Teitur Thordarson
Teitur Benedict Þórðarson ( born January 14, 1952 in Akranes ) is an Icelandic former football player and current coach. The striker won in his home country and in Sweden national title as a player before he worked as a coach in Europe and North America.
Career
Teitur started his career at ÍA Akranes. After his debut for the club in 1969 he became also quickly becoming the choice player in the Icelandic national team, for whom he debuted in 1972. 1970, 1974, 1975 and 1977, he won with his club in each case the national championship. After the fourth title win, he left his homeland and joined the Swedish second division Jönköping Södra IF. Here he proved himself as a prolific player in Iceland, so that he had woken up in the Allsvenskan attention and interest. Prior to the first league season in 1978, he moved to Östers IF in the Swedish Elite Series. On the side of Karl- Gunnar Björklund, Peter Nilsson, Björn Andersson and Per- Olof picture he was in the Allsvenskan with eleven goals this season best club internal scorer and led the club to the second league title in club history. With this title he was the first foreign player who has been a champion medal in Swedish football. In the season of 1980, he repeated the team 's triumph, he was again with eleven goals this season best scorer. After four goals in new games he left after the first half of the season in the summer of 1981, Sweden and accepted an offer from France. During the Swedish club at season's end to defend his title, he ran on in Division 1 for RC Lens. With 19 goals this season, he placed himself at the end of the season in France among the top five scorers in the Championship, although it was only enough for 14th place in the table for his club. Under coach Gérard Houllier he could in the following season his personal success is not repeated, so that he moved to the Division 2 after two seasons in the summer of 1983 to the second division club AS Cannes. Under coach Jean -Marc Guillou, the one-time Arsène Wenger assisted, he was one of the key players and scored nine goals. However, he left after one season to Switzerland, where he joined the Yverdon -Sport FC joined. In the summer of 1985 he returned to Östers IF, in the second half of the season, he scored five goals in twelve games. After a few uses in the following season he made his career unterklassig in Skövde AIK finish as player-coach.
His first full-time coach Teitur was replaced in 1988 at the Norwegian club SK Brann. With the team to Per Egil Ahlsen, Odd Johnsen and Arne Møller he reached the final of the Norwegian National Cup, which was however lost against Rosenborg BK. Since the final opponents had also won the championship, he was allowed to start with the club in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1989/90. Against Sampdoria both games Ginggen verlorewn, already in the first round of the European Cup adventure was over. After three years at Brann coach in Norway, moved to second division side Lyn Oslo. Later he was employed by SF gripper, before he returned in 1994 as manager of Lillestrøm SK in the running now under the name Tippeligaen top division in Norway. After two seasons, the club replaced him with Per Brogeland.
Teitur found a new challenge in Estonia. In parallel, he worked as manager of Flora Tallinn and the Estonian national team, for which he was the first foreign manager. The choice of country he led in qualifying for the World Cup finals in 1998 to fifth place ahead of Belarus, against the national team managed the only victory in the qualifying course. In parallel, he was also successful with the club team, in addition to the regional championship, he won the National Cup and the National Supercup. In qualifying for the 2000 European Championships, he finished with the selection again to fifth place in a group of six, with three wins and two draws only keep the poorer direct comparison with the tied Bosnia- Herzegovina and Lithuania better placement. Under his leadership, the selection team also increased significantly in the FIFA world rankings. In early 2000, he was honored for his commitment to the Order of the Cross - Mary's Land by the Estonian President.
Teitur returned in 2000 to SK Brann back. In his first year still runner-up behind Rosenborg BK, the club slipped into the following years and in 2002 stood in a relegation battle. Only in the relegation matches against Sandefjord Fotball the team kept the class, then the coach gave his farewell known and went again to Lyn Oslo. He did not stay long, between 2004 and 2005, he supervised the Norwegian third division Ullensaker / Kisa IL. Then he returned to his native country, with the Icelandic club KR Reykjavík in 2006, he was runner-up.
In 2007, he joined the North American club Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL First Division at. The Canadians, he led in 2008 to the final victory against the Puerto Rico Islanders FC, defending the title he missed with the team the following year only by a final defeat against Montreal Impact. 2010, the team was disbanded, as a franchise in Major League Soccer had been re-established with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Here he became a coach after only one win in the first few games, the club sacked him in late May 2011.