ÃÂlafur Ingi Skúlason (born 1 April 1983) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Iceland national under-19 football team and the Iceland national under-15 women's team.
ÃÂlafur was born in ReykjavÃÂk, Iceland, where he played for Fylkir. After the Icelandic season had come to a close, he was looking for new employment, and found it with Arsenal on 1 July 2001. ÃÂlafur was loaned back to Fylkir over a part of the 2003 season, and was voted the best young player in the Icelandic league 2003.
His Arsenal debut came on 2 December 2003 in a 5âÂÂ1 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers, replacing Justin Hoyte after 55 minutes of the match. ÃÂlafur was released by Arsenal on 28 May 2005. He signed for Brentford on 22 June 2005. Upon his arrival at Brentford, the club's website quoted him as saying: "I look at this as a very important move for my career, knowing that manager Martin Allen had been interested in signing me for a while was a huge compliment for me."
In the second game of the 2005âÂÂ06 season, ÃÂlafur suffered a cruciate and medial ligament injury resulting from a tackle with Chesterfield's Derek Niven, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. He was passed fit for the start of the 2006âÂÂ07 season and completed his comeback by scoring the winner in a 1âÂÂ0 win over Blackpool, the first game of the season. He signed for Helsingborgs IF on 21 February 2007. After three successful years in Helsingborg, ÃÂlafur turned down a new contract offer and signed for Danish team SønderjyskE on 6 December 2009.
A year later ÃÂlafur signed for Zulte Waregem in Belgium and stayed there for four years. He then plied his trade in Turkey for a few years before returning to Fylkir.
ÃÂlafur returned to former club Fylkir in 2018.
ÃÂlafur earned his first cap for Iceland in a friendly against Mexico on 20 November 2003 as a substitute, replacing Veigar Páll Gunnarsson. He has also captained their U21 team.
Although playing almost 30 international games for over ten years, ÃÂlafur never quite managed to become a regular first team member of the Icelandic team. He was, however, a useful squad member and played three games as a substitute in Iceland's successful qualification for Euro 2016, including Iceland's famous win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam. He was not selected for Iceland's Euro 2016 team.
In May 2018 he was named in Iceland's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.