This article contains the following characters: þ and ð. Where they are unavailable or not desired, they may be represented as th and d.

Teitur Thordarson
Personal information
Full name	Teitur Þórðarson
Date of birth	14 January 1952 (1952-01-14) (age 57)
Place of birth	Iceland
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Vancouver Whitecaps (manager)
Youth career
1968	IA Akranes
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1969–1977 1977 1978–1981 1981–1983 1983–1984 1984–1985 1985–1986 1987	ÍA Jönköping Öster Lens Cannes Yverdon-Sport Öster Skövde career totals	99 (51) 21 (10) 87 (35) 48 (20) 31 (9) 13 (6) 18 (6) 16 (0) 285 (117)
National team2
1972–1985	Iceland	41 (9)
Teams managed
1987–1988 1988–1990 1991–1992 1993 1994–1995 1995–1999 2000–2002 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007 2007–	Skövde Brann Lyn Grei Lillestrøm Estonia & Flora Tallinn Brann Lyn Ull/Kisa KR Vancouver Whitecaps
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 September 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12 September 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Teitur Thordarson (Icelandic: Teitur Þórðarson, born 14 January 1952) is an Icelandic football coach. On 11 December 2007 he became coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps.^[1] He is the older brother of Ólafur Thordarson.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club career

[edit] Íþróttabandalag Akraness

Before embarking on his extensive career in coaching, Thordarson enjoyed a successful playing career as a striker for nearly two decades. He signed his first professional contract when he joined hometown club Íþróttabandalag Akraness in 1969. He went on to score 51 goals in 99 appearances for ÍA, with the striker claiming four Icelandic championship titles with the club between 1969 and 1976.

[edit] Sweden

After a season with Swedish second division club Jönköping in 1977, Thordarson helped Öster to three league championships in Sweden's top-flight Allsvenskan between 1978 and 1981.

[edit] France

He then made an influential move to French soccer when he joined Lens in 1981. It was at the northern French club that Thordarson scored 19 goals during the 1981–82 Ligue 1 season, with the striker finishing fourth in the French top-flight's goalscoring charts. It was also at Lens that Thordarson played for former Liverpool, Lyon, and France manager Gerard Houllier before he experienced the tutelage of another top coach in Arsène Wenger at Cannes. In the early 1980s, the current manager of English Premier League giants Arsenal was an assistant coach at Cannes.

[edit] Switzerland/Return to Sweden

Thordarson then had a spell in Switzerland with Yverdon-Sport before returning to Sweden in 1985 to complete his playing career with Öster and Skövde.

[edit] International career

A former Iceland national team captain, Thordarson also had an impressive international career, as he scored nine goals in 41 appearances for his country between 1972 and 1985.^[2]

[edit] Coaching career

[edit] Skövde

Thordarson's extensive coaching resume spans over two decades. He started his coaching career in 1987 with the last club he played for in Swedish outfit, Skövde.

[edit] Norway

In 1988 he landed his first head-coaching role in Norway's top-flight Tippeligaen when he joined Brann. He led the Bergen club to the 1988 Norwegian Football Cup Final and spent the following two seasons at Brann before ending his first spell by moving to Lyn for two seasons in 1991. After a season with Norwegian Second Division club Grei, Thordarson took charge of Lillestrøm and led them to second- and fourth-placed Tippeligaen finishes in 1994 and 1995 respectively.

[edit] Estonia

In 1996, Thordarson moved to Estonia to become head coach of their national team and Estonian club Flora Tallinn. He led Flora Tallinn to 3 league championships, as they were crowned champions of the Estonian Meistriliiga in 1994–95, 1997–98 and 1998. He also led the club to the Estonian Cup and the Estonian SuperCup titles in 1998.

With Estonia's national side, Thordarson helped the Baltic nation move up from 145th (January 1996) to 68th (November 1999) in the FIFA World Ranking. Though he was Estonia's first foreign coach since the country's independence in 1991, Thordarson's efforts in developing Estonian football earned him a medal from the President of Estonia in February 2000.

[edit] Return to Norway

The turn of the millennium saw Thordarson return to the Norwegian game for a second spell with Brann. He led the club to a second-place finish in the 2000 Tippeligaen season, and spent two more seasons with the Bergen outfit before making a return to another former club, Lyn in 2003. His final two years in Norway saw him coach second division club Ull/Kisa in 2004 and 2005.

[edit] KR Reykjavík

In 2006, Thordarson returned to his native Iceland to coach KR Reykjavík to a second-place finish in Iceland's top-flight Landsbankadeild, as well as a spot in the 2006 Icelandic Cup final.

[edit] Vancouver Whitecaps

With nearly four decades of experience in European soccer, Teitur Thordarson became the Vancouver Whitecaps men team's head coach after signing a two-year deal with the club on 11 December 2007. Thordarson is the sixth head coach in the club's history. Thordarson was at the helm when the Whitecaps claimed their second United Soccer Leagues First Division championship in three seasons after a 2–1 victory over Puerto Rico Islanders on 12 October 2008. The following season Thordarson made several key changes to the Vancouver squad, by releasing many veterans and opting to sign mainly young and experienced players to the roster. Though the Whitecaps struggled in the later part of the season Thordarson did manage claimed the league's final playoff berth. In their playoff run he led the defending champions to the finals again, where the Whitecaps would face the Montreal Impact. The match marking the first time in USL history where the final match would consist of two Canadian clubs. Unfortunately the Caps would end up losing the series 6-3 on aggregate. On November 30, 2009 Thordarson signed a one-year contract extension with the club^[3].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• National football teams profile