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Gud bye, Eidur

Chelsea, Barcelona and Iceland legend Eidur Gudjohnsen retires from football after glittering 23-year career in the game

CHELSEA, Barcelona and Iceland legend Eidur Gudjohnsen has retired from football after a glittering 23-year career.

The forward, 38, has reveals he is hanging up his boots from all football, following his international retirement after his nation's Euro 2016 heroics last summer.

 Chelsea legend Eidur Gudjohnsen has retired from football
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Chelsea legend Eidur Gudjohnsen has retired from footballCredit: PA:Press Association
 Eidur Gudjohnsen also turned out for La Liga giants Barcelona
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Eidur Gudjohnsen also turned out for La Liga giants BarcelonaCredit: PA:Empics Sport

Gudjohnsen won a host of the world's biggest tournaments during his distinguished career - including two Premier Leagues, La Liga and the Champions League.

The 88-cap Iceland international kicked-off his career at local club Valur, aged just 16-years-old, before bagging a move to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven later that year.

However, after four years at the club, the Eredivisie outfit declared him unfit for professional football following a severe ankle injury and shipped him back to Iceland.

Yet Gudjohnsen was not deterred as he joined then-First Division side Bolton Wanderers in 1998 - where he announced himself to the English game.

59 top-flight appearances and 19 goals attracted the attention of Chelsea in 2000 where he established himself as a club icon.

Gudjohnsen turned out 186 times - either side of Roman Abramovich taking over - netting 54 times and helping the Blues to two Premier League crowns.


Eidur Gudjohnsen's playing career by team

Valur
PSV
BOLTON
CHELSEA
BARCELONA
MONACO
TOTTENHAM
STOKE
FULHAM

AEK Athens
Cercle Brugge
Club Brugge
BOLTON
Shijiazhuang Ever Bright
Molde

 Eidur Gudjohnsen announced himself to English football at Bolton
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Eidur Gudjohnsen announced himself to English football at BoltonCredit: PA:Press Association

Eidur Gudjohnsen's trophy-laden career

Eredivisie - 1996-97
Premier League - 2004-05, 2005-06
League Cup - 2004-05
La Liga - 2008-09
Copa del Rey - 2008-09
Supercopa de Espana - 2006, 2009
Champions League - 2008-09
Uefa Super Cup - 2009

 Eidur Gudjohnsen was at Chelsea between 2000 and 2006
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Eidur Gudjohnsen was at Chelsea between 2000 and 2006Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

In 2006, he even joined Barcelona and was part of their historic 2008-09 season - where they won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League AND the Supercopa de Espana.

All in all, he turned out 72 times for the Spanish giants before he headed off for a season at Monaco - where he spent part of that term on loan at Tottenham.

Brief spells at Stoke and Fulham followed as his career died-down, where he played in Greece and Belgium, before an emotional return to Bolton in 2014, for one season.

A quick spell in China was followed by Iceland's incredible Euro 2016 heroics, where they beat England to reach the quarter-finals in France.

 Eidur Gudjohnsen was part of Iceland's heroic Euro 2016 campaign
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Eidur Gudjohnsen was part of Iceland's heroic Euro 2016 campaignCredit: EPA
 Eidur Gudjohnsen was temporarily on the books of Tottenham
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Eidur Gudjohnsen was temporarily on the books of TottenhamCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Gudjohnsen then turned out for Norwegian side Molde, but has failed to play professionally at all in 2017.

His decision to retire following an astonishing 23-year career will see him go down as an all-time great.

But the Gudjohnsen name is in more than capable hands, as Eidur has THREE incredibly talented sons all currently making waves in the game...


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