Heiðar Helguson

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a matronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Heiðar.

Heiðar Helguson

Heiðar Helguson playing for Watford
Personal information
Full name	Heiðar Helguson
Date of birth	August 22, 1977 (1977-08-22)
Place of birth	Dalvík, Iceland
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Queens Park Rangers
Number	22
Youth career
1985–1993	UMFS Dalvík
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1994	UMFS Dalvík	11	(5)
1994–1997	Þróttur	54	(31)
1997–1998	Szczakowianka Jaworzno	12	(4)
1998–1999	Lillestrøm	43	(18)
1999–2005	Watford	174	(55)
2005–2007	Fulham	57	(11)
2007–2009	Bolton Wanderers	7	(2)
2008–2009	→ Queens Park Rangers (loan)	7	(3)
2009–	Queens Park Rangers	66	(24)
2009	→ Watford (loan)	10	(5)
2010	→ Watford (loan)	19	(6)
National team‡
1994–1996	Iceland U19	18	(2)
1997–1999	Iceland U21	6	(1)
1999–2011	Iceland	53	(12)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:41, 21 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 May 2011

Heiðar Helguson (born 22 August 1977 in Dalvík); born Heiðar Sigurjónsson, is an Icelandic footballer who plays as a striker for Queens Park Rangers.

Helguson, who is also an Iceland international, has also notably played for Watford, Fulham, and Lillestrøm.

Helguson is a fine header of the ball, and tends to score most of his goals by using his phenomenal aerial prowess. He does however also possess a supremely deft first touch, a rarity amongst players of his stocky build, and has in the past scored some quite spectacular goals from long range after utilizing this skill. His playing style has been likened to that of Emile Heskey and Grant Holt, strikers who both use their considerable builds as 'battering rams' to part opposition defences.

As of 1 January 2012, Helguson has seven goals in sixteen Premier League appearances for QPR, having spearheaded their attack for the majority of the 2011–12 season so far.

The English press anglicised his name to Heidar after he first moved to England, and it is by this given name that he is now most known.

Club career

Early career

Heidar Helguson was born on 22 August 1977 in the northern town of Dalvík in Iceland. He joined his first club, his hometown side UMFS Dalvík, at the age of eight in 1985. He spent a further eight years in the club's development squads, progressing through the different youth team age brackets (Under-10s, Under-12s, Under-15s etc) and debuting for the club's reserves whilst he was still only 13. He was handed his first team debut in 1993 when he was 15 years old. He scored five goals in 11 league appearances before his performances earned him a transfer to Þróttur in 1994, aged 16.

In three seasons Helguson scored 31 goals in 54 league appearances for Þróttur, his performances generating interest from several European clubs, including English powerhouse Newcastle United, Scottish club St. Mirren and German side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Despite this, Þróttur opted to sell their young striker to the little-known but ambitious Polish second division outfit Szczakowianka Jaworzno in 1997. Helguson hit four goals in his first twelve league matches, but was ultimately sold to Norwegian club Lillestrøm S.K. (who were amongst his potential suitors whilst he was at Þróttur) after Jaworzno failed to gain promotion to the Ekstraklasa at the end of the 1997–98 season.

Lillestrøm

Helguson arrived at Lillestrøm in the autumn of 1998, fresh from his brief stint in Poland. He made his first team debut in October, curiously wearing number 1 on his shirt. The next season Helguson became one of the great surprises in Norwegian football when he scored sixteen league goals (in his debut season for Lillestrøm he'd managed only two). Helguson was a very popular player, and even had his own fan-club named "The Helgusonsons".

Watford

Helguson was signed by Watford manager Graham Taylor mid-way through the 1999–2000 season for a club record £1.5m. Brought in to boost the struggling club's striking department, Helguson had a good debut at home to Liverpool, where he played well. Helguson scored in his first game. He later picked up the display of the season award for this goal-scoring debut.^{[citation needed]} He scored five more times that season. His goals were not enough to keep Watford up, and the Hertfordshire club were relegated after only one year in the Premier League.

Back in Division 1, Helguson was part of a Watford side that was undefeated for the first 15 games of the season, topping the league. However, when the side's form slumped in late 2000, Helguson suffered a crisis of confidence – one of several during his first few years at Watford – and was well below his best for a large amount of that campaign. At the end of the season Taylor retired and was replaced by Gianluca Vialli, who used Helguson as a wing back.

With Ray Lewington in charge for the 2002–03 season, Helguson showed a marked improvement. Although still prone to injury (he did not start the season until late September), he finished the season Watford's top goal scorer with 13, including goals in Watford's run to the FA Cup semi-Finals. In 2003–04 injury kept Helguson out of most of the first half of the season. On his return he put in some notable performances, the most notable being his leading of the line against Chelsea in the FA Cup.

2004–05 was Helguson's best season in a Watford shirt. Relatively free of injury, he scored 20 goals and picked up the "Goal of the Season," "Display of the Season" and "Player of the Season" awards at the end of season awards ceremony. Inevitably his goal tally brought about interest from Premier League clubs and with Watford needing money, the offer from Fulham was accepted.

Fulham

Helguson signed for Fulham on June 27, 2005 and was largely confined to the bench at the beginning of the campaign. He scored his first goal for Fulham in the 5–4 League Cup victory over Lincoln. The front pair of Helguson and Brian McBride caused trouble to the best defences in the Premier League. Helguson scored against Chelsea (penalty), Aston Villa (penalty), West Ham (open play – left foot) and Manchester United (open play – header), a double in a 6–1 win over West Brom, Bolton Wanderers (header as a result of a free kick) and against Middlesbrough (penalty). For the start of the 2006–07 season he was moved from No. 10 to No. 9 at Fulham.

Bolton Wanderers

On 20 July 2007 it was announced that Helguson was leaving Fulham to join Bolton Wanderers F.C. for an undisclosed fee, as part of manager Sammy Lee's squad restructuring. Helguson reportedly signed a three-year contract with the Trotters, having been forced to consider his options following the signings of David Healy and Diomansy Kamara.

He made his Bolton debut as a substitute for the injured Kevin Davies on August 11, 2007 with Wanderers already trailing to Newcastle United. Four days later he returned to Fulham for the first time since leaving and got on the scoresheet in a 2–1 Bolton defeat.

It was the end of January 2008 by the time Helguson got any more playing time, but his return was welcome with Bolton desperately short of firepower having sold Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea earlier on that month. His first appearance back in the side was a goalless draw against old club Fulham where he came off the substitutes bench for the last eight minutes of the game. He scored his first goal for Bolton since coming back from injury 4 days later against Reading in a 2–0 win.

Bolton confirmed in May 2008 that they had sent Helguson over to Belgium for more surgery in order to have him back for pre-season training.

Queens Park Rangers

Heiðar playing for QPR in April 2011

On 20 November, it was announced that Helguson had joined Queens Park Rangers on an emergency loan until the end of January, 2009. However, the loan did not go through until the following Friday.

After failing to score on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers and in his second match against Sheffield Wednesday, Helguson scored once against Plymouth Argyle and braces against both Preston North End and Blackpool to bag himself five goals in his first ten games. On 2 January, the deal was made permanent for an undisclosed fee.

After spending a nearly a season out on loan to Watford, Helguson returned to QPR. After regaining his place in the starting XI, he was the second highest goalscorer for in the 2010/11 season for QPR. Helguson became a Rangers legend by scoring the winning goal from a penalty in a 1–0 victory against arch rivals Chelsea. This was QPR's first win over Chelsea in over 15 years. He then went on to score two goals against Stoke in a 3–2 victory away from home. He headed in a sublime goal, whilst the other goal was a tap in. On the 3rd of December of 2011 he managed to equal the Queens Park Rangers record for most goals at home in a row. He scored with a header in a 1–1 draw with West Bromwich Albion.

Return to Watford

On 15 September 2009, Watford successfully acquired the services of Helguson, on a three-month loan from Queens Park Rangers, meaning the player returned to the club who he played for between 2000 and 2005. He made an immediate impact on his return, assisting one and scoring a brace during his substitute appearance against Leicester City, before being substituted due to injury. He made his fourth appearance of his loan spell at Vicarage Road against Scunthorpe United, scoring his fourth and fifth goal. Whilst the original loan spell ended on the 28th December, there was constant speculation about the player resigning for the club on loan. On 11 January, both clubs confirmed that the loan deal was to be extended until the end of the season.

International career

Helguson made his debut for Iceland in an April 1999 friendly match against Malta, coming on as a substitite for Ríkharður Daðason, and as of October 2010 has earned 52 caps, scoring 12 goals. He was top scorer in the 2004 FA Summer Tournament with 3 goals. After playing in a friendly against Spain in August 2006 a long spell outside the national team followed during which Helguson announced his retirement from international football, in June 2007.

On 28 August 2008 Helguson announced his return to international football and was immediately selected in the Icelandic team to face Norway and Scotland a few days later. He scored a goal against Norway in the world cup qualifier as the match ended 2–2.

Helguson scored a goal in the Euro 2012 qualifying match against Portugal on 12 October 2010.

Honours

Team

Queens Park Rangers

Winner

• Football League Championship: 2010–11

Name

Helguson was born Heiðar Sigurjónsson but changed his name by deed poll to Heiðar Helguson after joining Lillestrøm in honour of his mother, whose name is Helga.

External links

• Heiðar Helguson career stats at Soccerbase
• Blind, Stupid and Desperate article
• National football teams