Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir is returning to Icelandic football, rejoining her hometown club Haukar and pulling on the number 77 shirt for the Lengjudeild — Iceland’s top women’s football league — this summer, according to Vísir (visir.is).
The move marks a full-circle moment for one of Icelandic football’s most celebrated exports. Haukar, the club where she first developed as a player, welcomed her back with a goosebump-inducing video that circulated widely online. The homecoming comes after a professional career that took her across Europe’s biggest leagues and deep into the heart of the Icelandic national team setup.
Sara Björk is widely regarded as one of the finest footballers Iceland has ever produced. Her return to the domestic game is significant not just for Haukar, but for the Lengjudeild as a whole — a league that has grown steadily in profile and quality over recent years.
Sara Björk’s Career Before the Haukar Return
Over the course of her professional career, Sara Björk played at the highest levels of the women’s club game in Europe. She represented clubs in France and Germany, among others, competing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and earning a reputation as a technically gifted and physically imposing midfielder.
With the Icelandic national team, she was a consistent presence for well over a decade, earning caps across multiple major tournament cycles. Iceland’s women’s team has long punched above its weight on the international stage, and Sara Björk was central to that story for years.
Her decision to wind down that chapter and come home reflects a pattern seen in Icelandic football — and Icelandic sport more broadly. Players who leave for European contracts often return in the latter stages of their careers, drawn back by family, familiarity, and a genuine affection for the clubs that shaped them.
What the Move Means for the Lengjudeild This Summer
Haukar are based in Hafnarfjörður, a town on the southwestern tip of the Reykjanes peninsula, just south of Reykjavík. The club has a long history in Icelandic football on both the men’s and women’s sides, and Sara Björk’s arrival will raise expectations considerably heading into the summer season.
The Lengjudeild — Iceland’s premier women’s football division — runs through the summer months, a scheduling quirk driven by the country’s climate. Outdoor sport in Iceland is organised around the brief window of reliable weather, with the season typically running from spring through to autumn.
Sara Björk will wear number 77, a detail that Haukar made a point of highlighting in their welcome announcement. The club’s video, described as producing genuine goosebumps among supporters, spread quickly on social media and underlined the warmth of the reception she received.
For younger players at Haukar and across the league, her presence on the pitch this summer carries an obvious significance. She brings experience from the top tier of European club football directly into a domestic environment — a rare thing in a league of this size.
Iceland has consistently produced elite women’s footballers relative to its population of roughly 380,000 people. Organisations such as Knattspyrnusamband Íslands (KSÍ), the country’s football governing body, have invested steadily in the women’s game, and homecoming stories like this one reflect how much the domestic league has matured.
Whether Sara Björk stays beyond this season remains to be seen — but for now, Hafnarfjörður has its most famous footballing daughter back, and the Lengjudeild is better for it.
Original source: Vísir (visir.is)
