Björn Bergmann Sigurðarson (born 26 February 1991) is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a forward.[3]
He began his career with ÍA in his native Iceland before a three-year spell at Norwegian side Lillestrøm, during which time he made his international debut. In July 2012, he moved to English side Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported £2.4m fee.[4] His contract with Wolves expired in June 2016 without renewal.[5]
Björn made his debut for his hometown club ÍA in the 2007 Úrvalsdeild. He was mostly employed as a substitute in his first season, but became a regular first team player during the next season. However, ÍA suffered relegation to the second level.
He did not remain at ÍA after their relegation, though, and instead signed a three-year contract with Norwegian club Lillestrøm in January 2009.[6]
After making his club debut on 22 March 2009 against Viking,[7] Björn's first season in the Tippeliga was troubled by numerous lower back injuries. He did manage to make 12 appearances, scoring once (against Bodø/Glimt on 20 September).[8]
In the 2010 season, he became regular player for the club, a position he has held ever since. In Autumn 2011, his contract was extended further to run until 2014, though this news was not made public.[9]
In the 2012 season, Björn scored seven times in the first eleven league games, as well as four goals in two cup ties.
On 18 June 2012, Björn's club officially announced that they had accepted an undisclosed bid for him from English side Wolverhampton Wanderers, believed to be in the region of £2.4 million.[10][11] After passing to a medical and agreeing to personal terms for a four-year contract, the deal was finalised on 17 July 2012.[12]
The Icelandic striker made his Wolves debut as a substitute in an opening day defeat at Leeds United.[13] He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win at Peterborough in late September,[14] the first of five goals during a campaign that ended in relegation to League One.
In the 2013–14 season, under his third different manager during his time at Wolves, Björn failed to hold down a regular place in Wolves' team and, on 31 January 2014, he was loaned to Norwegian side Molde for the remainder of 2014 in order to complete the Norwegian league season.[15] During this loan spell he won the league and cup double with Molde.
On 1 January 2016, he came on as a 67th-minute substitute for James Henry in a 1–0 Championship win at Brighton & Hove Albion, his first Wolves appearance for over two years.[16] Björn went on to often be used during the second half of the season, frequently as a lone forward, but failed to score during these 15 appearances, meaning his final goal for Wolves had come almost three years prior in August 2013.
At the conclusion of the season, Wolves announced they would not be renewing his contract.[5] He had made 75 appearances in total for the club, scoring seven times.
On 12 July 2016, Björn joined Norwegian club Molde on a free transfer.[17] This came after his short loan spell with the club in 2014. He made his debut for Molde on 28 March 2014 in a 2–0 home win against Vålerenga. In this match, he also scored his first goal for Molde. It came in the 29th minute, and was the first of the game. He was subbed off in the 82nd minute of that match, being replaced by Tommy Høiland.[18]
On 5 January 2018, Björn signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Russian club Rostov.[19]
On 22 January 2020, he was loaned to Cypriot club APOEL.[20]
On 14 August 2020, he returned to Lillestrøm and signed a contract until the end of 2020.[21]
On 1 February 2021, Molde announced the return of Sigurðarson on a two-year contract.[22]
Björn has represented Iceland at numerous youth levels, most recently playing for their Under-21 team in the qualifying competition for the 2013 European Under-21 Championship. He played two matches in the 2011 European Under-21 Championship Finals in Denmark.
He has seven caps for the full Icelandic national team, having made his debut as a substitute in a 1–0 win over Cyprus during Euro 2012 qualification on 6 September 2011.[23] He scored his first goal for the Iceland senior team in a 2–1 World Cup Qualifying win against Kosovo. The goal came in the 25th minute.[24]
He played at China Cup 2017, where Iceland won silver medals[25][26]
In May 2018, he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[27]
Björn has three half-brothers, Bjarni Guðjónsson, Þórður Guðjónsson and Joey Guðjónsson, who have all been professional footballers as well as playing for the Icelandic national team. Joey also played for Wolves.
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| ÍA | 2007[29] | Úrvalsdeild | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | – | – | 19 | 5 | ||
| 2008[29] | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 25 | 6 | |||
| Total | 30 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 44 | 11 | ||
| Lillestrøm | 2009[30] | Tippeligaen | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | 12 | 1 | |||
| 2010[30] | 25 | 4 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 26 | 4 | |||||
| 2011[30] | 20 | 5 | 3 | 3 | – | – | – | 23 | 8 | |||||
| 2012[30] | 13 | 7 | 4 | 5 | – | – | – | 17 | 12 | |||||
| Total | 70 | 17 | 8 | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 78 | 25 | ||
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2012–13[31] | Championship | 37 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 5 | ||
| 2013–14[32] | League One | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 21 | 2 | ||
| 2014–15[33] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2015–16[34] | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 69 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 75 | 7 | ||
| Molde (loan) | 2014[30] | Tippeligaen | 15 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 17 | 3 | ||
| Copenhagen (loan) | 2014–15[28] | Danish Superliga | 14 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 17 | 2 | ||
| Molde | 2016[30] | Tippeligaen | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 11 | 4 | ||
| 2017[30] | Eliteserien | 27 | 16 | 3 | 1 | – | - | – | 30 | 17 | ||||
| Total | 38 | 20 | 3 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | – | 41 | 21 | ||
| Rostov | 2017–18[28] | Russian Premier League | 6 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 2018–19 | 26 | 5 | – | – | – | – | 26 | 5 | ||||||
| 2019–20 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 7 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 38 | 8 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | – | 39 | 8 | ||
| Lillestrøm | 2020 | OBOS-ligaen | 7 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 7 | 1 | ||||
| Molde | 2021 | Eliteserien | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 1 | – | 8 | 1 | ||
| Molde | 2022 | Eliteserien | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 282 | 63 | 22 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 327 | 79 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iceland | 2011 | 1 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2018 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 17 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 March 2017 | Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania | 6 |  Kosovo |
1–0 | 2–1 | 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification |
|  | |
