Rúrik Gíslason

Rúrik Gíslason
	Gíslason playing for Iceland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Rúrik Gíslason
Date of birth	25 February 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth	Reykjavík, Iceland
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder; Forward
Youth career
	HK
	Anderlecht
Senior career*
Years	Team
2005	HK
2005–2007	Charlton Athletic
2007–2009	Viborg
2009–2012	OB
2012–2015	Copenhagen
2015–2018	1. FC Nürnberg
2016–2017	1. FC Nürnberg II
2018–2020	SV Sandhausen
Total
International career
2003–2004	Iceland U17
2005–2007	Iceland U19
2005–2011	Iceland U21
2009–2018	Iceland
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rúrik Gíslason (born 25 February 1988) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Club career

Rúrik started his career with HK Kópavogur in his youth. Following a youth stint at R.S.C. Anderlecht, the then-champions of Belgium, he made his senior debut with HK Kópavogur.

At the end of August 2005, Rúrik signed for Charlton Athletic, but failed to make an appearance for Charlton's first team.

On 10 November 2020, Rúrik announced his retirement from football.^[2] He appeared on series 14 of the German TV programme Let’s Dance and won the competition.

International career

In 2011, Rúrik was chosen as part of the Iceland U21 squad to represent Iceland at the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in Denmark. The striker was named on the bench for the opening game against Belarus.

In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.^[3]

Personal life

Rúrik was a candidate for the centre-right Independence Party in the 2016 Icelandic parliamentary election and 2017 Icelandic parliamentary election.^[4]

After Iceland's 2018 FIFA World Cup game against Argentina, Rúrik's Instagram profile went viral, as his followers increased by 250,000 after the game.^{[citation needed]} His follower count was right over one million in June 2018, more than triple the size of Iceland's current population.^[5]

In 2021, Rúrik appeared in the action-comedy film Cop Secret, directed by Hannes Þór Halldórsson.^[6]^[7]

He won Let's Dance in Germany with Renata Lusin.

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[8]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Iceland	2009	4	0
	2010	5	1
	2011	4	0
	2012	8	0
	2013	5	0
	2014	7	1
	2015	4	1
	2016	0	0
	2017	6	0
	2018	10	0
Total		53	3

Scores and results list Iceland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rúrik goal.

List of international goals scored by Rúrik Gíslason
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	11 August 2010	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland	Liechtenstein	1–0	1–1	Friendly	[1]
2	10 October 2014	Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	3–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying	[2]
3	31 March 2015	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–0	1–1	Friendly	[3]

Honours

Copenhagen

References

^ ^a ^b "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia: List of players: Iceland" (PDF). FIFA. 10 June 2018. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
^ Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (10 November 2020). "Rúrik leggur skóna á hilluna". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 November 2020.
^ Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
^ "Politics, dentistry and horror films: Iceland's incredible stories". Onefootball English. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
^ "Icelandic team's Rúrik now has over a million Instagram followers". Iceland Monitor. 24 June 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
^ Stefán Árni Pálsson (16 April 2021). "Fyrsta myndefnið úr Leynilöggunni". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 23 April 2021.
^ [Sjáðu Rúrik í sinni fyrstu kvikmynd "Sjáðu Rúrik í sinni fyrstu kvikmynd"]. Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 16 April 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
^ "Rúrik Gíslason". European Football. 23 June 2018.