 Glódís Perla within Iceland in 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir | ||
| Date of birth | (1995-06-27)27 June 1995 (age 30) | ||
| Place of birth | Akureyri, Iceland! | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Bayern Munich | ||
| Number | 4 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Egebjerg EIF | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2009–2011 | HK/Víkingur | 17 | (14) |
| 2011 | Horsens SIK | ||
| 2012–2015 | Stjarnan | 50 | (5) |
| 2015–2017 | Eskilstuna United DFF | 53 | (1) |
| 2017–2021 | FC Rosengård | 89 | (10) |
| 2021– | Bayern Munich | 79 | (8) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2009–2012 | Iceland U-17 | 24 | (6) |
| 2011–2012 | Iceland U-19 | 9 | (0) |
| 2012 | Iceland U-23 | 1 | (0) |
| 2012– | Iceland | 128 | (10) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23 July 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 July 2024 | |||
Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir (born 27 June 1995) is an Icelandic professionalfootballer who plays as acentre-back for andcaptains bothFrauen-Bundesliga clubBayern Munich and theIceland national team.[2]
She started her career withHK/Víkingur, Horsens SIK, andStjarnan. She moved to Sweden in 2015, first playing forEskilstuna United and thenFC Rosengård. With Rosengård, she won oneDamallsvenskan title and twoSvenska Cupen trophies. She then moved to Bayern Munich, where she has won three consecutiveFrauen-Bundesliga titles.
Glódís Perla is a three-timeIcelandic Women's Footballer of the Year winner and one-timeIcelandic Sportsperson of the Year. Later on In 2024, she became the frst Icelandic player to be nominated for theBallon d'Or Féminin.
Glódís Perla played youth football in Denmark with Egebjerg EIF[3] before moving to her first senior club,HK/Víkingur, in 2009. She was a productive scorer for HK/Víkingur, managing to net 14 goals in 17 league appearances with the team[4] while playing as astriker.[5] She had a short, three-month stint with Horsens SIK in Denmark before heading back to Iceland and joiningStjarnan for the 2012 season.[6] With Stjarnan, Glódís Perla won twoBesta deild kvenna titles across four years.[7]
In November 2014, Glódís Perla signed inSweden forDamallsvenskan clubEskilstuna United, where she played between 2015 and 2017.[7] After her first season with the club, in which she played every single minute of the campaign, Eskilstuna and Glódís Perla agreed on a one-year contract extension.[8] She later helped contribute to Eskilstuna United's run in the2016–17 UEFA Women's Champions League, where they reached the Round of 16.[9] She started all 11 matches in 2017 before ultimately departing.[10]
In July 2017, Glódís Perla moved clubs and signed for one Eskilstuna's competitors,FC Rosengård.[11] She had prior familiarity with the club, having attended Rosengård training camps at ages 16 and 17.[12] With center backsEmma Berglund andAmanda Ilestedt having previously moved on from Rosengård,[12][10] Glódís Perla was able to cement herself as an important figure in the team.[13] Her play earned her a contract extension in 2018, and she re-signed for two more seasons.[13] In 2019, she helped Rosengård win the Damallsvenskan title.[14]
In 2020, Rosengård finished second overall in the league and secured qualification for theUEFA Women's Champions League.[15] Earlier on in the year, Glódís Perla had helped the team start the season on a good note, scoring the lone goal againstKristianstad to give Rosengård their second win in as many games.[16] An example of consistency, she ended up not missing a single club match for the first three years of her tenure,[17] starting 57 in a row.[18] At the end of 2020, she was nominated for the Damallsvenskan's Defender of the Year award,[19] but the accolade was instead won byKopparbergs/Goeteborg playerNatalia Kuikka.[20] However, Glódís Perla still was able to secure a spot on the Damallsvenskan team of the season, along with five of her teammates.[21] She played her final Rosengård match on 9 July 2021.[22] In her five years at Rosengård, Glódís Perla had appeared for the team in 89 league matches and scored 10 goals.[23]
In July 2021, Glódís Perla signed withBayern Munich of theFrauen-Bundesliga,[22] inking a three-year contract[24] in the midst of her sixth professional season.[25] Although she had previously heard negative stories about Bayern, a chat with Icelandic teammateKarólína Lea Vilhjálmsdóttir assuaged her concerns.[25] She made her Bayern debut in the club's season-opener, coming on as a second-half substitute forSarah Zadrazil in an eventual 8–0 victory overWerder Bremen.[26] On 12 September 2021, she scored her first Frauen-Bundesliga goal in a win overSC Freiburg.[27][23]
The following season, Bayern Munich hired managerAlexander Straus, whom Glódís Perla has expressed helped her perform better than the year prior.[5] She earned her first trophy at the club by winning the2022–23 Frauen-Bundesliga,[28] capping off a season in which she played every single minute of Bayern's campaign.[29] Ahead of the 2023–24 season, she was named club captain[30] (a position which had been held for three years prior byLina Magull)[31] and extended her contract until 2026.[29] In 2023–24, she was a key contributor as Bayern won their second Frauen-Bundesliga in a row.[32] The team repeated the feat in the following season, securing the title in the third-to-last match of the season.[33] During the game, Glódís Perla scored once as Bayern beatFreiburg, 3–1, to ensure that the title would end up in their hands.[33] Once again, she did not miss a single game of the season as Bayern also finished second in theDFB-Pokal.[34]
Glódís Perla played for multiple Icelandic youth national teams, one of which she has captained. It was at the under-17 level that she was fully converted into a centre-back after playing as amidfielder andforward for HK/Víkingur.[5]
In July 2012, Glódís Perla received her first call-up to the Icelandic seniornational team.[35] On 4 August 2012, she made her senior international debut in Iceland's 1–1friendly draw withScotland atCappielow.[14] She was called up to be part of the national team for theUEFA Women's Euro 2013.[36] Glódís Perla was also a member of Iceland's team in the2017 Women's Euro.[37] While she expressed excitement and balance among the team leading up to the tournament,[38] Iceland lost their opening match toFrance in a slim defeat[39] and were beaten in each of their other two fixtures, resulting in their elimination from the group.[40]
On 11 June 2018, she scored her first international brace against Slovenia as part of Iceland's2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification journey.[41] Glódís Perla was included in Iceland's squad for theUEFA Women's Euro 2022. She started in all three matches[23] as Iceland posted three 1–1 draws, staying undefeated but failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.[42] On 7 April 2022, she played her 100th match for Iceland in a 5–0 win overBelarus in the2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification.[43] At the end of 2022, she was namedIceland's Footballer of the Year, beating teammateSveindís Jane Jónsdóttir.[44] Glódís Perla would go on to win the award in 2023 and 2024 as well, setting a three-year streak.[45]
In 2024, Glódís Perla received multiple other honors in addition to the Icelandic Footballer of the Year, as she was named theIcelandic Sportsperson of the Year[46] and nominated for theBallon d'Or Féminin.[47] She became the first Icelandic women's footballer to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. Despite not winning, she was also the highest-voted centre-back.[48]
In July 2024, Glódís Perla played in a 3–0 win overGermany and executed a key goal-line clearance in the second half.[49][50] The result, Iceland's first-ever win against the Germans, sealed their spot in theUEFA Women's Euro 2025.[50] When the Euros rolled around the following summer, Glódís Perla was called up to the Iceland squad,[51] marking her fourth Euro tournament since her arrival onto the national team.[52] In the opening game of the competition, a match againstFinland, she went down for treatment in the first half of the game before being substituted off during halftime.[53] After the conclusion of the game, which ended as a 1–0 win for Finland, Glódís Perla revealed that her absence was caused bydiarrhea.[54][55]
Glódís Perla plays primarily as acentre back for both club and country,[14][56] although she was amidfielder at the start of her career.[5] She has been described byESPN's Bill Connelly as a "do-everything defender".[57] As a captain for both Bayern Munich and Iceland, Glódís Perla has been recognized for her leadership qualities.[58][59] She is also known for her aerial presence,[52] physical strength, capabilities in build-up play,[24] and calmness on the field.[59] Glódís Perla has also been touted for her experience from a young age,[13] having already received 25 international caps at the age of 19.[7]
Born inAkureyri, Iceland, Glódís Perla grew up inKópavogur.[14] She dabbled in multiple sports as a child, includingjudo andhandball, before focusing completely on football at age 16.[60] After graduating from the Reykjavík Women's College, she studied at theUniversity of Akureyri.[61] She graduated from Akureyri with aBachelor of Arts inpsychology the day after scoring a brace againstSlovenia in a 2019 World Cup qualifier.[41] Glódís Perla is also a certifiedpersonal trainer and enjoys playing theguitar in her spare time.[60][41]
Stjarnan
FC Rosengård
Bayern Munich
Individual
Líkt og áður hefur hún verið einn af lykilleikmönnum Bayern München og íslenska landsliðsins og er fyrirliði beggja liða.[As before, she has been one of the key players for Bayern Munich and the Icelandic national team and is the captain of both teams.]
