- Ingibjörg is a player that always gives more than 100 % of herself in every training and in every game. She has ambitions and motivation that would last for three persons or more. She is a person that everyone wants on their team because she would sacrifice herself for all teammates without hesitation. She is a BEAST on the pitch, incredibly strong, wins most duels and is good on the ball with both her right and her left foot. She hates to lose and if that happens, nobody (and I really mean nobody) will be able to miss how she feels about it… However, outside the pitch she is the sweetest person I know who is always on for a good laugh. From our time playing together in Breiðablik and in Djurgården and also the Icelandic national team I know that ‘Bjöggan’ always will give everything she has got!
This is how Icelandic national teammate Guðrún Arnardóttir describes this week’s Their Pitch player, Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir.
Sigurðardóttir is a centre-back, borned and raised in Grindavik on the south-west part of Iceland. Starting to play football she joined the local club Grindavík at a young age. Back in 2011, at 13 years old, she debuted for Grindavík's senior in a match against Þróttur Reykjavík in the top-flight for women in Iceland, Besta deildin. 14 years old, she signed with Breiðablik, the record multiple champions in Icelandic women's football. Until 2016, Sigurðardóttir played alternately with both Breiðablik’s youth and senior team. In 2015 she won the Icelandic league title.
In December 2017, the centre-back signed with Djurgårdens IF, moved to Sweden and played in the Damallsvenskan for two seasons.Since the 2020 season, she plays with Vålerenga IF, in Norway and won the Toppserien League Title. She recently extended with Vålerenga, which will keep her at the club till 2023.
Sigurðardóttir played her first senior national team match for Iceland on June 8, 2017, in a 0–0 away game against Ireland. Shortly thereafter, she was picked in the national team squad that represented Iceland at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. Till this day, Sigurðardóttir has made 44 appearances for Iceland.
Who is the footballer, Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir? What are her skills and what does she bring to her team? And what other players does she compete with in Iceland’s national team in order to get into the starting lineup, ahead of this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2022?
Using the scouting tool Transfer Lab, we can see Sigurðardóttir's metrics in the ‘Centre-back - All Round’ player profile. It’s obvious that her quality lies in the passing game; where she is ranked in the 92nd percentile for the short progressive passing and in the long passing percentile she is ranked 93rd. She also scores high in the metrics 1 vs 1 win (%), 94, forward passes received (quality) 72 and aerial wins in %, 94.
As you can see, she is ranked in the 76th percentile overall in the player profile for her position amongst full-backs in Toppserien looking at a time frame of the last 12 months.
With her passing abilities, Sigurðardóttir can provide a lot in the buildup for her team. Playing out of the first line of pressure with short passes, together with teammates is an ability that centre-backs must possess.
Sigurðardóttir has had plenty of playing time since joining Vålerenga IF in Norway, and together with Danish teammate Stine Ballisager Pedersen, she played most minutes in the season 2021 for the club, starting all 18 league games.
What does Sigurðardóttir have to do in order to make it into Iceland’s starting lineup?
Iceland’s starting pair of centre-backs as first choice has been Guðrún Arnardóttir, FC Rosengård, and Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir, FC Bayern Munich. The latter has not always been the first choice in Bayern, while both Sigurðardóttir and Arnardóttir regurlarly start for their respective clubs.
Comparing Sigurðardóttir to her two national teammates in the same position, she is a standout when it comes to the short passing game and forward passes received. Her profile looks more similar to Viggósdóttir. Will playing time in their respective clubs make a difference ahead of the summer and the Euro in England and to whom that will get the chance to play as a centre-back for Iceland?