Barcelona Lassa
2016–2019
 Rhein-Neckar Löwen
2019–2020
 Paris Saint-Germain
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2020
 Iceland 365 (1879)
Teams managed
2020–
 VfL Gummersbach
Medal record
Olympic Games
2008 BeijingTeam
European Championships
2010 Austria
This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Guðjón.

Club career

Guðjón started his handball career at a young age with Grótta on Seltjarnarnes. He also played with KA Akureyri and lost the Icelandic championship final in 2001. KA won the championship final the year after he left. After that, he began his professional career in Germany with Essen. In 2005, Gudjón Valur won the European championship with Essen. Later that year, he joined Gummersbach. At Gummersbach, he was joined by the Icelandic national handball coach Alfreð Gíslason. Gíslason, former sportsman of the year, has led Gummersbach's training since 2006.

In 2008 he signed a contract with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen, in the German league.

In April 2020, Guðjón announced his retirement from handball.[1]

International career

At the World Championship in handball in Germany in January–February 2007, Gudjón Valur scored the most goals (total of 66). He also played the most minutes of any player in the competition. On average, Gudjón Valur played 58 and a half minutes out of 60 in each game. However, the Icelandic team, which played well, was unlucky and ended in 8th place. Gudjón Valur is one of the most experienced players on the Icelandic national team. Guðjón Valur was named the Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year in 2006.

In August 2008 Guðjón Valur played with the Icelandic national team at the Olympics in Beijing, China and won the silver. Gudjon was second top scorer of the Icelandic national team with 43 goals and was named in a seven-man Excellent Olympics. In 2010 Gudjon Valur won his second award for the national team in the tournament when the Icelandic national team won the bronze in the Europe Championship in Austria 2010. Gudjon Valur also played with the Icelandic national team in World Championships in Sweden 2011 and was second top scorer of Iceland with 47 goals.

A year later, at the 2012 European Men's Handball Championship Guðjón played in top form again, being the best Icelandic scorer and the sixth overall of the tournament. The national team, however, slightly underperformed and finished only tenth, still Guðjón Valur made it to the All-Star team as the best left wing of the championship.

On 7 January 2018, Guðjón Valur broke the world record for most goals scored in international men's handball. His goals against Germany took him to a tally of 1798 goals in 337 matches for the Icelandic men's national handball team. The previous record holder was the Hungarian Péter Kovács, who scored 1797 goals for the Hungarian team.[2][3]

Managerial career

On 3 May 2020, it was announced that Guðjón would take over as manager of 2.Bundesliga club VfL Gummersbach.[4]Guðjón had previously played for Gummersbach from 2005 to 2007.[5]

References
  1. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (29 April 2020). "Guðjón Valur hættur". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  2. "Top Goalscorers – Overall (Top 40)". EHF EURO official website. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  3. "All Star Team announced". EHF EURO 2012 official website. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  4. "Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson neuer Trainer beim VfL Gummersbach – VfL Gummersbach". web.archive.org. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. "Guðjón Valur tekur við Gummersbach – Vísir". web.archive.org. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
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